I’m reading “Demon Copperhead”, Barbara Kingsolver’s novel ,which just won The 2023 Pulitzer Fiction Prize. (or half of it, split with Diaz’ “Trust”, which maybe I’ll read next.)
I was gonna read it a coupla months ago, but then I thought I should reread the original, Dickens’ “David Copperfield” first. But that got me onto a Dickens kick::I re-read that one and “Martin Chuzzlewit”, and read “Our Mutual Friend”. God is he good!
But a few days go I was again BB (between books) so I opened “Demon Copperhead”.
It.
Is
So
GOOD.
Really I think Dickens himself would be proud.
It resets the story of the boy orphaned young in late 20-21sr century America.
You could love it without having read the Dickens, but the pleasure of seeing the characters re-introduced (the Heep correspondent is nicknamed U- Haul) is considerable, so I recommend reading or rereading “David Copperfield “ before you read this one.
I had a bad moment where i suspected Kingsolver was gonna do a gender switch on one of Dickens’ main characters, but: false alarm!
In short: if you love fiction, and especially if you love Dickens:
read this book!