Demon Copperhead
By Barbara Kingsolver
Published 2022
Read Aug 2023
This reader has not always been a fan of Barbara Kingsolver. While her stories have been interesting, her novels have sometimes felt like a lecture, not unlike the feeling this author gets from Wendall Barry novels. Hence this reader was a bit reluctant to invest in this novel as it’s a reasonably long one at 560 pages.
This reader started this novel via an audiobook but was not sure the southern accent of the reader was something this reader wanted to endure. So an e-book was obtained, and reading was restarted. This reader eventually got used to the southern accent and moved seamlessly between the audiobook and the e-book.
There is much comparison elsewhere about the clearly planned parallels with Dicken’s David Copperfield with respect to characters and types of challenges the narrator faces and will leave to others to discuss them in detail. The primary one of interest to this reader is that both narrators end up orphaned and must endure growing up in the face of the challenges poised by the society of the times. In this case, one huge challenge was the quagmire faced by many thrown into the foster childcare program of their local county. In Demon’s case (using his nickname), his stepfather’s unexplained views of the family next door to Demon and his mother combined with their own strained resources and energy meant that Demond is forced into the foster childcare program. His foster parents are not unlike many—the payment they receive in return for housing the child is a significant portion of their income. In addition, Demon’s foster parents also rely on him for additional financial support either via his physical labor on their farm or by working outside the home and garnishing his wages. His case workers’ very heavy caseloads are also not uncommon.
The novel is very engaging although at times heartbreaking. The reader will hope that his football injury doesn’t lead to opiate addiction. The reader will hope his relationship with a very troubled girl won’t lead to more difficulties for him. This reader hoped that since Demon is the narrator, the book wouldn’t be finished by someone else relaying information of his death.
An interesting aspect of the novel is the distinctions Demon sees between life in his rural community vs life in the big city where his neighbors’ daughter lives. His neighbors take Demon and their grandson to see their daughter, June Peggot, and her niece, Emmy, where they stay for about a week (during which time Demon’s mother marries his stepfather who turns abusive shortly after the wedding). The lack of the ability to grow your own vegetables and to just go outside easily are quite noteworthy to Demon. June, an RN, and Emmy return to Lee County both to enjoy those attributes and to be away from a prejudicial environment against “country hicks”.
This book is very engaging and generally free from the lecturing tone this reader experienced in some other of Kingsolver’s works. As someone raised in a rural/small town county, this reader found her depiction of foster childcare was believable, her comments about country vs city lifestyles were appropriate and were not judgmental, and her general depiction of rural/small town life was accurate . The devastation of the opiate and general drug crisis, especially in this region of the country, was well described and again non-judgmental or exploitative.
This reader’s book club found much to discuss and ran out of time to cover all the possible points to discuss. Since this club meets for 2.5 hours, that’s something.
MarshaReads.com 