Book Review: Demon Copperhead by, Barbara Kingsolver
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- Опубликовано: 25 ноя 2024
- In today's video I'll be reviewing Demon Copperhead by, Barbara Kingsolver.
Demon Copperhead Written Review:
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"this book is going to be a bestseller, and I wont be surprised if in the future this gets put up for awards" damn. alana our prophet
@@cs0p LOL! I had a feeling in my BONES! BONES 🤌🏼
Thank you for the review. This book isn’t for me, but I appreciated being reminded of the plight of foster care children that were raised by a co-worker of mine. She told me stories that gave me nightmares of the experiences some of her foster kids went through. Reading is such a blessing. Sometimes it teaches us that our own imperfect lives were not so bad after all.
And thank you for watching! Oh wow - what a resilient coworker you have. ❤️ and yes, reading is such a blessing! 🙌🏼
Just finished this Novel and I loved it. Will be in my head for a while.
It's a good on!
@ … true! 😎👍🏼
I loved this book. Probably one of my favorite books ever.... I can't stop thinking about Demon and all the characters. At the end I just started crying.
YES! This book is FANTASTIC! I’m so glad you loved it. And yes, that ending made me tear up too. It was absolute perfection.
This was a great review. I read David Copperfield before I read Demon Copperhead, and I'm glad I did because there are a lot of 'in jokes'. I loved this book, the themes you mention which are gritty and despairing but there is also humour with some lovely turns of phrase. There was hope deep down too. Even with how much of a hole Damon and his friends fell down there were people trying to encourage them and who stressed that it was the political and economic systems which oppressed these people that was at fault and not blaming the individuals. Yes, five out of five for me too.
Thank you!! Yes! I do think that having read Copperfield before reading this one, made me appreciate Copperhead more! It’s really a fantastic contemporary novel and I’m glad you loved it also!
Well, that's been added to my TBR. You're the third or fourth person whose opinion I really respect that has loved it. Great review!
Whoooooooo!!! I hope you get to read it soon! Thanks! :)
I really enjoyed this review and I’m thinking of reading this book now! But what you said about the opioid crisis really reminded me of this 80s documentary I seen about the crack epidemic with the black community. I think it’s important that as citizens of this country, everyone should understand that class precedes race. Getting stuck on the more "micro issues" is a distraction from that actual oppressions we should be fighting against; and I think this book seems to do a good job at bringing that idea to the surface :)
Also very true about the catcher in the rye, I didn’t necessarily hate or love the book but now reflecting on it, I totally see your point haha.
I think what I’ll be looking forward to with this book though, is the optimism, it will truly be refreshing!
Yes! Excellent point about class exceeding race and all these distractions. I’m right there with you. This book does an excellent job with this topic.
Yea, in catcher the character was just too short sighted for me 🤣 but I do get it’s appeal because it nails teen angst, in a lot of ways. I hope you get to read Demon Copperhead soon!
Thank you for this video Alana. I have a test on this book today and this video helped me get into those key concepts great job analyzing this!!
Thank you for watching! I’m glad you enjoyed it and best of luck with your test!
I know I love your taste if you loved The Poisonwood Bible. That is my all time favorite book. There is so much going on in that book. It lives in my head too. And my heart.
Thank you!! I really need to reread Poisonwood Bible - it’s been too long!
It just won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize. So good prediction!😊
Lol right?! I could just tell this one was going to win something 😂
Finally I have come back to this after finishing the book. Great review!
Whoooo!! I hope you enjoyed it and thank you!🙌🏼
This was great. I wish the paperback was available in the US already! I originally thought I'd need to read David Copperfield first but it doesn't sound like that's a must at all. Sounds like something I would love, thank you for this review! I have seen maybe 1 other person say they were going to read this but haven't seen any reviews. I can guess why, which is a shame. If it wasn't for your review, I likely wouldn't have known much about this for who knows how long. Looks like I'll be splurging to buy it now!
