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nibs 's review for:
Demon Copperhead
by Barbara Kingsolver
This book reminded me of the power of longer fiction, and the power of a single character's story. I've read a lot of intergenerational fiction lately, but this was 22hours of juts Demon's story, in his own words. There's a power to that.
The bildungsroman is used in a way to recount his recovery - as an adult he has to look back on his life to what got him to his addiction., so he can process and recover and build a new life for himself. But ultimately, tit's a story of a boy (he is under 18 for the vast majority of the book) trying to get through life in a world that either doesn't care or is creating cracks for him to fall through.
The shining lights are people in his life are people who don't give on him (Aunt June, Angus, Mr Armstrong & Miss Annie) . But ultimately it's Demon who is the one fighting so hard to keep going day by day.
Also, in a genre that could lean into poverty porn, this very much didn't feel like it. I think in part because it's first person - it feels like Demon is owning his story and choosing to share it with us, rather than you're a bystander consuming his trauma.
The audiobook narration was excellent and really immersed me in the story.
It was also fun looking up David Copperfield parallels and differences as I went.
The bildungsroman is used in a way to recount his recovery - as an adult he has to look back on his life to what got him to his addiction., so he can process and recover and build a new life for himself. But ultimately, tit's a story of a boy (he is under 18 for the vast majority of the book) trying to get through life in a world that either doesn't care or is creating cracks for him to fall through.
The shining lights are people in his life are people who don't give on him
Also, in a genre that could lean into poverty porn, this very much didn't feel like it. I think in part because it's first person - it feels like Demon is owning his story and choosing to share it with us, rather than you're a bystander consuming his trauma.
The audiobook narration was excellent and really immersed me in the story.
It was also fun looking up David Copperfield parallels and differences as I went.