A little life vs Daemon Copperfield

[Thingamebobwotsit]

Read the latter, loved it. Bought the former based on discussions with a very enthusiastic bookseller and I am now reading the reviews am wondering whether I have bitten off more misery than I can chew.

Have you read both? Is it worth starting A Little Life? Or should I leave it for a bit?

My pile of books to read is tall enough to work through a few others first.

Thanks

Yes read both! Loved DC, although I did have to stop reading it before bed as I would get too invested to sleep.

Wouldn't recommend ALL, so long, such misery, but others rave about it.

Two Hearts Invisible Furies is another similar theme (misery) but beautiful.

Demon Copperfield was a complete misery fest, to be fair. No one, or so few, show any compassion to anyone else.
shows

DC was fantastic, it seemed the opposite of misery porn to me as it had a soul to it, a journey and full rounded characters. A Little Life was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read that was almost a parody of what it was trying to be. It was a full on waste of time

I’ve read both and both are extremely gritty - but A Little Life wins in terms of misery. An absolutely astonishing book though. To Paradise is also brilliantly thought-provoking.

ALL is 95% misery, mixed with 5% beautiful prose that was very relevant to my life at the time. There are quotes and passages I still think of regularly, several years after reading.

I have read and understand the criticism it gets (I agree with a lot of that critique too), but overall I'm pleased I persevered and finished it.

I haven't read Demon Copperfield, but A Little Life is one of the best books I've ever read. It is uplifting in some ways as well as sad.

I liked both of them but I think ALL was much more upsetting in a misery porn kind of way, just unnecessary horror after horror.
Because Demon Copperhead is based on David Copperfield, I feel that Barbara Kingsolver did not have so much choice about the plot - so it felt less relentlessly miserable and more uplifting in a way.
I would read DC again and recommend it to everyone but I would not recommend ALL to friends.

Agree with last post. I read DC twice and would recommend all of Barbara Kingsolver's work. ALL was unrelenting misery, and I'm not sure I even finished it. Wouldn't recommend but other love it.

I actually felt annoyed after I’d stuck with ALL. It’s possible to write a thought provoking book that tackles difficult subject matter, without subjecting the reader to unrelenting misery.

A Little Life is probably the worst book I've ever read. I kept reading it for some reason, maybe I thought it would come good - and then literally threw it away at the end, in the bin, which I've never done before or since. Awful relentless bilge in my view.

ALL is my most hated book ever. I have no idea how James Norton's mental health could ever recover after playing that self indulgent wanker on stage every night.
Demon was not a favourite of mine but was infinitely better.

A Little Life was an absolute slog to get through. I only managed it because I had hours of waiting around for DD at an event she was taking part in and it was all I had to do for the day.

Read them both - loved DC+++ and found ALL tedious, melodramatic and implausible

DC was one of my favourite reads that year, 5 stars, so good. DH also enjoyed it, and he enjoys very little other than sci fi. The characters are endearing and there are lots of bright moments. Also worth a look if you know David Copperfield, I enjoyed the comparison and working out who was who.

ALL was dire. I gave up about a third of the way through. I tried, like a pp I took it with me to an event for the kids with hours to sit through, and I ended up staring out the window counting red cars going by as it was more appealing. Misery porn doesn’t come close. Hated it.

I absolutely loved Demon Copperfield. There was one but when I felt it started getting a bit too bleak, but it then picked up again. Whereas A Little Life is unrelenting misery all the way through.

Absolutely loved DC - terrific storytelling and an incredible way to highlight the opioid crisis.
ALL was just awful and like pp I'm actually annoyed with myself for bothering to finish it. Have never understood the love for it, I'm afraid.

I have never understood the love for A Little Life. It is an absolute misery fest, with a main character who is so selfish that I wanted to shake him until his teeth rattled. There is some lovely prose in there, but I felt that the author was quite manipulative, trying to squeeze as much emotion out of their readers as humanly possible, and then some.
Demon Copperfield has its moments of misery, but ultimately it is quite uplifting, with warm, believable characters and an engaging plot, though it was over long imo.

Couldn't even bring myself to finish A Little Life, far too long, repetitive and miserable.

They all seemed to hate each other, no idea why they were supposedly friends, and it was far too unnecessarily long, full of irrelevant details of expensive trips that just made them all sound ungrateful. All the characters bar one were lifeless and interchangeable.

I’ll avoid the other book mentioned if it’s anything similar, life’s too short 🤣

Thanks everyone. Have shelved ALL for now. I read the first 100 pages last night, and it was the writing style in the end (coupled with the misery fest prospects) that made me put it down. I did eventually read a synopsis too... well. Wish I read that before I bought a copy. Am definitely not in the right headspace to waste valuable holiday reading time on it right now.

Picked up The Bee Sting instead. Already enjoying it more.

Absolutely loved Demon Copperhead. Tried to read A Little Life several times but gave up. Loved the Bee Sting- fantastic book.

I absolutely adored ALL but it is hard going. Worth it.

I read the first few pages of ALL standing up at the bookstore, and quite swiftly returned it to the shelf.

I loved Demon Copperhead but I have to say, it helped a lot knowing the plot of David Copperfield as that kept me going through the miserable bits (I'm not a fan of misery lit).

I found ALL total misery porn, characters totally unrealistic. It read like slashfic. I know it was highly rated and is beautifully written but no. Just no.

Oops, should have read the previous comments 😬

I also LOVED DC (and basically anything by Barbara Kingsolver) and have twice attempted, and given up on, ALL. So many friends raved about it but I just did not get it. I struggled to care about any of them.