A review by camillatd
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

challenging sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

My reflections on Barbara Kingsolver’s highly acclaimed 2022 novel Demon Copperhead are complicated; they don’t neatly fall into the categories of “this is a good book, you should read it”, or “this is a bad book, you shouldn’t read it.” Much has been said about the novel’s merits, from its clever reimagining of David Copperfield (which, I’ll note, I haven’t read), to its emotional depth, to its direct evisceration of pharmaceutical violence and structural neglect of poor and rural communities. It’s a deeply affecting and—loathe as I am to use the cliche—undoubtedly powerful novel. You can find these reviews in basically every corner of the literary internet, so here are some of my thoughts on the novel’s thorny complexities and pitfalls.

The novel is told entirely in Demon’s voice, which shapes the reader’s perspective of each character and interaction. Demon’s voice is very much that of a teenage boy (which he is for most of the novel), and it shows in the casual and rampant misogyny in his inner monologue and perceptions of the women in his life. Dori is the character who I found the most painful to read through Demon’s eyes: she is introduced as a first and foremost sexual object, then, in time, she becomes a burden to him, a ‘doll baby’ he needs to care for and save. This particular relationship becomes emblematic of Demon’s worldview, particular in the dichotomies of good and bad, savior and saved, worthy and unworthy. 

I talked to @booksarebrainfood a lot about the strange sense of voyeurism we’ve each felt when reading books like this about a particular experience of poverty and suffering, especially when those books become highly lauded by the white, literature-reading, non-rural classes. Some of this is beyond my scope of context: I very much fall into these aforementioned classes.

It makes me wonder: who is this novel for? Is it for Kingsolver, and the community she comes from? Is it for those who might see themselves in Demon’s story (survivors of childhood neglect, the foster care system, or the opioid crisis)? Is it for the “redneck” community about which it is written? Or is it for the very people Demon names as those who look down on his community?
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