Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Demon Copperhead

Wow. What an incredible work of art. Demon Copperhead is a slow-paced, winding narrative of the life of someone who was born into a life of hardship. The book is extremely long, and loses a tad bit of steam a little over halfway through, but that just might be my impatience with the character. Demon Copperhead spends about 100 pages to tell a year of Demon's life, give or take a bit. The first half of the book I absolutely loved, as you see how a child has to handle the life that has been thrown at him. For the second half, I was frequently exasperated with Demon, and I think it's because, at that older age, it is no longer him rolling with the punches thrown at him for no reason, he is actively making dumb choices. That was hard to get on board with, and I didn't feel much pity for him. In fact, I wanted to abandon him for squandering his jackpot. However, the book overall a masterpiece, and I will not remove stars just because a person makes their bad decisions.

I am also astounded how wonderfully Kingsolver got the details of the time period. Yes, I lived almost exactly during the same time period as Demon (regarding we are almost the same age), however, the tiniest details clue the reader into the authentic experience. This book is as good as a history textbook for this anthropological time.

I have always heard, "write what you know," and as I was reading this book I thought, "Wow, Kingsolver has to know Appalachia." Lo and behold, unbeknownst to me, yes, she is from Appalachia. As a culture, I think we need to be so thankful to have this area and time preserved through this book. While not from Appalachia, I spent some time growing up in a very rural area, and it is a unique take to have authentic storytelling coming from these type of places. One of the most frustrating things about being a rural citizen is feeling like its you against the world, and the concentrated population sometimes gets too much of a say in how you should live your life or how you should think. This trickling down through Hollywood et al does the rural folk no favors.

Another thing I was absolutely amazed at what Kingsolver's capability of nailing such an authentic voice of an Appalachian boy up through his 20s in the 90's/00s. I think that would be rough for me even as someone who was a teen in the 90s/00s, and then take into account that Kingsolver was a well established adult during that time period. So, bravo to her. I have so much admiration for her storytelling.

If you begin Demon Copperhead and do not find yourself liking it after a few chapters, please do yourself a favor and stop. This story does not pretend to ever be something else than what it is for the entire 560 pages. Once again, it was a little too long in my opinion, but at the same time, this would be a great book to physically own, and realize you are reading vinyettes. These chapters read like short essays "On Life" by an orphan. I think I would have preferred to read this as slowly as it is paced, maybe a chapter or essay every night over a few months. Instead, I started at my typical speed of nightly, plus dedicated my whole weekend to it at a breakneck pace, and found myself still with hours left to read. Although I loved it, I wanted it to be over.

So, prepare yourself for the reading journey. It is an excellent book but extremely long.

Content Warnings

roseleaf24's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is a beautiful tribute to Appalachia, incorporating its history, its culture, and its problems. Kingsolver did a beautiful job of showing the systemic causes behind the tragedies in these characters’ lives while not excusing them from their own culpability. Both corporate and personal evil are shown and all the complexities behind the opioid crisis and others are drawn clearly. Such heart runs through these pages, I cared about so many of these deeply flawed people.

Content Warnings