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Persuasive,
Interesting,
Dramatic

1 review

Copperhead: A Novel
by Alexi Zentner

Published: 2019-07-09
Hardcover : 368 pages
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Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 1 members
"One of the bravest, most bracing novels I've read in years." --Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Jessup's stepfather gave him almost everything good in his life--a sober mother, a sister, a sense of home, and the game of football. But during the years that David John ...
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Introduction

"One of the bravest, most bracing novels I've read in years." --Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Jessup's stepfather gave him almost everything good in his life--a sober mother, a sister, a sense of home, and the game of football. But during the years that David John spent in prison for his part in a brutal hate crime, Jessup came to realize that his stepfather is also a source of lethal poison for his family. Now it's Jessup's senior year, and all he wants to do is lay low until he can accept one of the football scholarships that will be his ticket out of town.

So when his stepfather is released from prison, Jessup is faced with an impossible choice: condemn the man who saved his family or accept his part in his family's legacy of bigotry. Before he can choose a side, Jessup will cause a terrible accident and cover it up--a mistake with the power to ruin them all.

Told with relentless honesty and a ferocious gaze directed at contemporary America's darkest corners, Copperhead vibrates with the energy released by football tackles and car crashes and asks uncomfortable questions about the price we pay--and the mistakes we'll repeat--when we live under the weight of a history we've yet to reckon with. Alexi Zentner unspools the story of boys who think they're men and of the entrenched thinking behind a split-second decision, and asks whether hatred, prejudice, and violence can ever be unlearned.

Editorial Review

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Excerpt

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Discussion Questions

Suggested by Members

This book covers many topics: family, racism, justice vs fairness, religion, college admissions, etc. Which one do you feel is central to the book and why?
While reading the book, did you expect Jessup to confess? What do you think the result would have been if he had behaved differently?
What was your response to Coach Diggins failing to make Jessup a Captain of the team?
by Infogal (see profile) 08/19/20

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

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Book Club Recommendations

This is a book that will lead to a lot of discussion. Be ready!
by Infogal (see profile) 08/19/20
I am adding a few more discussion questions here as I couldn't find questions elsewhere on the internet. - Family is a recurring theme in the this book? Which of the relationships is most interesting to you? - How believable did you find relationship between Jessup and Jewel? - When the members of the Blessed Church of White America do bad things, do you think they are using religion to justify their bad behavior, or do you think the church is pushing them to make bad choice? - Is displaying a white power tattoo whether on purpose or inadvertently a provocative action? Why? - What do you think of Coach Diggins's role as a father and father figure to Deanne and to Jessup?

Member Reviews

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  "Thought provoking look at race"by Jayanti A. (see profile) 08/19/20

What if you knew a young man from a white supremacist family who is actually smart, successful and likeable? Are any actions ever simply so bad you cannot forgive them no matter what the ext... (read more)

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