Book Review: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

My Rating: 3.75⭐

“The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.”

A retelling of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, in a contemporary Southern Appalachian setting, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver is a powerful work of fiction. Part coming of age, part social commentary, the narrative revolves around the eponymous Demon Copperhead, born Damon Fields, (named after his father Damon, who died from an accident before his birth, earning the nickname “Copperhead” on account of his copper wire hair) to an addict mother in a trailer park in Lee County, Virginia. We follow Demon from his childhood through his early adulthood, as he grapples with poverty, loss, abuse, loneliness, and short-lived moments of hope and success as a young athlete with college dreams before an injury derails his plans and his struggle with addiction and substance abuse. Narrated in the first person by Demon, as he shares his perspective on the people and events that shape his life and his worldview, this is a story of grief, resilience and ultimately his search for a sense of belongingness and the will to survive when the odds are stacked against you.

“It hit me pretty hard, how there’s no kind of sad in this world that will stop it turning. People will keep on wanting what they want, and you’re on your own.”

Rather than compare this novel to the classic that inspired this story, I prefer to discuss what I felt about this book based on its individual merit.

There is a lot to unpack here. The author writes with compassion in simple yet elegant prose Barbara Kingsolver not only paints the picture of the lives of those caught up in a vicious cycle of poverty, neglect and addiction, the Opioid Crisis in particular but also takes a grim look at issues such as parental negligence, child abuse and the foster care system among others. The characterizations are superb and the author skillfully weaves a large cast of distinctive characters into the narrative without it becoming overwhelming or too difficult to follow. The author addresses how outsiders harbor certain preconceived notions about certain communities without totally understanding the challenges they face.

I was engrossed in the narrative for the first half of this novel, but gradually, the repetitiveness caused the pace to falter but does pick up the last quarter of the narrative. There are segments in the narrative that I felt were unnecessarily detailed and could have been shorter without affecting the overall impact of the story.

Though the story is dark and depressing for the most part, it is peppered with moments of humor and hope amid the bleakness that pervades Demon’s life and ends on a hopeful note.

This was my first Barbara Kingsolver novel and I look forward to exploring more of her work.

“But where did it come from, this wanting disease? From how I got born, or the ones that made me, or the crowd I ran with later? Everybody warns about bad influences, but it’s these things already inside you that are going to take you down. The restlessness in your gut, like tomcats gone stupid with their blood feuds, prowling around in the moon- dead dark. The hopeless wishes that won’t quit stalking you: some perfect words you think you could say to somebody to make them see you, and love you, and stay.