Demon Copperhead

I've started this book and stopped three times before I finally was able to read it from beginning to end. Bleak. That's the only word for this novel. Unremittingly bleak. A boy is born to a poor, single mother living in a trailer in one of the most poverty-stricken areas of Appalachia. His mother takes up with a cruel man and dies a sad death...

And that's just the beginning of bleak events that happen to our main character, Demon. I could hardly bear to keep turning the pages and face the addictions and miseries and early deaths that Demon and the other characters in this story face.

The charm of it, I think, is the hope that keeps Demon going, hope that arises from the occasional folks in his life that surprise him with their goodness and their generosity.

There are some killer lines in this book. Here are few of them:

“Certain pitiful souls around here see whiteness as their last asset that hasn't been totaled or repossessed.”

He said, “You know, sometimes you hear about these miracles, where a car gets completely mangled in a wreck. But then the driver walks out of it alive? I'm saying you are that driver.”

“The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.”

‘I said probably they were just scared he was going to put ideas in our heads. She smiled. “Imagine that. A teacher, putting ideas in kids' heads.”'