I think it is finally time for me to part ways with Kingsolver's books for good. I loved The Poisonwood Bible back in the day, then hated Unsheltered, and all the hype plus my love of David Copperfield convinced me to try this one... but I'm just not feeling whatever magic everyone else did.I found the characters in Demon Copperhead to be utterly soulless and forgettable. Demon tells his life story and the narration reads like "this happened and then this happened and then this happened", making...

“The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between…”- Barbara Kingsolver, Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead is my favorite type of novel. Big and messy and sprawling; funny and tense and sad; and written by an author whose talents are awe-inspiring. This is an ambitious work, replete with striking tonal shifts, a memorable cast of secondary characters, and powerful set pieces. It has an old-fashioned feel, a bildungsroman that...

Now Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023 *aaargh*Joint Winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2023 with the equally simplistic TrustA twist on David Copperfield, focusing on an Appalachian boy whose life is overshadowed by the opioid epidemic? That sounds like a fantastic idea. And Kingsolver does a great job crafting Demon Copperhead's voice, making the resourceful boy (and later young man) sound witty, empathetic, and engaging, infusing his whole vibe with some The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn...

WARNING: SPOILAGE OF SUPER PREDICTABLE ENDING CONTAINED HEREIN. ALSO, EVERY TIME YOU TELL ME HOW MUCH I SUCK FOR NOT LOVING THIS BOOK YOU GUYS FLOAT IT BACK TO THE TOP OF THE HOME PAGE AND IT GETS MORE LIKES SO THANKS 😜Everyone and their dog has been falling all over the place expressing their love for Barbara Kingsolver’s latest release. And then there’s me . . . . I’m not here to yuck your yum so Imma keep it real short. In a nutshell, Kingsolver is an author who is consistently trying to...

It’s barely Halloween. The ball won’t drop in Times Square for another two full months, and more good books will surely appear before the year ends. But I already know: My favorite novel of 2022 is Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead.”Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love. Damon is the only child of a teenage alcoholic — “an expert at rehab” — in southwest Virginia. He becomes aware of his status early, around th...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Demon Copperhead entered the world in a single trailer, born to a single mother who hadn’t a clue how to look after him - nor did she have the means. The southern Appalachian mountains of Virginia is where he took his first breath - a place of dire poverty, though most local folk were in the same boat, so it was pretty normal. Demon’s mum though had additional problems, and that meant even less of the basic needs for the two of them. Thank God for good neighbours.I won’t go into the sy...

This novel is described as a modern day version of David Copperfield, which I’ve never read. I’m generally not a fan of rewrites of classics, so if I had read it, I may not have picked this one up even though Barbara Kingsolver is such an amazing writer whose books I have loved over the years. I’m grateful to have read this novel because I would have missed out on a brilliant story - brutal, but brilliant and a character who was in my heart from the first to the last page . An addicted teenage m...

to say i had high expectations for this book would be an understatement.as it would be to say they were met.https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...i've been a short book disciple for a while now, but long books are threatening to convert me. the level to which this book allows you to truly know our protagonist, to follow him through years and states and crises, is something a shorter one could never allow for.this is a complex and layered and heartbreaking and frustrating story of a life, look ...

Can't carry on unfortunately - DNF after 150-odd pages. The thought of proceeding with this one filled me with dread. For me, there are two massive indicators of a troubled reading experience 1) No matter what time of day, one feels sleepy after reading 10 pages and 2) The thought of picking up the book fills one with dread.I found the story tedious, the narrator and the style of narration grated on my nerves - and I didn't really have any interest in what was happening. Sorry - this one beat me...

I waited a long time to get my turn for this book from the library. I was anticipating it with relish, because several of my trusted friends had loved it and said they, like me, had not enjoyed Kingsolver’s last few books. I was all prepared to be swept away, and I was in the beginning, but Demon has a voice that captivates you and then wears on you and then wears you out.At least Kingsolver wasn’t preaching to me in this book, but she did seem to be in love with the sound of her own voice, beca...