Why did I love this book?
I read everything Barbara Kingsolver writes—and this novel is her best. Kingsolver illuminates the challenges of life in rural Appalachia without judgment or pity, and creates a character in Demon who leaps off the page and speaks with an authentic voice.
This novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2023, is loosely based on Dickens’ classic David Copperfield and makes you care deeply about its characters. It invites you to understand the ongoing opioid epidemic, the foster care system, and the challenges of rural life with compassion.
I finished this novel on a plane home, sat and contemplated it for the rest of my flight—and then immediately started it again. Demon Copperhead—the character and the book—are unforgettable.
83 authors picked Demon Copperhead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
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 of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't 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…