Reviews

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

schmids24's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

molly_garud's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

lolajeanne's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

klreads21's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

pswords72's review against another edition

5.0

Kingsolver is a masterful story teller.

michaeljviney's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

loresreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'd give more stars if I could. I LOVED this book and it will definitely stay with me for a while.

banditry's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

klindholm's review against another edition

5.0

Difficult subject matter for sure. But stick with it.

arellareads's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Demon Copperhead: I can’t adequately express my pure admiration and love for this story in a single review. I knew it would become a favorite from the moment Demon introduced himself — the prose and characterization seeped into my mind, sitting with my long after each passage ended — but I didn’t know it would become this great catharsis. No book has ever hit so close to home. 

This coming-of-age novel follows the story of Demon, a “hillbilly,” “backwoods,” “trailer trash” boy living in an impoverished and opioid-ridden nowhere-town in Southern Appalachia. The novel itself is a token of contemporary American-fiction, tackling hard-hitting issues about the modern drug epidemic and the mass failure of our socio-economic systems. But my heart lies with its characters. 

If you’re also a part of the ‘dead parent’s society,’ I can sincerely say spending 500+ pages inside of Demon’s head feels like falling into the arms of a long-lost friend.  Demon is one of the most personable, emotive, and lifelike narrators I’ve ever encountered. As someone who used art to escape the substance abuse, poverty, mental health concerns, and generational traumas in early life, Demon’s story became my story, despite my having grown up in an altogether different corner of Wisconsin. 

And isn’t that just the point? These issues know no bounds — we’re all drowning in some way, and we all hunger for a life where we’re able to live, and love, and not just survive. This is the only book I’ve stretched to last months, purely to extend my time with its characters and its world, annotating  passages that could’ve come straight out of my own heart. The true peak of literary fiction. Must read and must relish.