This is Barbara Kingsolver’s modern retelling of the Dickens’ Classic, David Copperfield. In my late teens/early twenties I went through a Dickens phase and some of them really stick in my mind (Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations) but I couldn’t remember if I’d read David Copperfield, and I certainly couldn’t remember the plot. So this book, as far as I was concerned was a coming of age tale set in America’s deep south and it wasn’t until I was almost finished the book and I read a synopsis of David Copperfield that I got how cleverly the names and characters reflected the original story but in a totally different setting.
The titular character, Demon, was born to a young drug addict mother (his dad was already dead before he was born) and had a rollercoaster of an early life – struggling mum, abusive step dad, several terrible sets of foster parents and colourful family connections. I guess the story shows how the effects of poverty on individuals and communities transcends time and geography. Apparently David Copperfield is semi-autobiographical, as Charles Dickens himself came from impoverished beginnings and ‘made good’. (I did go off Charles Dickens somewhat when I learned that he left his wife of many years who had borne him many children to shack up with a young actress, but ah well.)
Demon Copperhead audiobook reminded me of the Donna Tartt’s brilliant ‘The Little Friend’ which I also listened to on audiobook, and in both instances the narrator had a lovely soft southern states USA accent. I have to admit that my interest in the book dipped a bit in the middle, especially the section when Demon was an aspiring American football star – I’m almost always bored by sports references (!) but picked up again towards the end and on the whole I really enjoyed reading this.
Sarah Wray Writer 