Review #12: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Source: Harper Collins
Demon Copperhead is my perfect novel. 5/5 stars!! Kingsolver took on the task of remaking a classic and she does so with a heartbreaking portrait of American poverty in Appalachia. Demon Copperhead is doomed from the start and yet we are hoping for a better outcome with every turn of the page. Demon Copperhead is an epic with amazing writing and so many deep emotions.
High Level: Demon Copperhead is a modern retelling of David Copperfield. The story takes place in southwestern Virginia in the heart of Appalachia. I haven’t read David Copperfield, so it is definitely not a prerequisite. In doing a little research after I finished, it seems as though Demon Copperhead follows the original plot very closely, but changes the details.
Three words I would use to describe this book… devastating, heartwarming, poverty
Characters: The characters feel so real. All deeply flawed, human, and complex. The characters are so similar to the real people that I have read about in Hillbilly Elegy and Dopesick. Kingsolver captures the psychology of systemic rural poverty. In the novel, she even notes the difference between rural and urban poverty in very digestible terms that even the most sheltered person can understand (I half put myself in that category). The different drug addicts – opioid versus meth, the get-rich-quick foster parents versus the child labor farmer, the high school football hero, the drug addict mother, the grandparents turned parents, the one who got educated and got away and left, the ones who could never leave, the sick ex-coalminers who still lament the good old days of coal mining, the Purdue drug rep, the list goes on – there are so many incredible characters that help to form our complete image of a devastated society.
Plot: There is no typical story arc in this novel. The novel is Demon’s life from birth through his early twenties. Without giving too much away, we are taken along on his journey through Southwestern Virginia – never seeming to be able to get too far physically or otherwise. Demon is trapped in a cycle of poverty and tragedy to no fault of his own. Kingsolver is delicate and reveals the humanity through the struggle. The novel takes a sympathetic view of these rural, poverty-stricken individuals. We are there for the start of the Opioid crisis as we see this “miracle drug” enter the stage. How could we not be sympathetic? Frustrated, yes, but always sympathetic. As Demon gets older, the story gets more exciting and I read faster and faster unable to put the novel down. I guess the big question all along is – what is going to come of Demon? Will he perish in Appalachia drug-addled poverty or will be overcome his circumstances in spite of it all?
Prose: Very very well written. Kingsolver is an incredibly talented writer and it is clear throughout the book. She is clever. I enjoyed reading her writing as much as I enjoyed the plot.
You will like this book if you like… learning about the opioid crisis, David Copperfield, long epic novels, your heart to be torn apart while reading
