Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

THE BOOK THAT BROKE US

Sometimes there are books that take over your life — all-consuming, all-encompassing, they are as real as the world around you and the characters are in front of your eyes, talking as you look on.

Shortlisted for this year’s @womensprize and winner of the @pulitzerprizes, Demon Copperhead is one of those books, we both feel is nothing short of a total and utter literary triumph. It’s not, mind you, for the faint hearted. A very, very tough read at times, we both found ourselves having to put it down, sometimes for days at a time, before we took a deep breath, picked it back up and carried on. Even with the time apart, we knew exactly where we were when we returned.

A re-imagining of David Copperfield, Demon is our main protagonist, navigating his way through the life of trauma and challenges that twists before him. Born in a trailer to a teenage single mother, he doesn’t know his father and he is surrounded by the poverty of Virginia’s southern Appalachian region. This is a world where the opioid crisis runs rife and deep, with addiction cutting through at every turn. 

Kingsolver’s writing is exquisite. It is almost impossible to understand how she created a voice like Demon’s without being a teenage boy herself — it is that real and vivid. And her characters are magical — Demon, of course, but each and every other one too. The Peggots, Maggot, Dori, Angus, Coach. At close to 600 pages, this is an education in and of itself as well as a total and utter epic. We fell in love with Demon and we loved his story~ S & C