Omg right?! 😩 I wait for paperbacks too or get them shipped from the UK. However, the paperback of this in the uk is over $30 💀💀💀💀 but I mean… it’s the end of the year and I’m an advocate for people splurging and treating themselves 🤣
Another fantastic review. You expressed all the main points that came to mind when I read it and a few that didn't. I wish I had liked it as well as you, but I liked it well enough. I did find that when she had a point to make you couldn't miss it and I wished that had been more seemless. However, the story gripped me from the beginning, but I felt it was a little overlong. I felt the book had some wonderful storytelling and Demon's voice was compelling and natural. Because of the main character's narration I oddly felt a little removed from the story, not in it, merely looking from the outside. I think this was as a consequence of the synergy between it and David Copperfield. I kept being pulled out of the story, thrown back to the earlier one. Just my luck that I've only read one Dickens and it was the one it was based on. I did cry when the author described seeing the babies on the floor of the house, otherwise I was a little unmoved. In my copy (UK) some of the Q's were stylised. Did you have that in the US version and do you know if it has any significance? Thanks again for your wonderful review.
Thank you, Ian! That’s actually a common criticism of Kingsolver - she’s definitely not subtle with whatever point she’s trying to make haha! I can see that - Demon’s voice is so distinct that it does seem like you’re observing, rather than immersed - that’s a good point! I feel like a need to read Copperfield - it’s been a few years, so it’s not as fresh in my mind.
Yes, the Qs on the US edition is also stylized - I didn’t even notice that until you pointed it out. Hmm I’m not sure if that has a meaning, or if it’s incidental.
And thank you!
Thank you! I’m definitely ordering this book. Seems familiar and bittersweet.
And thank you for watching! Bittersweet is the perfect word for this book!
Your wonderful review has just reinforced my interest in reading this book in the next few months. Is there a character comparable to Uriah Heep that epitome of obsequiousness?
Thank you! I hope you get to read it soon and enjoy it!
I already have it on hold at my library because of your review. Sounds right up my alley. Thanks!
Yay!! Can’t wait for you to read it!
Thank you for excellent commentary 👍 The audio is on youtube (2 parts, 10+ hrs) and I was about to launch into it & thought I better get some story background. This was perfect. Kingsolver is in Paris now for the French edition - how I got word 👏
Thank you for watching and thank you! Ah! That’s amazing! :)
Very interesting review, I am definitely putting it on my TBR list 😀 I have a question - descriptions of violence, child abuse, are they too much? Thanks ☺
Some of it if vague to me now, but I do remember some of it being quite sad. I can’t remember how graphic it is or isn’t off the top of my head. I may not be a good gauge, I have a very high tolerance 😅
Will you make a video like that about A Little Life? :)
I’ve considered it for sure I can put it on the list because it’s one of my favorites!
@@alanaestelle2076 that’s lovely to hear & same!! I can talk about that book for hours so I always wonder what other people thought about it
Great review Alana - thanks ... adding this one to the TBR list!
Thank you! And I hope you get to read it soon!
You plan your reading on a yearly basis? I do it seasonally, how are you able to stay on task to that list? Don't you get the urge to read something else?
Haha yep, I do! I just really love the challenge of reading off a list - also I’m not a very spontaneous/mood reader, so it doesn’t get boring for me. I do leave a bit of wiggle room because there are some books that may pop up that I may want to read sooner than later.
This book reminded me of District 12 in the Hunger Games, which was also in Appalachia.
Woah. Now that you mention it! 👀
@@alanaestelle2076 especially the parallels of city vs rural living
Hmmm.... LOVED Grapes of Wrath and A Little Life. I think I need this book.
YOU NEED TO READ THIS!! I think you’ll love it!
I'll keep my eye out for it at the library... then if I love it I'll buy it. 🙌
My favorite so far in 2023!
So glad! 🙌🏼
I was recently asked if I would recommend this book to a 17 year old (from someone I know that happens to be a book store owner) I hesitated and said it helps if the person is a book lover, but mentioned that it got a little heavy with the drugs. What do you think... Would you recommend it to a 17 year old?
That’s a good question. I think I would hesitate to - unless they were an older teenager, maybe 17+. Maturity levels in teenagers can vary so much 😅. Perhaps a more mature, older teen could handle this.
