#kingsolver

[courtz-thoughtz]

Demon Copperhead (2022) Barbara Kingsolver

📚 5/5 📚

Demon Copperhead is a modern-day adaptation of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, a mid-1800’s novel that follows the mostly unfortunate journey from birth to adulthood of a young English boy named (you guessed it) David Copperfield, exploring themes of class and gender along the way. In similar fashion, Demon Copperhead takes the reader on the tumultuous travels of Damon Fields (nicknamed Demon Copperhead), born and grown in rural Lee County, Virginia.

I won’t sugar coat it; this kid was dealt a shitty hand from the get-go. Born in a trailer park to a single teen mother who abuses drugs, lumped with an abusive and arrogant stepfather, and then thrown into foster care, all the while navigating his own trials with addiction, poverty, love, loss, heartache, and friendship.

Despite the somewhat depressing narrative, Kingsolver litters this book with a stunning array of clever similes via an endless stream of adolescent consciousness that had me stifling obnoxious laughter on the bus more than once.

The thing I loved the most about this book was undoubtedly Mr Copperhead himself – being so privy to his boyish inner monologue made me feel like a close friend. I found myself hopeful every time he was on the verge of a win, then utterly heartbroken each time that hope was inevitably thwarted.

Another high point for me is the exceptionally entertaining turns of phrase and character descriptions. My personal favourite is this one about young Emmy Peggott from Chapter 4:

“She was a skinny sixth grader with long brown hair and this look to her, cold-blooded. Carrying around at all times a Hello Kitty backpack that she looked ready to bludgeon you with, then tote around your head inside.”

This revamped coming-of-age story also provides a thought-provoking exploration into the opioid crisis, classism, and the theory that your environment, particularly in the formative years of life, shapes your thoughts, your beliefs, and in many cases, your future. As a regional Australian citizen who has seen one too many failed futures due to a lack of geographical opportunity, this book touched my heart and I’m sure will touch the hearts of many who understand the plights of children who are forced to grow up too fast through no fault of their own.

I award this book with five out of five, my highest honour (not that my honour means anything because who even am I) and I’d like to send a personal thanks to whatever planets aligned to enable my accidental stumble across what I’d now call one of my all-time favourite books (and my all-time favourite protagonist).

Thanks for signing on to read Courts Thoughts on this one.

Cheers

[llovelymoonn]

on july

allie ray holler \\ charlotte brontë jane eyre \\ charlotte eriksson \\ eileen miles hot night \\ barbara kingsolver barbara kingsolver \\ franz kafka diaries of franz kafka, 1914-1923: “july 16, 1912″ \\ gurpiar sidhu \\ czesław miłosz new and collected poems: 1931-2001: “a magic mountain” (tr. czesław miłosz) (via @soracities​) \\ rick bass the wild marsh: four seasons at home in montana

buy my chai latte because i spent way too much money on them this week x

[thoughtkick]

The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don’t know.

Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna

[pefkaes]

03.02.2024 // learning to be alone with my thoughts.

progress through Demon Copperhead has been slow but so far, I've been enjoying it immensely (no surprises there because Kingsolver is a brilliant writer).

[macrolit]

Maybe life doesn't get any better than this, or any worse, and what we get is just what we're willing to find: small wonders, where they grow. - Barbara Kingsolver

[quotespile]

Nothing wondrous can come in this world unless it rests on the shoulders of kindness.

Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna

[perfeqt]

The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don’t know.

Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna

[diyasgarden]

You’ll never change the past.

all pictures Challengers (2024) / quote by Mahmoud Darwish, unknown artwork / from Half Return by Adrienne Lenker / from Waiting Room by Phoebe Bridgers / from The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

[perfectfeelings]

I thought I wouldn’t live through it. But you do. You learn to love the place somebody leaves behind for you.

Barbara Kingsolver // Prodigal Summer

[perfectquote]

The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don’t know.

Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna

[lunchboxpoems]

LOVE POEM, WITH BIRDS

They are your other flame. Your world

begins and ends with the dawn chorus,

a plaint of saw-whet owl, and in between,

the seven different neotropical warblers

you will see on your walk to the mailbox.

It takes a while. I know now not to worry.

Once I resented your wandering eye that 

flew away mid-sentence, chasing any raft

of swallows. I knew, as we sat on the porch 

unwinding the cares of our days, you were 

listening to me through a fine mesh of oriole,

towhee, flycatcher. I said it was like kissing

through a screen door: You’re not all here.

But who could be more present than a man

with the patience of sycamores, showing me

the hummingbird’s nest you’ve spied so high 

in a tree, my mortal eye can barely make out 

the lichen-dabbed knot on an elbow of branch.

You will know the day her nestlings leave it.

The wonder is that such an eye, that lets not

even the smallest sparrow fall from notice,

beholds me also. That I might walk the currents

of our days with red and golden feathers

in my hair, my plain tongue laced with music.

That we, the birds and I, may be text and

illumination in your book of common prayer.

BARBARA KINGSOLVER

[dabiconcordia]

“As a dinner guest I gratefully eat just about anything that's set before me, because graciousness among friends is dearer to me than any other agenda.” ― Barbara Kingsolver

[llovelymoonn]

on april

barbara kingsolver demon copperhead \\ sara teasdale a november night \\ fatima aamer bilal i mother it, the absence of her ii. i was hard to bear from the very start (via @ivynightshade) \\ anne carson the glass essay (via @petaltexturedskies) \\ raymond p. fischer an aged man remembers april \\ cyrus cassells \\ anton chekhov love \\ t.s eliot the waste land \\ michelle o'sullivan the flower and the frozen sea: "bespoke"

kofi

[thoughtkick]

I thought I wouldn’t live through it. But you do. You learn to love the place somebody leaves behind for you.

Barbara Kingsolver // Prodigal Summer

[thenightpost]

There's this thing that happens, let's say at school where a bunch of guys are in the bathroom, at the urinal, laughing about some dork that made an anus of himself in gym. You're all basically nice guys, right? You know right from wrong, and would not in a million years be brutal to the poor guy's face. And then it happens: the dork was in the shitter. He comes out of the stall with this look. He heard everything. And you realize you're not really that nice of a guy. This is what I would say if I could, to all smart people of the world with their dumb hillbilly jokes: We are right here in the stall. We can actually hear you. - Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

[litsnaps]