Demon Copperhead By Barbara Kingsolver - Review

[@jhound99]

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to have found your book reviews. It feels so refreshing to get a male perspective on books that fall outside the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and self-help. Please keep up your great work!

[@rororeads]

Thank you so much!!

[@Mauricio21ish]

Great review, personally the part where Demon gets robbed by the woman was arguably one of my favorite pieces of writing I’ve ever experienced in my life. Powerful book, a modern classic

[@nat4465]

I’ve watched several reviews which all have made me more compelled to read it each time. You sharing your personal connection to it and how it has references to growing up in the 90s adds on to that even more since I also grew up in the 90s. I hadn’t heard of that detail from other reviews. I’m really looking forward to reading this one some time real soon. Thanks!

[@nancydesertcenter]

Loved the book AND your review. Bravo from a 75+ year old.

[@kiery2306]

Being from eastern Kentucky, and being born in thr mid 90s, this book was such a joy to read. I couldn't put it down. I had planned on stretching it out for at least a couple weeks but I consumed it in 3 days. So well written. I read quite a bit for pleasure, and this is hands down the best book I've read in a handful of years.

[@wendyfairfull8967]

I absolutely loved Demon Copperhead. I’ve read David Copperfield a few times - its one of my favorite books, but I don’t see any reason that it would need to be read first. I had fun picking up the similarities, especially with the names. I started Demon this past Sunday and flew through it. I was so happy it won the Pulitzer. Another good one by Barbara Kingsolver is The Poisonwood Bible. The plot is quite different, though. I thought that book deserves the Pulitzer too. Great review as usual.

[@maureeng1423]

Dickens and Kingsolver are 2 of my favorite authors, so I read Demon as soon as I could. Since I know David pretty well, I enjoyed making comparisons and connections throughout the story, but Demon is very much its own story. The Kingsolver book got very dark, and more graphic in portrayals of poverty and desperation than Dickens could in his time. As soon as I finished Demon I reread David. Demon is a great book on it’s own and deserving of all the praise and awards. I love both books, for me the pleasure is enhanced by reading them both.

[@SupposedlyFun]

I'm so glad you enjoyed Demon Copperhead! If I remember correctly, I think my one little complaint was that some of the period detail was just slightly off to the point where I, someone born in the early 1980s, would get a little thrown off about what year it was supposed to be. Like when Demon gets a Members Only jacket in the 90s, but that was an 80s trend. Or a reference to someone dancing like Britney Spears before that video would have been released. It didn't hamper my enjoyment of the book, but it did make me feel a little disjointed--and only because I was so familiar with the time period.

[@SupposedlyFun]

Correction: it was a Madonna reference, not a Britney one. In a part that is supposed to happen in the 90s, Demon referenced Madonna dressing like a cowgirl in a music video. That didn't happen until the 2000s.

[@rororeads]

@@SupposedlyFun oh…I thought we were in the 2000s by that point. You are right though, I found it tricky knowing exactly what year we were in.

[@rororeads]

I remember him mentioning the year 2000 at some point…but that could have been way after the Madonna reference.

[@SupposedlyFun]

@@rororeads I was so fixated on it that I waited for a reference that would fix me in time and I'm pretty sure they enter the 2000s later. I could be wrong, though! I've been irrationally fixated on a mistake that turned out to be my own error in the past. 🤪

[@philliphess6407]

My favorite book I’ve read in the last few years. The imagery she paints with life out in Appalachia, though he went through a lot, can’t help but wish I could be a fly on the wall for some of the adventures (the darker parts not so much..) but I think the bitter truths make the happier bits all the better. Good review !!

[@bookssongsandothermagic]

Really interesting review. It taught me a lot about the book - a book I have just heard about but didn't know. I have looked at some other thumbnails on your channel and can see it's going to be a great channel. Thanks.

[@rororeads]

Thank you!

[@robingee1604]

David Copperfield is my favorite book and had just reread it right before getting Demon Copperhead on tape. I did find myself comparing the two and having fun seeing how the original characters and themes were reimagined in the modern book. I really enjoyed the book and feel I would have loved it if I had read it as a standalone without the Dickens connection BUT it is hard to say because I definitely had the original in my mind the whole time. Still the honest and gritty portrayal of the opioid crisis and modern day issues were expertly done.

[@Emmareads15]

Having read David last year and loving it, it actually takes something away from this book. As you're introduced to each character you know that they're going to die or how they're life is going to turn out. The characters are rip offs, but some are lacking the humour or even the emotional bonds that the Dickens novel had. Nothing can take me by surprise, but then you're also saying it was predictable too, but for me there's nothing that's unexpected.

[@thefantasynuttwork]

Loved this book and your review. Great job!

[@livvynut]

One of my favourite books of the century so far. Superb characters superbly written. I've not read anything else by BC but I intend to.

[@joejohnston3]

David Copperfield is one of my favorite books ever, and I would say that YES, please do read David Copperfield first in order to get the full impact of this book. Some of the funny moments are much funnier, and the depth is much deeper, once you've met the original characters, and Kingsolver often drew her characters directly from David Copperfield.

[@rupachenthil]

I loved DC. 5 star read for me, hands down. Yes it slowed down a bit in the middle. But a great one nonetheless. Characterization is the fav aspect of this book. Now off to read everything Kingsolver wrote

[@joangavrilik3009]

Have you reviewed Trust? Will you? I’d love to hear your take on it!

[@rororeads]

I talked about it in my Booker prize long list video last year… but I haven’t dedicated a whole video to it.

