Ohhh I'm so happy I found this because I'm constantly surrounded online by Copperhead lovers 😂 I completely agree that the high point of that book is Demon himself as a character with quite a lot of depth. Outside of that? I found it pretty dry. I think it would have been better for me had it been a looser retelling - more Copperfield inspired than character by character re-telling. I heard Kingsolver saying that she plotted it all out in a spreadsheet based on the original and honestly? I could tell that during the reading experience.

@EllenFelicity

8 ай бұрын

Also it annoys me when I read people saying that it *is* a loose retelling. Yes of course the setting is very different, but when most of the characters and key plot points exist to replicate things from the original, that's not a loose retelling to me. And I don't think that's a bad thing in all cases - but in this one, the 'side' characters felt to me like they existed just to revolve around Damon. That doesn't work for me in a book that is meant to be about powerlessness. In David Copperfield, you feel in the earlier parts of that book like he is at the whims and mercy of other characters

@KierTheScrivener

8 ай бұрын

Thank you, Ellen! I totally agree with finding fellow people who see the weak points. It's so bizarre for me to see the glowing reviews from every corner and to be flaggergasted by it.

You have captured a great deal of what troubled me in Kingsolver's book.

@KierTheScrivener

10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much!

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts. I am about three fourths of my way through the novel, and while I can see how you can feel uncomfortable, I think you ask a bit too much of the author. Having heard a few Kingsolver interviews, it appears that she is quite aware about issues of representation. I suppose that for someone who identifies as a woman to write a novel from a teenage boy’s perspective is already a political act. As far as the male gaze is concerned: this is a first person account, so naturally it will capture the biases and worldview of the narrator. As a man who grew up in a similar non-urban, hyper-masculine and patriarchal environment, her description of the desires and confusions of Demon reflected my own experience very accurately, even though I am not an American. Am I proud or do I support such language and ways of viewing women today? Absolutely not.

Thank you for sharing, so many patrons at the library talk about this one, and I wasn’t sure if I was up for starting it-your thoughts are really helpful in thinking about when I should pick it up!

@KierTheScrivener

Жыл бұрын

It's a hard book. It has hard scenes. It definitely at times dragged me into a funk.

Great Review. I thought the book lost its way a bit as Demon got older.

@KierTheScrivener

27 күн бұрын

@@BookishTexan yeah, I felt that too. It lost its way

I've been really interested in checking this one out due to all the acclaim it's received! Between the pulitzer and the women's prize I feel like I have to check it out haha! ❤ Great review!

@KierTheScrivener

Жыл бұрын

Right! Even though I had mixed thoughts and it was so long, I knew I needed to. I hope you enjoy it!

I just bought it and am now slightly nervous as I loved David copperfield sooo much 😮

@KierTheScrivener

Жыл бұрын

I know I am in the very small minority here. Most people love both!

A fellow Canadian! I'm so pleased. I loved David Copperfield when I first read it at 16 and it's one of the few books that I continued to love throughout my life. I've tried reading Demon Copperfield a few times now. I'm reading it currently, but I'm not a fan. Irony of David is that in real life Charles remained married to the woman who is represented by Dora and had an affair with the woman on which Agnes is represented. Why is this important? B/c he had 10 children with his wife. That doesn't just happen; something did work in their marriage. I loved Dora. I though she was such an interesting character in the light of what Mary Wallstonecraft said about women's education meaning most women, even wealthy ones, weren't seen as intelligent creatures. Those things were fought for. Anyway, I agree with you on many levels. I feel like it's an unfinished book despite the length. It's weird. I guess I'm just such a fan of David Copperfield that I can't really like Demon. I understand why it won the Pulitzer, but it will never be an equal to The Old Man And The Sea for me - that story is so simple yet so deep AND IT FLOWS. I hope it doesn't win the woman's prize b/c, as you noticed, I didn't see any well fleshed out female characters- not one. And what's really weird is that I've had this idea of making modern version of David Copperfield before. THAT I find really weird. I had that idea and then someone wrote it.

@KierTheScrivener

6 ай бұрын

Did Charles Dickens have an affair before Ellen Tiernan? She's the one I am very aware of but she was only ten when David Copperfield was written.

@martasoltys9091

6 ай бұрын

@@KierTheScrivener I wouldn't put it past him that as a writer of his caliber, he imagined Agnes based on the 10 year old Ellen, but I think he had another affair with a young woman Georgina. If you read THORNBIRDS Maggie is only 10 when the priest meets her yet later she becomes the love of his life. It's such a wonderful book on the inner conflicts between love and the things we are taught (young Ralph is convinced he's serving God when he's a priest). And of course, it's also about the power of big money and how that can change people's decisions and fates. Anyway, I digress.

Nee subscriber! From southern Ontario.

@KierTheScrivener

16 күн бұрын

Yay! So exciting

I can't believe I missed this video! When I mentioned on my channel I didn't love it (though like you I didn't think it was a bad book) I got some hateful comments, which as somewhat exacerbated my views lol. The treatment of female characters confused me too, especially written by a woman. And for it to win the women's prize? They say we take books by women with a male character more seriously apparently...which annoys me to no end. I did appreciate all the tough issues it did tackle though, like you said. I haven't read David Copperfield and not sure I enjoy Dickens but definitely not keen to pick it up now 😅

@KierTheScrivener

6 ай бұрын

Yes! Yes! Yes! I can *get* it winning the Pulitzer but winning the Women's? I was so shocked. I know it is to celebrate women writers but I also eould kinda want at least one good female character in the mix. Y'know to feel myself on the page. I just thought of this when you said that, Demon Copperhead, The Book of Form and Emptiness and Piranesi all follow male leads. And then Hamnet doesn't. But 2019's win was An American Marriage which is also very male centric.

This review makes me want to read David Copperfield, which I didn't have a huge interest in before! I feel similarly about Demon Copperhead- an important portrayal of poverty and drug abuse in a highly stereotyped and negatively seen part of the US, but I was just never excited to read it? It took me almost 2 weeks to finish and yes, it's long, and yes I was on vacation, but I definitely had more time to pick it up than I wanted to. I might check out some of Barbara Kingsolver's writing in the future, the books you mentioned sound interesting :)

@KierTheScrivener

Жыл бұрын

I hope you do pick up David Copperfield and enjoy it! I listened to it on audio and I do always recommend that as Dickens wrote communally and you get that sense in all the different voices and thoughts.

I'm currently reading this, so as soon as I'm finished I will come back and finish hear your thoughts on it ☺️ Trying not to get spoiled or be biased🤭 I'm curious to hear your thoughts, as everyone else I know, only sings praises about it 🫣

@KierTheScrivener

Жыл бұрын

Yes. I didn't remain strictly non spoilery. I hope you enjoy it and we can chat when you're done.