
If ever I start to feel sorry for myself, I'm going to think of this book and Demon Copperfield/Damon Fields. What a hard luck story and yet with all the obstacles he faced, he had been born with gifts (his athleticism and artistic abilities) and that x-factor his counselor (Mr. Armstrong) called "resilience." In the end, those would turn out to be his salvation.
I've never read anything before by Barbara Kingsolver but I can safely say now that I think she's an excellent writer. The style was almost conversational and so realistic to the area, it's impressive. She's either very familiar with that part of the country and/or she did a lot of research. She created a character in Damon that was likable and has the reader in his corner from the very beginning. I felt so invested in his success, I wanted to advise him or help him and found myself saying to the pages "omg, no, no!" every time he made one of those terrible life choices.
I was completely immersed in the book from the start but I confess, by the time I was three quarters finished, I felt strung out. Demon had faced what felt like a lifetime of problems and yet he wasn't even 18 years of age. It seems elitist to type. I realize lives like his are happening every day and they don't have the chances/opportunities that he had. It's a depressing realization and something those of us with the time to write book reviews have never had the misfortune to experience. I don't know how it changes in these pockets of the country where hope seems slim to nonexistent. Demon Copperhead is a book that will stay with me a long time.
4.5 Stars. Those are hard fought, opioid, coal dusted and uninsured stars too, not the shiny kind. I would give it 5 stars but I was left so depressed they felt somewhat deflated.