Copperhead
Ratings2
Average rating4.5
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "One of the bravest, most bracing novels I've read in years." --Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Jessup's stepfather gave him almost everything good in his life--a sober mother, a sister, a sense of home, and the game of football. But during the years that David John spent in prison for his part in a brutal hate crime, Jessup came to realize that his stepfather is also a source of lethal poison for his family. Now it's Jessup's senior year, and all he wants to do is lay low until he can accept one of the football scholarships that will be his ticket out of town. So when his stepfather is released from prison, Jessup is faced with an impossible choice: condemn the man who saved his family or accept his part in his family's legacy of bigotry. Before he can choose a side, Jessup will cause a terrible accident and cover it up--a mistake with the power to ruin them all. Told with relentless honesty and a ferocious gaze directed at contemporary America's darkest corners, Copperhead vibrates with the energy released by football tackles and car crashes and asks uncomfortable questions about the price we pay--and the mistakes we'll repeat--when we live under the weight of a history we've yet to reckon with. Alexi Zentner unspools the story of boys who think they're men and of the entrenched thinking behind a split-second decision, and asks whether hatred, prejudice, and violence can ever be unlearned.
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The author lays out on the first page the themes of this book and what his intentions are. “I wanted to look more closely at how our sense of morality both mutates and crystallizes as we come of age. I wanted to explore how hatred can complicate love, how love can make us blind to the danger around us, and how racism and hate are at work even in the lives of those who don't think they've chosen a side”.
Well, if that's what the author wanted to show, then I think he did a very good job. Let's start with the prose though. This is going to be a matter of preference, but for me, I enjoy descriptive. Perhaps it's because my first love is Fantasy, but world building matters to me. I enjoy being able to paint an image based on the prose. Zentner has a very sparse prose though, that while I was able to get use to it, it is far from my favourite. It is however very simple and quick to read.
Small quibble aside there, this is a story about a kid who has to reconcile various facts and come to terms with what they might mean. In this particular case he has a step father who is patient, will study algebra so he can help the kids with their homework, believes in hard work, treats his mother well, doesn't drink, doesn't swear, believes in God and family. But he's also a racist. And that's one element of the book. Jessup trying to come to terms with where he stands in context to his family and battling with the fact he loves them.
Another element of the book is his step dad trying to reconcile with his beliefs on family and the fact that his bigotry may not be what's in said family's best interests. These themes are so frustrating, hard to read at times, saddening, and at times downright touching through out the story. Such a myriad of up and down emotions that was so compelling.
Then we have the plot. I don't want to spoil anything here, but suffice to say I was feeling it at first, but then it entered a territory that I thought was frankly a bit to far over the line of believability from a story standpoint and I felt that characters arguably develop to fast. A pet peeve of mine is characters that feel like they're doing a 180 rather than gradual changes. I wouldn't say it felt quite 180 here, but it's definitely not gradual either.
So what do I rate this? You know what it's got significant flaws, but as I sit here contemplating the rating, I realize, I don't care. It's not perfect, but the engrossing themes, the emotional rollercoaster, and depicting a very sensitive issue with humanity...it's a 5 in my book.
