Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Kindle & Audible: US or CA
Morning Readers & Happy Friday!
While not reading on the beach side as I would have hoped this week, I am that much closer to having the Airbnb ‘cottage’ (aka trailer) that much closer to being able to rent! The gazebo is in, stairs are up and while I plan on finishing the skirting and staining this week, we are also waiting for barn renos to be completed. Hopefully August to try and get our hat into the race midseason!
With all that I did manage to tackle this book, Demon Copperhead, which in itself was a bit of a feat at 643 pages. A little longer that my typical reads, it was well worth it! A story of poverty and addiction, and I have to say, the writing technique stole the show for me. It was so unique, and oozed character! A well won Pulitzer Price to say the least.
I was pulled into the main character’s thoughts and into a perspective I’ve (thankfully) never had to experience myself. It humanized how you can be trying to simply cope and live through a series of situations only to find yourself dealing with addiction and loss. A concept introduced, the difference between money and land economies really stirred me up as well, having grown up on a family hobby farm myself.
A few of my favourite quotes:
“All down the years, words have been flung around like pieces of shit, only to get stuck on a truck bumper with up-yours rpide. Rednecks, moonshiners, ridge runners, hicks. Deplorables.”
“Here, all we can ever be is everything we’ve been”
“Live long enough, and all things you ever loved can turn around and scortch you blind. The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.”
“One thing I learned from Mr. Armstrong while striving heartily to remain uneducated: A good story doesn’t just copy life, it pushes back on it.”
“Means, motive and opportunity, as they say on CSI. Nothing holding me back now but sheer terror. It’s hard to explain how you can miss a place and want it with all your heart, and be utterly sure it will obliterate you the instant you touch down”
I even loved on page 6 how Barabara cheekily quotes Charles Dickens, her inspiration for the novel, “It’s in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present”. I always adore getting to know the author through their works and knowing that her inspiration came from Charles Dickens and his work with “David Copperfield” was just the cherry on top. Knowing that an author from England can publish a book in 1850 that will inspire another author born 100 years later across the ocean.
Moments of revelation like that just truly speak to me on how we are all interconnected in the human experience, and books are the portal. Happy Reading!
-Anna R.
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Kindle & Audible: US or CA
The Weekend Readers 
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