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A review by rebeccarennerfl
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
3.0
This is one of those books, for me, that is difficult to rate. Ignore the three-star rating. It's meaningless. Instead, I'll summarize my experience of reading Demon Copperhead. The first hundred pages were painful. Demon Copperhead is incredibly voice-driven, and if you don't like that voice, which starts out sounding very uneducated, you'll have a rough time. Knowing the David Copperfield story, which is the basis of Demon Copperhead's inspiration, I speed-read the first hundred pages. Suddenly, I found myself gripped, and I had to slow down and linger.
Kingsolver's writing shines best in scenes, which she renders in vivid yet economical detail. Unfortunately, I found these scenes to be overshadowed by the narrator. As a person, Demon Copperhead was someone I felt for, someone I could root for. Ultimately, I felt his character got lost in the weeds of the narration. And because I already know the David Copperfield story, there wasn't much to propel me forward to keep reading.
At a certain point, I realized that there wasn't anything in the plot that hooked me. The social commentary—about Big Pharma, poverty, and an Appalachia that has been left behind—aren't new. They're things I've read before from authors that made them feel more authentic. These things have been said, so I wanted to see them from a new, astonishing angle. That just wasn't here.
I ended up gritting my teeth and speeding back up to finish the book.
Now I'm at a bit of a loss to rate Demon Copperhead. It does a lot of things really right. Kingsolver is clearly a master of her craft, and many of the issues I had with the novel come down to personal taste. On the other hand, I was confused why she chose this subject matter. Dickens spoke up for those who could not speak for themselves. But we don't live in Victorian London. There are plenty of Appalachian writers who grew up in poverty who can weave that world with nuance and illuminate its surprises. I'm not sure if Kingsolver has Appalachian roots, but something about the rendering of details—perhaps how at times DC felt like a checklist of Appalachian cliches—made me feel like she was too far removed from the concerns of her subject to render them adequately.
All this said, I understand why other people like this book. This is my first Kingsolver book, and it won't be the last.
Kingsolver's writing shines best in scenes, which she renders in vivid yet economical detail. Unfortunately, I found these scenes to be overshadowed by the narrator. As a person, Demon Copperhead was someone I felt for, someone I could root for. Ultimately, I felt his character got lost in the weeds of the narration. And because I already know the David Copperfield story, there wasn't much to propel me forward to keep reading.
At a certain point, I realized that there wasn't anything in the plot that hooked me. The social commentary—about Big Pharma, poverty, and an Appalachia that has been left behind—aren't new. They're things I've read before from authors that made them feel more authentic. These things have been said, so I wanted to see them from a new, astonishing angle. That just wasn't here.
I ended up gritting my teeth and speeding back up to finish the book.
Now I'm at a bit of a loss to rate Demon Copperhead. It does a lot of things really right. Kingsolver is clearly a master of her craft, and many of the issues I had with the novel come down to personal taste. On the other hand, I was confused why she chose this subject matter. Dickens spoke up for those who could not speak for themselves. But we don't live in Victorian London. There are plenty of Appalachian writers who grew up in poverty who can weave that world with nuance and illuminate its surprises. I'm not sure if Kingsolver has Appalachian roots, but something about the rendering of details—perhaps how at times DC felt like a checklist of Appalachian cliches—made me feel like she was too far removed from the concerns of her subject to render them adequately.
All this said, I understand why other people like this book. This is my first Kingsolver book, and it won't be the last.