Inspired by Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, we follow Demon Copperhead throughout his life where he was ‘dealt the wrong hand’ straight from birth.
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia reader can follow Demon as he faces the foster system, opioid epidemic, addiction and crushing losses of love and family.
Will he make it out alive?
I struggled so much with what to rate this. I’ve read enough books to recognize that Kingsolver knows how to write. She is talented, that is not a question.
I would question is .. the author is so talented, so introspective and intelligent that it comes off almost offensive.
I was pulled in right away from the voice of Demon. The character was edgy and I was excited the journey I would experience. When I noticed the length of the book, the structure I was expecting was something along the vibes of The Heart’s Invisible Furies.
Yet as the book goes on, Demon’s voice starts to grate on me. The author’s voice starts coming loudly through the pages and scenes that could have been mapped out with some clever dialogue were instead presented as a lecture from the author. The cliches start piling up.
The middle of the book bogged me down so much, I spent more time looking how much pages were left in disbelief than reading the lengthy paragraphs.
By the end, I was pooped. I didn’t care how it ended because the author had worn me down so much with the repeatable thoughts, predictible scenarios and Demon never really getting his head out of his butt.
If I were you, I’d question my sanity with this rating. If I were your friend, I’d never recommend you this book. The longer I sit with my thoughts after reading, the more annoyed I get. (Probably why I wanted to write this review and get this book out of my life.) My stance of my higher-ish rating is completely based on the impressive writing skill. I’m going to end this review before I change my mind. If the author was less talented, this would be a 2 star read.
cmacs paperbacks 
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