05/23/2024
I just finished “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver. My oh my, this book made me an emotional wreck. It takes you through the story of the opioid crisis in the Appalachian mountains during the 90’s, and subsequently the foster care system. Written from the perspective of a boy born into a world of addiction, and his fight to get out of it. The writing was amazing.
My favorite quote from the book: “People talk of getting high, this blast you get, not so much what you feel as what you don’t: the sadness and dread in your gut, all the people that have judged you useless. The pain of an exploded leg. This tether that’s meant to attach you to something all your life, be it home or parents or safety, has been flailing around, unfastened all this time, tearing at your brain’s roots, whipping around so hard it might take out an eye. All at once, that tether goes still on the floor, and you are at rest. You keep trying to get there and pretty soon you’re trying to get out of bed. It becomes your job, saving off the dopesickness for another day. Then it becomes your God. Nobody ever wanted to join that church.”
From the very first line to the last, it had me completely engrossed. I give it five stars!
