When a book buddy suggested they were going to start this book, I jumped on and asked if we could have an informal buddy read. I had been intimidated by ‘Demon Copperhead’ for quite some time; I have it as a hardback (which is quite the chunky-looking book), but it has also had so much love. It is a prize-winner (which often makes me nervous that I am just not on that level as a reader), and I have heard it recommended on BBC Radio 4’s ‘A Good Read’, and it has been a selection on BBC2’s ‘Between the Covers’. This level of hype makes me nervous, but now was the time to pick this book up with the support of a bookish buddy.
I think it is fairly common knowledge that Demon Copperhead is a modern reimagining of David Copperfield, and oh my word, this is an inspirational idea because it has its similarities but is also a completely original story.
Barbara Kingsolver has built an absorbing story, which, very much like Dickens, is a social commentary of modern America, and the broken social system and opiate crisis (ironic that there would have been one of these in Victorian London too, questioning if the world has really ever moved on?). It is a painful read at points, and it may make you angry, but it will keep you reading as the characters are created so clearly that you have to stay with them and find out what will happen to each of them – and if Demon can ever get his happy ending.
Demon is one of the best characters that I have read in a book. You want to be able to jump into the pages and save him. He is a young man who just needs to be loved, and understand the love of a family. He has missed this all of his formative years, and it leads to some poor decisions and combined with some bad luck, leads him down a path he knows is wrong but he can’t seem to help himself. It is almost as though he has resigned himself to the fact that this is all society expects from him, so that is what is going to happen. You see some wonderful glimmers of when he has chances, and there are hope of change but life is cruel and it just does not seem on the cards for Demon Copperhead to have any real chance in life.
There are so many other fascinating characters I could comment on, both those that are kind and complicated are created so clearly for the reader, with the clever play on names (and nicknames) that seem to totally encapsulate who they are and what they may mean to Demon. It is all just so clever, and a clear indication that Barbara Kingsolver is an incredibly skilled author.
I do not think I will be able to forget Demon Copperhead for quite some time, and it means I will certainly have to read ‘David Copperfield’, as I have seen films and TV adaptations but have never actually read the book. But I will say that ‘Demon Copperhead’ is not a retelling, it is a story in its own right, that has done exactly what Dickens did, highlighted a terrible social situation to the world, and for us modern readers, it has really shown how there are exactly the same social issues as there were nearly 200 years ago – and should we not be a in a world that should know so much better?