Girls, I Have Read What I Consider The Book Of The Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            Coming from Barbara Kingsolver, I should not be surprised.  But a reimagining of "David Copperfield?"  For me, a confirmed Dickensian, having had a special relationship with this novel since fourth grade, and having read it countless times; most recently just last year, I knew that it could be either paradise or a disappointment.  Well, I found it just wonderful.

                                                   What's missing is the sentiment and romanticism of the original.  In reimaging Dickens' story, Kingsolver incorporates sex and drugs, lots of both, and blaming the opioid addiction problem on the pharmaceutical corporations.  The only character I noticed missing was Jane Murdstone, Mr. Murdstone's  spinster sister.  And Jip has no Chinese pagoda, and no mutton chop at noon.  Jip actually has it harder than Dickens, whose owner here, Dori Spencer, begins as a caretaker for her father, and evolves into an incompetent partner and drug addict.  I had less sympathy for this interpretation; nevertheless, when Dori died, and Jip afterward, I cried for all of them--and Demon too.

                                                         Demon was born Damon but is given the titular nickname in childhood.  His mother a teenage drug addict in Appalachia, almost dies having him.  Stoner, the Mr. Murdstone character, is horrible, but somehow not so much as Dickens.  And he does not get a comeuppance.

                                                             All the familiar Dickens tropes of the novel are here, just rearranged differently.  I was fascinated by what Kingsolver did with Rosa Dartle, whose story I had thought of telling.  She makes this character even darker, coming on more sinister than in Dickens.

                                                               Like Dickens, Kingsolver moves at a fast pace.  If you are an avid reader, or a Dickens fan, you will not be able to tear yourself away from this book.  I did not, until I finished it.

                                                                  Of course, it will never replace "David Copperfield."   I have to admit I had my doubts about Kingsolver taking on such a masterwork.

                                                                      Like love, one knows it when one finds it.  So, it is with "Demon Copperhead."  The best work of fiction I have read this year, and I have it on my shelf for future readings.

                                                                         Those not having read Kingsolver's book had best do so.  As for "David Copperfield," if you have never read it, then what are you waiting for????????????