Reviews

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

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pbmurray's review against another edition

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challenging dark inspiring medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

izgetsbetter's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

cassmccaff's review against another edition

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4.0

What an interesting story. I was really captivated for the first 10ish hours. Couldn’t stop listening actually. But then, once he gets to high school and lives with Coach and Angus, it seemed to slow down a bit. And I was waiting for it to pick up. But it never did! The first half covers his life from birth - 12 years old. The 2nd half I swear goes forever. I wanted this book to go all the way into adulthood. I wanted to see how Demon ended up. And what his thoughts were looking back on where he grew up. But it does end quite abruptly, letting you finish writing his story. Which brings me to the next thing that bothers me, THIS IS NOT A TRUE STORY. But written just like one!! It’s actually hard to believe that it’s not a true story. And that would be the #1 thing that would make this book better. Heck, the author is from there anyway. You’d think she could have found someone with an identical story, get some bullet points and even just say “based on a true story” but nope. It’s just a modern day version of David Copperfield. Which is super fun. It was very well written and captivating. But the last half fell a little flat for me and I was disappointed in the ending. But that’s just me. I like things all tied up with a bow.

I do not regret reading this one bit. I really enjoyed it. There is some language. And the entirety of the book is about the opioid crises in the West Virginia. If you’re sensitive to that sort of thing, then this will be a hard read.