Jenny Brammer

This is a hard but so worth it read! For those that criticize the ending - or liken it to a Hallmark movie, I think you assume Demon’s whole life is summed up in this book and I say, it’s just that this book ends. It only takes you so far. I actually hated this book at times and it was all I could do to continue it. Call me Polly Anna, but I’m grateful for its ending and sad at the same time. I don’t want Demon’s story to end and can’t imagine knowing any more of his trials. I think it’s a given that his life will always be filled with just what ALL of our lives are full of. Heartbreak and healing, rinse and repeat. The thing is….now, with its ending - the beauty of Demon Copperhead’s tale is, while not a given that it’ll be rainbows and unicorns but at a minimum he’s found himself. He’s grown into a man who knows deep down, no matter how difficult the start, the middle and ending can be beautiful too. He’s found his footing and he has all this hurt and all this knowledge of truly harrowing things and he knows there is also joy to be had. Not just numbness and escape. He’s figured out that as flawed as much of life is for not just himself but others too, there is more than just hope. There is good to be had. Kudos to Kingslover for bringing the landscape of the place of her birth into a vivid and haunting story where we see all it’s splendor through someone’s eyes that has every reason to not even notice it and beyond that to have the bravery to face it, and stake a claim to it. Very moving book. And, I for one will miss Demon Copperhead’s life being so intimately known to me now that I’ve finished it.