[@joangavrilik3009]

@@rororeads got it - thanks!

[@josereygarrido]

I agree about the surprises, but nonetheless I think the plot was unsurprising because that's exactly the reality. People like even told him, this is how your story will go, and it was almost an unstoppable trajectory, the story of opioids we all know, but rarely know the protagonists of.

[@2134yanto]

I’ve actually avoided reading this due to the fact that David Copperfield is one of my all time favourite novels. I’m probably wrong but I don’t see why classics need to be reimagined.

[@mbalim.4180]

Yes, for authenticity, but the use of profanity and blasphemy really worked me in. I guess it’s how boys of that age and in that area spoke though. I love the book, but more so got caught up with the character (Demon). Such a wonderful portrayal of what goes on in the mind of someone who has been through so much at a young age, but man did he lack logical reasoning at times! I felt like shouting at him to look at the bigger picture at times and not always feel like things were happening to him. But I guess that just the traits of an immature mind. It was a great story line overall!

[@DuaneJasper]

Cracking review great stuff

[@henrikstornblom]

An utterly fantastic book. A must read.

[@justpeachy697]

Overall I liked it, it was very interesting. there were a few times I found it riveting, and felt like a fly on the wall and mind (demons) of drug addicts, which was truly humbling. But at other times I thought it was predictable, and had some comical overeaches and some unreal chain of events most I can't remember but for instance when Aunt June, years later, finally told him the story of his dad and mom he didn't even know they had been friends which I just would find that very hard to believe but he wouldn't have been asking more people these questions before. Also the part where they left those little children in the crack house, with no immediate call to the police and no follow-up, make me wonder was she in a hurry to write this at a certain points and not others. Good book interesting story but I don't think it's like prize-winning fiction.

[@dennisbento7440]

I am dying to read this book as I have heard many great things about it. I have not read David Copperfield , but I will-before or after Demon? I haven't decided. And you are correct about Dopesick-it was devastating. Go Celtics !!!

[@rororeads]

I caught up on the Celtics game this morning. Thank god for that! Although Tatum had a shocker in the first there quarters. Bring on game 7!!!

[@judybrown1624]

I read the Dickens right before. I found myself constantly comparing them, which was a bit of a distraction for me. I wish I'd read the Dickens after.

[@rororeads]

Hey Judy. That’s interesting. Didn’t think reading copperfield first would have a negative (ish) impact on reading demon. Are the comparisons vast?

[@judybrown1624]

@@rororeads most plot twists you could see how she changed it yet stayed true. Most of the characters were there in similar roles, sometimes changing gender. It was all fascinating, just a little distracting. I'm glad I read them both, just wish I'd reversed the order. I know some other people were glad they'd read the Dickens first. It really is quite an achievement.

[@zelicj]

I think I would have liked the Kinsolver version better had I not just read the rich and lovable characters by Dickens. I think Kingsolver in both this book and The Poisoneood Bible kinda breaks the story by going into a bit of a preachy essay. I enjoyed it but it doesn't compare to the amazing David Copperfield for me which I listened to and then bought to re-read as a physical book. Thanks for your review.

[@lindapayne95]

I’m glad that you commented on kingsolver getting a little “preachy“. That was my major complaint about demon copperhead. I thought Demon was too preachy. I read Dickens novel many many years ago. I launched into kingsolver‘s book without knowing that it was based on the Dickens book. When I read the description of “U-Haul”, I thought the character seemed a lot like Dickens Uriah Heep. I reread Dickens and was amazed by the similarities. I enjoy Kingsolver’s writing and am glad that she tackled this topic.

[@jobuckley2999]

Demon Copperhead is the worst book I've read in years. The dialog is inane. The characters are shallow and stupid. Literally slap your head stupid. The story, wait, there is no real story. The boy lives in foster care then doesn't. That is the story. Drugs. Oh, the drugs. Drugs are bad. Never knew that. There is an opioid epidemic. Big surprise. Demon just bungles along with his girlfriend on drugs. This is a dull witted and totally predictable novel that parallels David Copperfield. Yea right. So yes, it should win a Pulitzer.

[@rororeads]

But what did you think of the book Jo? Haha. Appreciate your thoughts as always.

[@jobuckley2999]

I have recently read Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane. That is one amazing novel. Give it a go sometime I know you will enjoy it.

[@phyllistallent4149]

The advantage to having read David Copperhead is that how Kingsolver updated her doppelgängers is commentary on contemporary life. The MiCawbers become the McCobbs. Dickens’ humorous but benign characters become more devious in their modern makeover. These parallel characters portray Kingsolver’s social issue concerns. Steerforth’s reincarnation as Fast Forward is, again, so similar, yet darker. I reread David Copperfield prior to Demon Copperhead. This adds a depth of Kingsolver’s vision of an area ravaged by poverty, drug use, and hopelessness

[@ercieberwick1513]

Do you mean "Tender Mercies?

[@ercieberwick1513]

Do you mean "Tender Mercies?"

[@Tismesue]

Oxycontin* 😉

[@Natalia-Mrs-wolf]

I tend to call ms kingsolver a plagiarist (( took everything from Dickens and just set it in different era (( whole book made me sad

[@giannanicole1841]

This was an incredibly boring book I don’t get the hype

[@rororeads]

You're not alone in thinking this. A good friend of mine found it utterly average. For me it's completely personal; so many things that connected to my own life or made me rethink things... that I fell in love with it. But yeah...you're not alone.