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Demon Copperhead: A Novel
Demon Copperhead: A Novel
Demon Copperhead: A Novel
Audiobook21 hours

Demon Copperhead: A Novel

Written by Barbara Kingsolver

Narrated by Charlie Thurston

4.5/5

()

About this audiobook

WINNER OF THE 2023 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION

A New York Times "Ten Best Books of 2022 • An Oprah’s Book Club Selection • An Instant New York Times Bestseller • An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller • A #1 Washington Post Bestseller 

"Demon is a voice for the ages—akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield—only even more resilient.” —Beth Macy, author of Dopesick

"May be the best novel of 2022. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love.” (Ron Charles, Washington Post)

From the acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero’s unforgettable journey to maturity

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateOct 18, 2022
ISBN9780063252004
Demon Copperhead: A Novel
Author

Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including the novels Unsheltered, Flight Behavior, The Lacuna, The Poisonwood Bible, Animal Dreams, and The Bean Trees, as well as books of poetry, essays, and creative nonfiction. Her work of narrative nonfiction is the influential bestseller Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver’s work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has earned literary awards and a devoted readership at home and abroad. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts, as well as the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the body of her work. She lives with her family on a farm in southern Appalachia. 

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Reviews for Demon Copperhead

4.5/5

1,074 ratings57 reviews

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  • 5/5
    Demon is a diamond!
    This book is unflinching but worth the bumpy ride! Beautifully written and masterfully narrated.
  • 3/5
    Interesting story about a terribly sad childhood! Little too wordy for be at times!
  • 5/5
    Fantastic book. Great characters and superbly narrated story! Definitely recommend!!
  • 5/5
    This book was so good, and dug deeply into so many important topics. As a person who has seen firsthand the impacts of opioid addiction this book hits hard and deep. I highly recommend reading this book.
  • 5/5
    The writing & the narrator are superb! Thank you! GREAT!
  • 5/5
    One of the best books I have ever listened to!
  • 5/5
    Couldn’t recommend more highly. Excellent writing, irresistible characters, perfect narration.
  • 5/5
    Great story, great writing. First read from her and I'm going right back for another.
  • 5/5
    Such a well written story. I so wanted Demon to win. So realistic.
  • 5/5
    Easy to become the characters. Living their life. So real because it is real. What a journey! Recommend
  • 5/5
    I’m not sure how I have lived in my world of books for half a lifetime not reading Barbara Kingsolver’s work!?!?!? I’m obsessed. I’ve recently started listening to audiobooks and I’m gonna guess it’s her writing style that keeps me enthralled. Listen……
  • 5/5
    Amazing characters and outstanding writing. I was sad to have it end and couldn’t put it down. Excellent!
  • 5/5
    I think this is Barbara Kingsolver’s best novel. The character development is wonderful.
  • 5/5
    Wonderfully Witty and Heart-Wrenching. Demon Copperhead is one of my favorites.
  • 4/5
    Not sure exactly how I feel about this novel. In some ways it’s engrossing, and I appreciate how much it humanizes a segment of society that is often mocked and ridiculed. In other ways, though, it’s tedious and slightly patronizing. All in all, a good, long read; I like good, long books.
  • 5/5
    Wow. What a book. Wouldn’t have minded another chapter of the good that he finally has found, but overall a tremendous book. He and Angus will be in my heart for a long time to come.
  • 3/5
    The main character is a sympathetic one that essentially is an orphan like Charles Dickens’s characters, but this story modernizes the struggle through the eyes of an impoverished boy who gets caught up in drugs and depressing relationships. Too many characters with offbeat names (Maggot, Uhaul, etc) makes it feel contrived despite the efforts to present realism.

    Love Kingsolver’s Poisonwood, but this is her second miss that I’ve read…she’s 50/50 in my book. Good stats for baseball; bad for a quarterback.
  • 5/5
    Great characters and of course it was good because it’s Barbara Kingsolver.
  • 5/5
    Great characters and language. It was like a Dickens novel with lots of adversity and a redemptive ending. It had a moral voice without scolding the reader (unless, of course you sell opiates to teenagers, then you will be uncomfortable, as well you should be!)
  • 5/5
    I would say that this book was not great, however I did enjoy it.it was difficult for me to get into it, but I persisted until I was hooked. The characters were well developed. A little depressing; it is well written & that would make this a great book.
  • 5/5
    Masterpiece. I found myself feeling sad halfway through because I knew, that like all good things, this would come to an end. Truly one of the best books I’ve ever read. Demon is unforgettable.
  • 5/5
    One of the best books I’ve read. Damon Copperhead is the voice of childhood trauma and the opioid epidemic. So thought provoking.
  • 5/5
    Great historical fiction about the opioid crisis in the south.
  • 5/5
    The author gives accounts of addiction that will make you look at many addicts in a different light. I highly recommend it!
  • 5/5
    Great story Coming of age in a troubled world No sugarcoat
  • 5/5
    Absolutely incredible, this book is so heartbreaking with the cruel devastating truth of too many. It’s also bittersweet, in the same sense. This story shows the depths a person can fall to and still come out on the other side.

    I couldn’t recommend this enough to anyone, it’s truly life changing with the perspective that you experience the story through.
  • 5/5
    Excellent book. Great narrator. A little long in the addiction part but a great listen overall and very enlightening.
  • 5/5
    One of my top 5 books of all time and my favorite Kingsolver book. The narrator was amazing, which only added to the brilliance of the story.
  • 5/5
    Kingsolver has a gift. She somehow immerses her reader into a world perfectly accurate to the place and situation yet still artistically crafted into symbolic statement. Amazing. I am a recovered addict and I just do not understand how she knew what it was like in the mist suttle ways that people never think of. Rarely have I seen the world of addiction portrayed so very accurately and without stigma in any form of media. I was just astounded. And grateful.
  • 5/5
    Another great novel from Kingsolver! Wonderful narration and a riveting story from beginning to end.