Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner

The coal-filled mountains of Appalachia cast darkness on the small towns dotted throughout the eastern us. The book begins as the main character, Demon, starts to tell his story, which is a twisting path at the bottom of the mountain that begins interjectory not up the mountain but down into the darkness where spiderwebs of misfortune are found deep in the coal mines. Demon’s childhood is a spiral of terrible circumstances and an environment accompanied by adults who make poor decisions in a community that thrives on coal and drugs (both legal and illegal.) Demon, throughout his childhood, is raised by his young mother, a drug addict, and his neighbors, the Peggots, who assist in trying to keep Demon on a straight path as they deal with the same institutional issues living in the mountaintop small-town Appalachia, drug addiction, crime, poverty, and a poor economy.“The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.”Demon’s mother soon marries a man called Stoner, who is abusive to both Demon and his mother; during their marriage, Demon’s mother relapses, and Demon and Stoner struggle as Demon attempts to call for help and Stoner attempts to stop him, and Demon loses his mother and his unborn sibling. After his mother’s death, he’s given to a foster home where he is worked like hired help on a tobacco farm, echoing the horribleness of how the American foster system can harm a child. Demon learns the ins and outs of the family on this farm through his peers getting into trouble, lusting for a good meal, and starting to take drugs for fun. Eventually, Demon, as he ages and moves to another foster family who struggles in the poverty of Appalachia, Demon runs away to his grandmother’s house in Murder Valley, Tennessee. On his trip, he meets a preacher, gets his money stolen by a prostitute, and sleeps in a barn. Eventually, he meets Betsy Woodall and her disabled brother Dick who get Demon back in shape and, using her connections, gets him a foster home with a football coach. Demon’s problems for a short while disappear, as he starts school again, taking special classes in art and getting by in other courses, but eventually, the freedom of youth escapes him, and he spirals back down, even as he’s the star player a football team the pinnacle of any small town. Demon eventually gets injured and addicted to oxicotten on a legal script that doctors at the time were pushing to everyone to deal with pain, knowing the drug was addictive; in doing so, Demon falls for a girl, Dori, who had her own addiction issues and Demon’s life course even when going well for just a few short years spirals again.“I said probably they were just scared he was going to put ideas in our heads.” She smiled. “Imagine that. A teacher, putting ideas in kids’ heads.”The ending is not a tragic blunder about addiction and poverty but a tour of struggle and pain as Demon grows and fails and picks himself up, eventually using his artistic skills to slowly build a world around him that may give him enough structure to break a cycle that many fail to do. Eventually, Demon realizes the few people close to him who constantly annoyed him were the very few people that only wanted Demon Copperhead to stand tall and be the better person he deserved to be.“I can still feel in my bones how being mad was the one thing holding me together.”The book’s plot is based on a request given to Demon during his struggles and is only released at the end. Mrs. Kingsolver’s writing style has a tone and character not seen in writing, often using appropriate slang and terms in the Appalachian area. Demon’s voice, written by Mrs. Kingsolver, is unique and baked in with a sincerity of hard luck and oppression not often found in modern literary writing. The book was hard to put down and flowed well chapter into the chapter as Demon continued to be put into horrible situations by those who were supposed to take care of him. At times, during the parts of the story about addiction and drugs, I would step away from the book because the trauma, pain, and hopelessness portrayed in the words and mood can become very real. These are all complex topics to read and, at times, to enjoy, but Mrs. Kingsolver provides the proper framing in Demon’s voice and the appropriate amount of darkness and light to keep the pages turning, never letting the pace or tone become too much for the reader. I would consider adding this book to every high school-required reading list.Demon Copperhead was the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2023, was named “10 best books of 2022” by the NYT and Washington Post, and shared the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with Hernan Diaz’s book Trust. This was the first time the prize was split.The novel has lingered on the fringes of books I wanted to read. I picked it up as part of my book club reads for 2024, and I’m glad I did. I would recommend it to anyone, as it features superior prose, various authentic characters, and a modern setting with hundreds of tragedies, comedies, and dramas that must be told. Word of note, this book can get dark and deals with modern-day problems that may trigger emotions and people impacted in such situations.

Kingsolver weaves an absorbing tale of a boy’s journey to manhood through the hellish landscape of opiate torn Appalachia. The story reads at times like a page turner, at others a hillbilly standup routine, poignant confessional, and even a post-apocalyptic travelogue. Throughout, we’re treated to the never boring voice of Demon, a brilliant young man born into wreckage and bent on letting us know what life looks like when you’re a genius navigating a system that appears designed to destroy souls. Heartbreaking, to say the least, and maddening beyond measure, the narrative thrills with lovely observations and glimpses of truth through the fog that descends as the opioid crisis ravages seemingly everything in its unrelenting path. And yet, through it all, Kingsolver treats her characters with care and respect, letting us knowing e they are human and that the human spirit is tough, ambitious, and not to be dismissed.When a literary giant like this author chooses a name Copperfield for part of her title it’s no accident, and readers should take notice. Yes, she’s inviting comparison. And, yes, she’s more than up to the task. Just. Amazing! Read this book.

Title of Review: Heartbreaking & FantasticTitle: Demon CopperheadAuthor: Barbara KingsolverDate Purchased: 14 June 2023Amount Paid: $15.99Page number: 556 pagesGenre: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Coming of AgeDate of Review: 29 July 2024Winner of Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: 2023This was a book I read for my local book club.Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead tells the story of a boy born to a teenage single mother in a single-wide trailer. With no assets beyond his deceased father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a sharp wit, and a fierce survival instinct, Demon navigates the modern challenges of foster care, child labor, failing schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and devastating losses. Narrated in his own unflinching voice, Demon grapples with his invisibility in a culture that has largely abandoned rural communities. Inspired by Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, which drew from Dickens' own experiences with institutional poverty, Barbara Kingsolver transposes a Victorian epic to the contemporary American South. She channels Dickens' anger, compassion, and faith in storytelling's transformative power to give voice to a new generation of lost boys and those born into beautiful yet cursed places they can't imagine leaving.I think Kingsolver did a great job of telling the stories of damaged kids. I loved this book. Though it was hard to read in places—heartbreaking and sad—it was also heartwarming. The writing was superb, and the story captivated me from start to finish. It examined critical social issues while educating and showcasing the resilience of the human spirit.

This book is so good I read it twice in a row - and I might read it a third time. I loved the writing, the characters, the storytelling, the veracity. Although it is both sad and tragic, I laughed many times. Demon is real in my mind and I loved spending time with him and see him evolve into a fine young man. The author describes it all very well, the tragedy being that this is what the real world looks like. But there might not always be a happy ending...