Briar

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Demon Copperhead

by Barbara Kingsolver

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Briar said: " This book stressed me out so bad that I avoided continuing reading it for over a month because the protagonist was finally happy and I knew that was about to come crashing down. I wanted to live in the world I was levitating in, paused, where he had This book stressed me out so bad that I avoided continuing reading it for over a month because the protagonist was finally happy and I knew that was about to come crashing down. I wanted to live in the world I was levitating in, paused, where he had earned himself a normal life.

The problem is, Demon Copperhead is a very good book, with some of the most beautiful, meaningful prose I've seen in a while, and I wanted to read more. So I did. And at the end, I found myself glad that I let Damon's life keep going on, even though it took such a lurch into tragedy and heady misery. In the end, there was a glimmer of hope - maybe not for the aspirational lifestyles we see now, of Erewhon smoothies and penthouse apartments, but for the kind of aspirations I, too, had as a kid. A steady job. A roof over your head that might leak sometimes, but doesn't fall in. Food on a table with good company around it. And a person who's seen the worst of you and still, somehow, sees the good.

Reading this book felt like I was watching the lives of kin of mine play out. I really felt touched and understood by the part later on where he talks about the way people speak of Appalachia and the South, and the perception people have, and how it affects those who live there. It's something that I've talked about my whole life, and especially ever since moving out of Texas. I will never turn my back on or disparage the people of Texas, whether or not I agree with them and whether or not they'd disparage me in turn, because I see how they ended up the way they are. I see how they're turned away from change because of a need to spite the elites who snub their noses at them. Stuck in their ways, yes. But sometimes people pour the water to make the mud your tires spin out in.

This book meant a lot to me. I want a special edition of it. That's a high honor, from me.

I always loved David Copperfield. I love Demon Copperhead like he's a cousin of mine. That's something most retellings could only dream of achieving. ...more "

Oct 20, 2025 05:33PM · see review