Book: Deamon Copperhead

Book: Deamon Copperhead

Author: Barbara Kingsolver

Pages: 560

This is my 63rd read for the year

This is the story of a boy named Damon.  Nicknamed Demon Copperhead as a boy for his red hair and a twist on Damon from his childhood classmates, he is a boy who was born to a teenage mother, a father that was already dead.  His mother and her choices will shape Demon's entire life.  He is tossed through the system until he finally locates a grandmother who gets him a permanent foster placement.  And even when that happens, Demon's luck finally runs out.  His struggles become so big for a teenage boy that he wonders how he will ever pull himself out.

This was a pretty good book.  I am a Kingsolver fan, and she is an excellent writer.  She develops the characters well and makes us want to reach through the book and grab ahold of them sometimes and shake them until they make better choices.  You can feel the deperation of the characters as she weaves the story from Demon as a small boy until he is a young adult.  

I struggled a bit with the hopelessness of this book, even though I know that was the point.  Just about every character in the book becomes addicted at some point, and I really didn't like the character Dorie, which is Demon's love interest through a large part of the book.  But Kingsolver's ability to tell a story - even one that you wish didn't need to be told about the rampant opioid problem this country has - kept this book at a higher star rating for me.  It is a spin on David Copperfield so you can spend sometimes doing character comparison as you read.

Stars:4