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4.49 AVERAGE
4.49 AVERAGE
I cannot believe this book won a Pulitzer. I kept waiting for something to happen and for the book to start going somewhere when suddenly I found myself realizing that this was it. The whole book was just a long, slow train wreck. Demon Copperhead has one of the more on-the-nose names to exist outside of the fantasy genre. He’s objectively an unreliable narrator even though he’s never treated as such and if he had any angst in his body, he’d be Holden Caulfield. Thankfully though, that’s about the only negative character trait he doesn’t possess.
We’re treated to a laundry list of the evils of pharmaceuticals, coal, and the foster care system, with only the last in that list having a new take on the subject. In Demon’s defense, he has shit friends and we never realize that in real life either. The scene where the truck stop hooker robs him, it was so over the top it took me right out of the immersion and we just never regain it. That was remarkably early in the book. At one point we see him literally sorting through a mountain of trash.
The only thing I enjoyed is that the drug use just slowly slid into the picture and suddenly, I couldn’t remember a time he wasn’t using drugs. Couldn’t figure out where it came from and I imagine that’s what it’s like to be an addict. Then it was constant and I’m thinking just how much I enjoy that aspect and how meta the narrative was getting. Then, she big fat goes and has Demon comment about how he can’t remember where it began and he literally says in chapter one was his best guess. And the magic was ruined.
There were also issues I haven’t realized before about people trying to write across their gender that I hadn’t noticed before because I’m a man and so are most of the authors I read. The author can turn quite the phrase, but no teenage boy would have any idea what changing from Baby Spice (I think that was the reference) to Madonna even means. I just couldn’t resonate with the main character and didn’t find that the book had much new to say.
We’re treated to a laundry list of the evils of pharmaceuticals, coal, and the foster care system, with only the last in that list having a new take on the subject. In Demon’s defense, he has shit friends and we never realize that in real life either. The scene where the truck stop hooker robs him, it was so over the top it took me right out of the immersion and we just never regain it. That was remarkably early in the book. At one point we see him literally sorting through a mountain of trash.
The only thing I enjoyed is that the drug use just slowly slid into the picture and suddenly, I couldn’t remember a time he wasn’t using drugs. Couldn’t figure out where it came from and I imagine that’s what it’s like to be an addict. Then it was constant and I’m thinking just how much I enjoy that aspect and how meta the narrative was getting. Then, she big fat goes and has Demon comment about how he can’t remember where it began and he literally says in chapter one was his best guess. And the magic was ruined.
There were also issues I haven’t realized before about people trying to write across their gender that I hadn’t noticed before because I’m a man and so are most of the authors I read. The author can turn quite the phrase, but no teenage boy would have any idea what changing from Baby Spice (I think that was the reference) to Madonna even means. I just couldn’t resonate with the main character and didn’t find that the book had much new to say.
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
Loved loved loved!! Fantastic characters, story and setting. Heartbreaking and charming and all good things
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
NYT Reader's Choice BBOTC #1
I really enjoyed this. I know it is a retelling of sorts of David Copperfield and I haven't read the og so I can't speak to that aspect of it, but I found the way it was written to be a more digestible version of that like southern English that Dickens and Twain wrote in. I used to literally feel like my brain was leaking out of my ears when we had to read their books in school, purely because I found the language hard to follow.
The story elements made this also feel so much more relatable, and kind of heartbreaking. Demon is unfortunately a very lovable character despite his best efforts not to be.
I loved the audio book and the man who read it.
I really enjoyed this. I know it is a retelling of sorts of David Copperfield and I haven't read the og so I can't speak to that aspect of it, but I found the way it was written to be a more digestible version of that like southern English that Dickens and Twain wrote in. I used to literally feel like my brain was leaking out of my ears when we had to read their books in school, purely because I found the language hard to follow.
The story elements made this also feel so much more relatable, and kind of heartbreaking. Demon is unfortunately a very lovable character despite his best efforts not to be.
I loved the audio book and the man who read it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A perfect book (even though I could have done with a bit more depth to Dori). Kingslover does an exquisit job of creating characters, and the perspective of Demon is believable and packs so much depth and heart. This is a story that you can be enthralled in and by and learn from and feel empathy for the characters (and the real people they are inspired by) all at the same time.
The depiction of poverty and addiction is honest and human.
The depiction of poverty and addiction is honest and human.