Review of DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver

 4 Stars

This is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in southern Appalachia. 

Damon Fields, aka Demon Copperhead, is born to a widowed, teenaged, rehab-prone mother in a single-wide trailer in southwest Virginia.  His impoverished childhood is not easy, especially after his mother becomes involved with an abusive man.  Then from the age of 11, Demon finds himself within the foster care system which has him bouncing from one dysfunctional family to another.  Will he be able to escape the brutal life that seems to be his destiny?

It is not necessary to have read David Copperfield, but fans of Dickens will enjoy spotting parallel characters.  The Peggottys, Murdstone, Uriah Heep, James Steerforth, the Micawber family, Mr. Creakle, Agnes Wickfield, Tommy Traddles, and Dora all have their counterpoints in Kingsolver’s novel. 

Kingsolver acknowledges her debt to Dickens and “his impassioned critique of institutional poverty and its damaging effects on children in his society.”  Demon mentions Dickens as well:  “one seriously old guy, dead and a foreigner, but Christ Jesus did he get the picture on kids and orphans getting screwed over and nobody giving a rat’s ass.  You’d think he was from around here.”  Kingsolver describes the horrors of child poverty; Demon talks about “Going hungry for the entirety of fifth grade.”

Through her fiction, Kingsolver criticizes “the monster-truck mud rally of child services.”  Case workers are inept and ineffective if not neglectful.  Foster parents engage in child labour and seem to be concerned only with the cheques they receive.  Another target of criticism is the pharmaceutical industry which preys on poor people:  drug companies “looked at data and everything with their computers, and hand-picked targets like Lee County that were gold mines.  They actually looked up which doctors had the most pain patients on disability, and sent out their drug reps for the full offensive.”  OxyContin soon became “God’s gift for the laid-off deep-hole man with his back and neck bones grinding like bags of gravel.  For the bent-over lady pulling double shifts at Dollar General with her shot knees and ADHD grandkids to raise by herself.” 

Demon is the narrator and his voice is one of the gems of the book.  He is sassy and sarcastic and witty.  For instance, where he lives becomes “One Nation Under Employed,” and being allowed inside the football field house brings Demon into “the presence of greatness.  Or the wet towels and jockstraps of greatness.”  Appropriately, he makes pop culture references:  “Counting on Jesus to save the day is no more real than sending up the Batman signal.”  Demon reminds me of Holden Caulfield who is actually mentioned.  It is impossible not to cheer for Demon.  He is resilient, a survivor who is fiercely devoted to rural Appalachia and his friends. 

Just as Demon loves the place where he was born, Kingsolver’s love for Appalachia also shines through the book.  It is repeatedly mentioned that the rural poor of this part of the U.S. are ignored or stereotyped and ridiculed as hillbillies:  “All down the years, words have been flung like pieces of shit . . . Rednecks, moonshiners, ridge runners, hicks.  Deplorables.”  By giving a voice to these people, Kingsolver asks people to see and understand their struggles, to be open-minded and not judgmental. 

At 560 pages, this is a lengthy book, but it does not seem so long.  And though it is not a light-hearted read with its portrayal of poverty, child abuse of many forms, rampant drug use, teen pregnancies, and premature deaths, I still recommend it.  Time spent with Barbara Kingsolver is always time well spent.