Title: Demon Copperhead
Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Genre: Literary Fiction
ISBN: 9780571376483
Publisher: HarperCollins / Faber
Publication Date: 2023
Publisher Description: Demon Copperhead is a once-in-a-generation novel that breaks and mends your heart in the way only the best fiction can.
Demon’s story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking ‘like a little blue prizefighter.’ For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn’t an idea, it’s as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn’t an abstraction, it’s neighbours, parents, and friends. ‘Family’ could mean love, or reluctant foster care. For Demon, born on the wrong side of luck, the affection and safety he craves is as remote as the ocean he dreams of seeing one day. The wonder is in how far he’s willing to travel to try and get there.
Suffused with truth, anger and compassion, Demon Copperhead is an epic tale of love, loss and everything in between.
Literary Atelier Review: This brilliant book will stay with me forever. Demon is the most enchanting character. He is real, he is honest and you cannot help but feel empathy for him. Like any good Dickensian character (which he is of course inspired by) he also makes you laugh.
Kingsolver's prize winning book is such a wonderful homage to David Copperfield while simultaneously speaking to the realistic trails and tribulations of modern life in the Appalachian Mountains. She doesn't shy away from difficult topics, or from attributing blame, sometimes to characters we have come to like. This is at the core of the strength of her novel; each character is real, multi-dimensional and thus evokes pathos and joy.
While firmly placed in the adult, literary fiction market this is a novel I would not hesitate to recommend to a young adult audience. After all, if ever there was a great bildungsroman it was David Copperfield and Demon Copperhead is a worthwhile literary great-great grandson.