I've only ever seen the Dev Patel movie of David Copperfield, but was still able to follow what Kingsolver was doing with this. I suppose, at some point (possibly while I still remember this one) get to reading the original, but even without much familiarity, I think this stands as a novel in its own right.

It's the same story, more or less beat for beat (though with the latter third somewhat rearranged), but about a kid growing up in Appalachia in the 1990s, with a dead father, a mother with substance abuse issues, and a brutally violent step father. I was impressed that it never felt like it was forcing the story to go somewhere for the sake of fitting the original, but kept its own integrity as a novel. Some of the translations were a delight, though, so I do think at least having seen a movie version would be value-added. The character voices were lovely, and I liked how it stuck with the hope and class solidarity of the original.

I think Kingsolver was both stretching her muscles, and making a point about what kind of people are worth making art about, and who/when/where can be the subject of a Great Novel.

Smarter people have probably said more interesting things about this one. TL;DR: Really enjoyed this, happy to be on the hype train, still haven't read Dickens.