Set in the mountains of Southern Appalachia in North America, and although contemporary, this novel explores the way in which this region has been exploited, over and over, down through North American history, and the crushing effects of this on modern day society and the people who call this place home. It simmers and boils and is incredibly political throughout.

In adapting his novel to my own place and time, working for years with his outrage, inventiveness, and empathy at my elbow, I’ve come to think of him as my genius friend.’ĭemon Copperhead is a novel fuelled by rage. ‘I’m grateful to Charles Dickens for writing David Copperfield, his impassioned critique of institutional poverty and its damaging effects on children in his society.

Where do I start? I’ll start at the end with the author notes where Barbara Kingsolver pays homage to another incredible author (also a favourite of mine) and the novel of his that she has drawn on and adapted Demon Copperhead from: Storytelling, in her hands, is like a whole different entity altogether. I’ve read others now by Barbara Kingsolver and this is where I get to the abovementioned thing that I was driving towards: no matter how high my expectations are and how much I already know I’m in for a good read, she still manages to floor me. That book was The Poisonwood Bible, and it turned out to be the most incredible novel I had read in my life up to that point. My adoration of her began a long time ago when I was in my early 20’s and I picked up a bargain of a book for only a couple of dollars because I liked the cover and it had an Oprah’s Book Club badge on it. The thing with Barbara Kingsolver is that you know, if you’ve read her before, that you’re going to get a very good story no matter what she’s writing about. Demon Copperhead gives voice to a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.

Inspired by the unflinching truth-telling of David Copperfield, Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. 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. Demon befriends us on this, his journey through the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. From the multi-million copy bestselling author of Flight Behaviour and The Poisonwood Bible comes this heart-rending instant classic.ĭemon Copperhead: 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.

Demon copperhead book review