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A review by bethbarron
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
5.0
This is brilliant and BLEAK and true and awful. Kingsolver did such a wonderful job. Well deserving of her pulitzer.
It took me probably a month to read this - it is brutally dark and full of trauma. Do not read this expecting happiness at all. But, damn, a story that needed to be told (do we have another novel this compelling about the opioid crisis?), and what a way to do it with a retelling of David Copperfield.
I haven't read Dickens since high school and I'm sure having some distance from Copperfield helped this feel original for me. I had my doubts about a retelling, but I think Kingsolver created a masterpiece and (further) cemented herself as a great Southern author.
It took me probably a month to read this - it is brutally dark and full of trauma. Do not read this expecting happiness at all. But, damn, a story that needed to be told (do we have another novel this compelling about the opioid crisis?), and what a way to do it with a retelling of David Copperfield.
I haven't read Dickens since high school and I'm sure having some distance from Copperfield helped this feel original for me. I had my doubts about a retelling, but I think Kingsolver created a masterpiece and (further) cemented herself as a great Southern author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Rape and Abortion