Book Description
“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, Demon Copperhead 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.
Thoughts
Demon Copperhead was a book club pick and I’m so glad because I doubt I would’ve picked it up on my own. I’ve never read David Copperfield, plus it was somewhat intimidating, with the topic, all the awards, and even the length. I understand now why it won all the awards.
It was also hard picking quotes for this one. There were so many times I had to stop my audiobook, and relisten to a section a few times, so I could write down the quote – or even just let the words sink in more.
I’ve only read non fiction books about the opioid crisis in Appalachia, so I knew the basics of it all and a high level understanding of the devastation it had on the population. Hearing the story from this perspective, from a child/young adult, was impactful and significant.
I didn’t get emotional much while reading the book, but did get choked up when I finished it. Guess just the magnitude of it all finally caught up to me.
My hope is that whenever they get around to adapting the book into a movie/tv series, that Tyler Childers does the soundtrack.
