Demon Copperhead

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver is quite something. It is memorable, hopeful, heartbreaking and some more powerful adjectives that have been used by various reviewers to describe this novel.

Kingsolver has an exceptional ability to create vivid worlds and characters that will have the reader feeling immersed and, in this case, rooting for the novel’s protagonist. Demon Copperhead is a young man born with the opposite of luck on his side. His mother is a young addict and his biological father bowed out of the realm of the living before his son was born. This leads to a life that lacks stability, and eventually the story becomes about his survival. He gets by on his wits and his clever sense of humour, despite immense challenges and tragedy that no young person should have to endure.

If some of this plot sounds a little familiar, it’s because it parallels the events, characters, and moral trajectory of Dickens’ novel David Copperfield but is set in late-twentieth-century/early-twenty-first-century Appalachia, Virginia rather than Victorian London. The story is narrated by Demon (a nickname), and the power of the writing makes his voice crystal clear. He is endearing, talented, flawed, funny and just so human.

I loved this novel – even if at times I had to put it down (and even embark on some other palate-cleansing reads) because I felt I couldn’t bear what was coming next. While I definitely think this book is an excellent and worthwhile read, there were times when I grew tired of the relentless repetition of misery. Perhaps this is a commentary on the destructive nature of drug addiction and poverty, but some of the messaging felt a tad heavy-handed in that regard.

This is a sweeping story, a veritable tome that made me feel quite bereft when I finally reached the end.