Demon Copperhead: a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Demon befriends us on this, his journey through the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.
Inspired by the unflinching truth-telling of David Copperfield, Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead gives voice to a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 560
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Publication date: 04/05/2023
Demon Copperhead
by Barbara Kingsolver
Review by Jo
Kingsolver has achieved a remarkable feat in this modern retelling of Dickens’ David Copperfield – she manages to stay true and faithful to the source material, as well as creating a novel that is wholly fresh, innovative, and new. Fans of Dickens will delight in the little, precise details; and readers who’ve never touched a Dickens book in their lives will be equally as engrossed.
Although the scale of tragedy and despair within these pages is at times hard to stomach, I found that the gorgeous prose, Demon’s cynical and biting humour, and the relentless pace of the story made this a charming and fiercely compelling read, full of heart. If you like meaty, riveting fiction, look no further than this!
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