I would seldom discourage any person if they wanted to read a book, especially if the reader is a teenager and wants to read a 500+ page book. That right there tells you that they have the maturity to deal with the issues within the book. And, it is not like the book makes you want to go out and do drugs, quite the opposite. It rather shows you where the addiction ends (several times, and not subtle).
im 16 and read it and loved the book
Hello Alana, great review! Am currently reading David Copperfield, and loving it, would love to give this a go maybe even on Audible.
I love when characters in books or people in real life don’t complain about their lot, well at least don’t let that stop them. Growing up in South Central, Los Angeles single parent household, being a teenage mom myself, never finishing High School didn’t even attend college etc…. Sometimes I was looked down on but I got to work. In hindsight I would do something’s differently ( crazy teenage years ) but I have a beautiful life and my experiences are a part of me.
I’ll stop my ranting thanks for the video.
Thank you!! Omg yes David Copperfield is amazing!! Are you listening to the version narrator by that stud Richard Armitage??🤣👌🏼
Omg PREACH, entitled angst is just obnoxious 🤣! And yaaaaaaasssss Irene! You better do it! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I love a good rant - I’m here for it 🤣🙌🏼
Yes I am it’s so good! Thanks for your kind words 😃
It's coming out this summer in my native language! 🥰 🤗
YESSSSSSS! I hope you love it!!! ❤️❤️❤️🙌🏼
I loved this book and I especially loved the opening line!!
Yes! The opening line is fantastic 👌🏼
Great review. Convinced me to read it
Yay! I hope you enjoy it!
Loved this review. You were telling the future when you predicted that it would win awards 😉
Thank you, Nick! I could feel it in my bones 🤣🤌🏼
i read this and loved it its amazing
It is so good!
I’ve found it hard to get into contemporary novels but this sounds really rich.
Idk if this is related but I have noticed there is a lot of accepted or overlooked anti white sentiment in politics and news media or social media even in our library books (not saying that there isn’t racism the other way around but that is something we don’t accept as a society, we look down upon it, it would be seen as a fringe group) and this shows that you can’t over generalize white people. There are white people overlooked that are from underprivileged lower socioeconomic backgrounds because “white privilege”. Just my opinion and observations.
Oh, oh it’s related. You’re spot on.
Yeah, Holden Caufield hasn't aged well. Hardly never hear anyone defend him from 21st cent. criticism. Recently I finished a 21st cent. novel, Stephen King's Billy Summers, which begins with the observation that Emile Zola is the nightmare version of Charles Dickens. And it sounds like this Kingsolver novel employs some of the same gritty Realism that makes the latter's novels so bleak. In fact, from what you describe almost immediately comes to mind Germinal, which chronicles a late 19th cent. strike at a French coal mine, near the border with Holland.
I just don’t like Holden regardless of the century 🤣🤣🤣 ooooh interesting! I haven’t read any Stephen King because I don’t like creepy things haha
@@alanaestelle2076 Yeah, King has been fighting for respect as long as I can remember. The Billy Summers novel is very good, tho unfortunately it just doesn't lead anywhere. Take care
I love Barbara Kingsolver and was already planning to getting to this, but this has moved it up the list even more (I'm behind on her books - she's fairly prolific!). And yeah, Catcher in the Rye. Hate that book with the fire of a thousand suns. Right up there on my worst books ever list.
I’m super behind on her books too🙈 loooool!! I’m glad I’m not the only one who hates Catcher!!
Thank you for this review :)
You’re welcome! 😄
I’m half way through it’s so good
So glad you’re enjoying it! 🙌🏼
Just ordered on thrift books
Enjoy!
Good Review
Thanks!❤️
You social/political commentary was not so subtle this time. LOL. Maybe I will read this... but I think I need to read something light first (e.g., Frenchman's Creek).
HAHA! I’m just explaining what’s in the book ;)
@@alanaestelle2076 That's what they all say.
If you think Alanna is not subtle, then you won't want to sample Kingsolver's "subtly". She is about as subtle as a brick to the face.
It is not Damon. It is Demon. Dee-Mon.
The main character’s actual birth name is Damon. Demon is his nickname and for my review I chose to call him by his birth name because I can and it’s my review and I can do what it want 😂. I know how to pronounce it.✌🏼