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A review by lindamarieaustin110159
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
5.0
This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Its length is a bit intimidating, but it is a page turner.
I’m glad this ended the way it did because this is a heartbreaking book. Although it is the story of one young boy’s journey into adulthood, it highlights the poverty, poor education and drug addiction prevalent in Appalachia. I was cheering for Demon the whole way through, but he kept making bad choices. It made me so sad.
Damon Field is a young red-haired boy when the book opens. He is the only child of a single mother who has drug and alcohol addiction problem. Damon finds himself being responsible for making sure she gets to work on time. Their neighbors, the Peggots, keep a close eye on him. He spends a lot of time at their house as best friend, Matthew Peggot (Maggot) their grandson. Although it is not the best of situations for young Damon, nicknamed Demon Copperhead, things take a severe turn for the worse when his mother begins dating a man named Stoner. Unfortunately, and to Demon’s surprise she ends up marrying him. Stoner is a master of mental abuse and makes life hell for both Demon and his mother. She is driven from sobriety back into addiction and ends up in rehab. Demon is placed in foster care with an old farmer named Crickson where he meets Fast Forward, a high school football player who sells drugs to a group of boys in foster care. On Demon’s eleventh birthday he loses his mother to an overdose from Oxycontin. Demon is placed in his second foster home with the McCobbs, parents to four children and in desperate need of money. Demon practically starves during his stay with them. Eventually he runs away to find his grandmother (his dead father’s mother). She finds a somewhat stable home for him and he becomes a star football player. Demon dreams for years of seeing the ocean. Will he ever get thee?
I’m glad this ended the way it did because this is a heartbreaking book. Although it is the story of one young boy’s journey into adulthood, it highlights the poverty, poor education and drug addiction prevalent in Appalachia. I was cheering for Demon the whole way through, but he kept making bad choices. It made me so sad.
Damon Field is a young red-haired boy when the book opens. He is the only child of a single mother who has drug and alcohol addiction problem. Damon finds himself being responsible for making sure she gets to work on time. Their neighbors, the Peggots, keep a close eye on him. He spends a lot of time at their house as best friend, Matthew Peggot (Maggot) their grandson. Although it is not the best of situations for young Damon, nicknamed Demon Copperhead, things take a severe turn for the worse when his mother begins dating a man named Stoner. Unfortunately, and to Demon’s surprise she ends up marrying him. Stoner is a master of mental abuse and makes life hell for both Demon and his mother. She is driven from sobriety back into addiction and ends up in rehab. Demon is placed in foster care with an old farmer named Crickson where he meets Fast Forward, a high school football player who sells drugs to a group of boys in foster care. On Demon’s eleventh birthday he loses his mother to an overdose from Oxycontin. Demon is placed in his second foster home with the McCobbs, parents to four children and in desperate need of money. Demon practically starves during his stay with them. Eventually he runs away to find his grandmother (his dead father’s mother). She finds a somewhat stable home for him and he becomes a star football player. Demon dreams for years of seeing the ocean. Will he ever get thee?