Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.

 

Those who have read and enjoyed David Copperfield by Charles Dickens can relate to the characters in this book. That said, while David Copperfield is a classic on its own, Demon Copperhead, deals with modern day travails like drugs, drug abuse, foster care and how depressing the foster care system proves to be for many children.

This tale is about how the protagonist feels the need for love, how drugs wreck his life and for those around him. Though harrowing to read through many pages, I was glad the protagonist had it in him to fight all odds and tries hard to realize his dreams and ambition.

The story is about Demon Copperhead who loses his mother who made wrong choices in life. He is then shunted to foster homes where he had to work and still was starved for food most times. He had a Good Samaritan in the Peggots who time and again fed and took care of him and he found a friend in their grandson, who too turned to drugs as they grew up.

One day Demon decides to find his paternal grandmother and hitch hikes his way to her house and she in turn introduces him to a basket ball coach and his daughter Angus and things turn out to be alright only to turn for the worse. Demon injures his knees and soon drugs take over his life. However, he finds a good mentor in his art teacher and slowly he figures out a way to wean himself off drugs with the help of his friends.

While David Copperfield was melancholic and touching, Demon Copperhead is harrowing and uplifting.

This book was unputdownable.

Brotherless night by V.V. Ganeshananthan

 

The story is set-in war-torn Sri Lanka of the eighties. The story is about a girl Sashi who wants to become a doctor. How her ambitions turn off course as her beloved brothers and friend K are sucked into the war as violence mounts in the country, is what the book is about.

While Sashi wants to help the movement, she keeps questioning her own moral stand in this situation. She accepts her friend K’s invitation to work as a medic in a field hospital. Soon the tigers murder her favourite teacher, then the Indian peace keeping force arrives not to help but commit more atrocities on people and women. She begins questioning her own path in this.

Soon her Tamil feminist professor invites her to join her project, to document human rights violations in the country. She thus embarks on this dangerous assignment that will change her life forever. 

This book is a very compelling read. It is a passionate account by the author narrated in the first person by the protagonist Sashi. Though certain parts were difficult to read, imagining the trauma of the people, it was unputdownable.

This book triggered a lot of memories as I lived in Sri Lanka towards the end of the war. I had the chance to tour all the cities except Jaffna which was still reeling under the aftermath of war.

The Book binder of Jericho

It's been ages since I updated this blog. My reading has been very sporadic. This book has been with me for ages and I finally completed it. Here goes my thoughts on that.

This book is about a young woman working in a book bindery in the year 1914 when war erupts and men are drawn to fight for their country. Peggy and Maude are twin sisters who work in the bindery, sorting pages. Peggy collects damaged pages binds them and sneaks them into the narrow boat where they live in Oxford. Peggy is intelligent and wants to pursue education if and when she gets the chance. She nurses the ambition to attend college and is delighted when she gets access to the library in Sommerville college.

However, she feels compelled to watch over her sister Maude. Soon refugees arrive in train loads from Belgium and new people arrive in the lives of the sisters. Peggy finds love and see a possible future with a Belgian soldier and also a way to educate herself.

This novel is an exploration of lives during the war and what women went through in those times in pursuit of knowledge.