Yo Laurel & Hilarita … the Virginia Street Gang hereby reunites w/ special guest Consuelo !! We’re gonna babble ’bout Babs here, so do please kindly strap in for a wild ride … !! ;-D
To be clear, we’re here to geek out about Barbara Kingsolver‘s masterpiece novel Demon Copperhead, Q3 (/2024) pick of the UC Berkeley Alumni Virtual Book Club !! ;-D I doctored up the bumper sticker on this post based on one of the quotes on the back cover. The quote was too cute to not render graphically !! ;-D
Dr. Demon
I encountered Dr. Demon post-Taiwan, when my brain was very angry w/ me for slamming it incessantly w/ a language (Mandarin) that it couldn’t suss … ouch !! :-0
Have y’all heard about “angry gut” … when you’ve eaten all the wrong foods and your gut gets all inflamed. Then inoperable. 100% shutdown. Well … that was my brain after 3 weeks in Taiwan. I had PTSD (post-Taiwan-stress-disorder ;-D) “angry brain.” And I was hankerin’ 4 a cure !! ;-D
So. Imagine my joy at discovering Cal’s Q3 (/2024) book pick, for which Laurel had cast her vote. Unbeknownst to me, Beans was worming her way thru it too. Hot-diggity-dawg !! ;-D I ordered the book, set up camp beside my mailbox, and the skies above sent me this most wonderfulest discussion betwixt Babs & Ruth Ozeki:
FYI : Interviewer Ruth wrote the bewitching novel *My Year of Meats* ;-D
How fitting that Dr. Demon should swoop in to cure my “angry brain” !! ;-D What a delight to hear my favorite language — speaked my favorite way — by my favorite friends. OK. I know Babs & Ruth are only “virtual” friends. ;-D I’m trying to foreplay — oops I meant foreshadow — for “whhen(ever)” Virginia Street gets suited up to babble ’bout Babs … looks like 9th June … (69 or 96 ?! ;-D) … I’ll have the Cuervo at the ready … that’s 4 sure !! ;-D
Motherhood
For me, this book was a crazy-turbulent ode to motherhood. Poignantly so b/c I tore thru it as a prelude to Mother’s Day 2024 !! ;-D As such, let’s please share a wee moment to recall how Demon “got born” … to paraphrase … Demon was kicking and screaming in a super-saturated water balloon … the balloon picking up dust and grime from the floor of the trailer … Demon‘s mom blissfully unaware of WTF was going on at that moment !! ;-D If that scene were rendered as a live skit, wouldn’t it be fun to re-enact it borrowing from Nikki de St Phalle …
OMG I hope someone @ Burning Man will actually do this !! ;-D An actor could bust outta that hole in a fake-bloody, fake-poopy bag … land on a floor strewn w/ grit, Walgreens receipts, gum wrappers … making primal noises. Then a super-cute young Demon would tear outta that wet-sloppy bag and say: “1st, I got myself born !!”
The musicians would then honk-fart as the placenta slips out. ;-D
Knoxville
OK !! Burning Man skit searing in our minds ;-D … let’s now please address my penchant for places ending in “-ville” (eg. P’ville, J’ville) !! ;-D Now’s the time to add Knoxville b/c this is the place where …
- Mr & Mrs Peggot snuggled up under the watchful eyes of the Backstreet Boys …
- Aunt June (classy, like Posh of the Spice Girls) spoilt everyone @ Denny’s …
- Demon found a surprise …
I have too many favorite passages from this book, but the one above is maybe my super-best-favorite !! ;-D I call it the “Breaking Ozark” passage (w/ hints of Tarantino). We’ll tawlk about that on WhatsBab … I mean … what’s that App called again … 9th June y’all … June as in Aunt “PoshSpice” June !! ;-D
Melungeons
OK my lovelies … I do need to pry myself off the PC soon but not before saying that I looked up Melungeon and came across this (clipping from 1927 ?!) …
Chuck Zeppelin
Oh my !! I’ve been trying to figure out what song I should use to close out this post. Led Zeppelin keeps popping into my head. And now I’m like weally twippin‘ b/c I think Charles Dickens opens one of his books by saying: “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times” … jeeeze-louise Virginia … this discussion TBD …
– Chuck Zepp ;-D