Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

February 16, 2023

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Demon Copperhead (nee Damon Fields) is born to a single teen-aged mother in the mountains of Appalachia, with few assets other than the good looks and coppery hair that he inherited from his absent (possibly dead) father. Demon's mother has a weakness for drugs and alcohol, as well as poor judgment when it comes to men. After her fatal overdose, Demon finds himself first tossed into the foster care system, then as a runaway on his own, exposed to all of the dangers of an adolescent without an adult to look after them.

An adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield: orphan forced out into the world on his own, far too soon, with no one to care for him. There are references throughout the text to Dickens' novel, including the neighbors who look after him sporadically named the Peggots (as opposed to Peggotty in David Copperfield). While her novels have been hit or miss for me, I enjoyed several of Kingsolver's previous books, including The Poisonwood Bible and Animal Dreams, so I was very much looking forward to reading her latest book. At first I was interested in the characters but my interest starting waning after a couple hundred pages, and by the time Demon gets into opiods, it had become pretty depressing and I was over it and skimmed the last 250 pages. I also didn't like the stereotypes of Appalachia and rural people. Disappointing.

David Copperfield

Atomic Lobster by Tim Dorsey

Atomic Lobster by Tim Dorsey

More Florida mayhem with Serge A. Storms, Florida-phile and looney knight errant, and his druggie pal Coleman, who never met an addictive substance he didn’t like.  The boys are short on cash as usual, and need to drum up some fast money.  And what's faster and cheaper than printing your own money?  They have new friend, a stripper named Rachel who literally stumbled into their apartment (she sounds like a reincarnation of Sharon from Florida Roadkill).  Meanwhile, the G-Unit (the four grannies who hit it big in investing) have discovered that it’s cheaper to live on a cruise ship than in senior citizen housing, so they start booking back-to-back cruises – and a lot of other retirees have figured this out, too (free food available 24 hours/day including room service, daily maid service, onboard activities like mini golf and movies, pool and exercise room, nightly live entertainment – all included in the cruise price).  Jim Davenport and his wife are just trying to find a house in a nice quiet neighborhood, Tex McGraw is still trying to kill them, and the Diaz brothers want to get into smuggling big-time.  And Johnny Vegas (the Accidental Virgin) is still trying to get laid.

Another reason I like Serge is that he has a thing for librarians – reference and information is such a turn-on, and what’s better than having sex with a librarian in a storage unit on a door from Jim Morrison’s house?  The audiobook is narrated by Oliver Wyman who does a great job with all the voices.