Published: 2022
Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Coming Of Age, Novels
Audience (Grade Levels): Adult
Number of Stars: ⭐⭐⭐ (3/3 stars)
Goodreads Link: Demon Copperhead
Triggers: Drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, death by overdose, child abuse and neglect
Review By: Evan Waugh
Publisher’s Summary:
“Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose.”
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities. Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.
Review:
In the acknowledgements section of her book, Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver writes, “I am grateful to Charles Dickens for writing David Copperfield, his impassioned critique of institutional poverty and its damaging effects on children in our society. Those problems are still with us” (Kingsolver 547).
While at the end of the novel, these words are perhaps a perfect prelude to Demon Copperhead, as they perfectly encapsulate what Kingsolver is trying to accomplish through the tale of young Damon Copperhead: how the institutions around us, including a greedy and negligent pharmaceutical industry, exacerbate the already difficult realities of those living in rural America. In determining Kingsolver’s success at achieving this task, I would say that she hits the mark. However, that’s not to say that the final product is a novel that everyone will want to stick with, myself included.
The shining light in Demon Copperhead is the characters, especially Demon himself and the other young people that surround him. There were moments of such tender innocence amongst the chaos of Demon’s life that made him such a lovable character. Sometimes it takes looking through a child’s eyes for people to realize how far astray we have gone as a society, and Demon’s narration has society’s woes on full display (full blast, as the kids say) as we see him navigate hardship after hardship. This was a very difficult book to read, both in terms of the content matter and its pace; I found myself so drained from seeing Demon experience one hardship after another that I thought of giving up multiple times throughout the book.
While an important book to read, I don’t think Demon Copperhead is for everyone. I would like to return to this book perhaps when I am in a different headspace, so that I can better experience what it has to offer. But during this first reading, getting through the book began to feel like a chore.
Classroom & Curricular Connections:
- Social Studies & Sociology: Provides a devastating look at rural American poverty, the systemic failures of the modern foster care system, and the socioeconomic variables driving child labor and industrial exploitation in southern Appalachia.
- Health Education & Current Events: Offers a direct, narrative framework for studying the opioid crisis, investigating how a “greedy and negligent pharmaceutical industry” impacts communities and perpetuates addiction and generational trauma.
- English Language Arts / Comparative Literature: Serves as an excellent text for advanced high school or college courses looking to do a comparative analysis with Charles Dickens’ Victorian novel David Copperfield, examining how classical themes of institutional poverty translate to modern settings.
Extension Activity / Library Application:
- “David vs. Demon” Structural Mapping: Have students who are exploring classic or contemporary literature map character parallels and thematic adaptations between Dickens’ original work and Kingsolver’s contemporary adaptation, evaluating how both authors use fiction to critique societal neglect.
- Appalachian Advocacy & Policy Discussion: Using the book’s depiction of structural neglect in rural spaces, prompt students or book club members to research modern advocacy groups, regional health initiatives, or community-led development networks fighting economic invisibility and substance abuse in modern Appalachia.
Diversity & Representation:
The novel brings crucial intersectional equity and representation to the literary canon by highlighting a historically marginalized and stereotyped demographic: the rural white working class of southern Appalachia. It directly challenges their systematic invisibility in mainstream media and pop culture, honoring their deep love for their homeland while delivering an unsparing look at the institutional inequities and corporate exploitation that destabilize their families.
Readalikes:
- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
- Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
