Our Rating 5⭐s
Find out about the author...Here
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 that fighting spirit along with buckets of charm, a quick wit and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachain Mountains of Virginia, poverty isnt 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.
Suffused with truth, anger and compassion, Demon Copperhead is an epic tale of love, loss and everything in between.
Often, when I read a book that has won multiple awards and received huge hype I find myself sub-consciously raising the bar that the book get over to genuinely feel loved by me. It's a " you come into my zone all hyped up with your medals thinking you can win, well we'll see about that!" There have not been many up to the challenge. Barbara Kingsolver has done it easy pops.
What a ride. Famously based on Charles Dickens's David Copperhead, it also feels a little like trainspotting meets The Dukes of Hazzard but without the happy bits. But OMG what a powerful, emotional book..
We follow the life of Damon, a melungeon child, from birth to adulthood. Damon (or Demon as he becomes known) does not win the lottery of life.. No life of Princes William or Harry for him. He is born to an addicted, trailer-dwelling, poor mother with a dead father. And things just get worse from here on. It is hugely Dickensian in its depiction of childhood poverty and exploitation. Add to this mix an abusive stepfather, cruel foster homes and the cherry on the cake, massive industrial scale opioid abuse. It sounds like a horrific read and yes at times it is very challenging. If you have even an ounce of empathy it will make you cry. But this book makes you feel everything.
The novel is written in southern USA states vernacular which it had to be as the location is intrinsic to the story. It does take some getting used to as a Brit. But it is worth it as it adds an authenticity to the narrative. I felt a strong association with the people of Appalachia. A historically strong coal mining area that was the powerhouse of the country, both now having been sucked dry of both coal and money have been left to rot by their national political overlords. Good people that have been ridiculed in the media as stupid, incestuous, bestial. It seemed to me that she could have been writing about Wales, and it broke my heart just a little more.
The book was choc full of literary gems. See selected quotes for a few. When reading I highlighted 60+ quotes that I could use to demsonstare Kingsolver's similie and metaphor use or to show her clarity of thought. A gifted writer she can explain complex situations in few words.. Masterful.
Over the years I have often read of the mythical quest to find the great American novel or author e.g. Hemmingway, Faulkner, McCarthy, Steinbeck. All of these authors I feel searching for the distillation of what is America. I get the impression that they see the essence of America as a candle light in the darkness, a hope that truth and justice will guide us home. I feel Kingsolver sees it for what it is. An oncoming train heading down the tunnel.A train that doesn't care if it goes through you, your friends, your family or your people. People are a resource or source of income to be used and abused. Government of the people, by the people, for the people = absolute bollox. And the same applies in the UK. Corporations, Media, Tech, power, super wealth, corruption it all stinks like a whores draws. Nothing is done for the people and hasn't for a long time. Kingsolver sees this and this is why this is the great American novel.
When reading this book I think it helps if the reader is of a certain age and has suffered some of what circumstance and poverty can inflict. Demon may be our protagonist but ultimately it is the backdrop that takes centre stage. Life in all it's rawness will engulf us all at some stage. It can overwhelm for entire lifespan if we let it. Ultimately this book isn't about poverty, addiction, loss or fate, it's about a more important thing than that. It's about how we face these things. Do we curl up into a ball and just take the kicking or say no I am not accepting that. I am going to be better and tomorrow I will be better than today. What is inside me is more important than what is outside.
This is a great book. It will be in my top 10 of all time and I will read the Poison Wood Bible.
Kid born to the junkie is a junkie. He’ll grow up to be everything you don’t want to know, the rotten teeth and dead-zone eyes,
A whole new life for young Demon was Stoner’s plan, described to me one morning at breakfast after Mom left for work. I was going to learn self-discipline, like they teach you in the army. Not that Stoner had done military service, mind you. I reckon he saw the movie.
By the time Mariah got to the courtroom her scars were healed. Not his. If you’ve noticed, it’s the prettiest people that everybody wants to believe,
If you’re standing on a small pile of shit, fighting for your one place to stand, God almighty how you fight.
We both lay back down, and she looked at me in the eyes, and we were sad together for a while. I’ll never forget how that felt. Like not being hungry.
Being checked out of school mentalwise for the last year and then some, I was so far behind it looked like a race with my own ass. But the weirdness wasn’t in what I didn’t know. It’s what I did know. How to watch your back at all times. What a hooker means by “fun” and an asshole means by “discipline” and a caseworker means by “We’re working on it.” And money. Christ. Watching these kids pull it out of their pockets in fistfuls of fives or ones or tens, holding out the whole wad for the lunch lady to pick through, like they don’t know the difference. Or don’t care.
wondered how it would feel to like who you are,
Certain pitiful souls around here see whiteness as their last asset that hasn’t been totaled or repossessed.
The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.
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