Barbara Kingsolver’s latest – and multi-award winning – novel, Demon Copperhead, was inspired, as I’m sure most of you know, by Charles Dickens’ autobiographical novel, David Copperfield. Indeed, Demon Copperhead opens with an epigraph from that novel:
“It’s in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present.”
This could be an argument for writing historical fiction, and is certainly relevant to Kingsolver’s political intent, but for the novel’s protagonist it’s far more personal. Several times through the novel Demon refers to the point at which things changed – usually for the worse – but it’s two-thirds through where he makes it clear
Where does the road to ruin start? That’s the point of getting all this down, I’m told. To get the handle on some choice you made. Or was made for you. […]
In my time I’ve learned surprising things about the powers stacked against us before we’re born. But the way of my people is to go on using the words they’ve always given us: Ignorant bastard. Shit happens.
But, I’m jumping ahead here … so let’s back up a bit. I started by referencing the fact that the novel was inspired by David Copperfield, and it was inspired by it for one very good reason, which Kingsolver explains in her Acknowledgements:
I’m grateful to Charles Dickens for writing David Copperfield, his impassioned critique of institutional poverty and its damaging effects on children in his society. Those problems are still with us. In adapting his novel to my own place and time, working for years with his outrage, inventiveness, and empathy at my elbow, I’ve come to think of him as my genius friend.
So there you have it. Kingsolver has transferred Charles Dickens’ London of the early to mid-nineteenth century to Lee County Virginia from around 1990 to 2004 or so. While Demon struggles to make something of his life against all odds, not recognising or accepting until later that those odds were stacked against him from the start, Kingsolver, like Dickens, is a reformer doing her best to ensure that we will see from that start just how stacked those odds are at every level. I was expecting the book to be primarily about the OxyContin/opioid addiction crisis but it is much broader than that. It’s about poverty and the intergenerational trauma that this engenders – and how this helps lay the foundation for something like OxyContin to take hold.
“What matters in a story is the heart of its hero” (Demon)
I admit that I was not initially keen to read this novel. Not only is it very long, but I’ve read (and, yes, enjoyed) Barbara Kingsolver before, and I have higher priority books on my TBR. However, it was my reading group’s first read of the year, so of course I read it. It’s not a perfect novel, but Demon’s voice was so engaging and the translation of Dickens to Appalachian America is so pertinent to contemporary politics, that I’m glad I read it.
I can see, though, why it’s one of those divisive novels that engenders strong feelings one way or another. For a start, translating Dickens to contemporary times is risky. Dickens’ novel, being published in serial form, is long and episodic, with a large cast of characters, a touch of melodrama, and a lot of detail. A big, baggy, monster in other words. This style does not necessarily suit contemporary readers, but this is what you get with Demon Copperhead.
Like Dickens’ novel, Demon Copperhead wears its heart on its sleeves, meaning it’s not subtle. It can be didactic at times, as in Mr Armstrong’s lessons on capitalism and coal mining companies and Tommy’s discussion of historical truths. Its large cast of characters aren’t quite stereotypes but many are clearly typified by their behaviour – the bad characters who manipulate and use others (like stepfather Stoner, foster-father Crickson, and anti-hero Fast Forward), the weak characters who are well intentioned but can do more harm than good (like Coach), the kind hearts who pick Demon up when he’s down but can’t properly guide him (like the Peggotts), and the shining lights who try to set him on the right path but know he has to decide for himself (namely June and Angus).
In other words, Demon Copperhead is an in-your-face novel, which could be alienating. However, what kept me engaged was the character of Demon himself. Born to a junkie mother and orphaned at 11 when she ODs on oxy, he has a vivacity, an openness, and a heart that you want to see survive, despite setback after setback after setback. He’s “resilient”, a survivor, which is something those around him see early on. This is not to say, though, that he will survive, because even survivors need a hand, and this is what Demon sometimes gets, sometimes doesn’t, and, distressingly, sometimes eschews because he is determined not to be helped, to make his own decisions, to be his own man.
Regardless, once Demon had me, I was in. I have lived in Virginia (albeit very middle-class northern Virginia) and I have driven through various parts of Appalachia. I am interested in the culture, and, having recently read JD Vance’s Hillbilly elegy (my review), I am interested in how it is playing out in contemporary America. Kingsolver explores the role played by big pharma in targeting poor Appalachian regions with their painkillers, at a time when the region was suffering from the callous withdrawal of coal companies*. She shows how socioeconomic factors like these, combined with systemic failures in child welfare, not to mention poor educational opportunity, and the ongoing ostracism of “hillbillies”, contribute to the rise of MAGA politics in the USA.
She also shows the opposite, because while Demon is aware of the factors that work against him, he also sees what can sustain – good people offering the right support, the best parts of rural traditions, and nature, whose benefits are both spiritual and practical. The question is, are these enough? Or, what is needed to make them enough?
You have probably noticed by now, that I am not doing my usual sort of review here. This is partly because, being a multi-award winning Barbara Kingsolver novel, Demon Copperhead has already been written about ad infinitum, and partly because I wanted to tease out my own feelings about such a polarising novel. Yes, I can see – even agree with – some of the criticisms. It’s long and detailed, is didactic in places, and is not what you’d call subtle – rather like Dickens, in fact. However, the power of the story and its accompanying messages, combined with Demon’s utterly captivating voice, got me over the line. Kingsolver, I’d say, does her epigraph proud, whichever way you read it.
* One of my reading group members share an article about this very issue in a January 28 article in The Guardian.
* For a more traditional review of the novel, do check out Brona’s.
Barbara Kingsolver
Demon Copperhead
London: Faber & Faber, 2022
644pp.
ISBN: 9780571376490 (eBook)
Whispering Gums 
Having grown up in another part of the U.S. where people are called “hillbillies,” the Ozarks, and living in a rural area now, I have to say that good people offering the right support and the best parts of rural traditions are not enough. In my volunteer job as a CASA (court-appointed special advocate for children) I see mostly extended family groups trying to offer inadequate support, while the wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly and frustrate the people they’re meant to help. Many rural traditions have disappeared as the family has become everyone’s number one priority (as opposed to helping neighbors) and MAGA attitudes have poisoned the well of charity that used to be carried out by the older generation.
Oh Jeanne, I saw this come through and thought I’d replied. So sorry. Thanks so much for offering your espenenced insights. I’m not surprised that these things may not be enough, particularly given how ingrained now some of the problems and their causes are. That’s really sad about the impact of MAGA attitudes.
It is sad.
It’s also sad how much our judicial system relies on volunteers like me in the CASA program.
In Texas, I read, the foster care system is going to private contractors, rather than social workers paid by the state-run Child Protective Services. I think that’s going to turn out a lot like for-profit prisons.
Oh all that is awful Jeanne. Volunteers should not be used for such critical work bur how lucky they are to have them. As for outsourcing social services, it’s just awful. Is happening a lit here too – disability services, in-home aged care. I’m not sure about foster care but I wouldn’t be surprised.
I agree with you that it was quite didactic in places and I found it to be quite preachy. Having said that, I did enjoy it overall.
Thanks Cathy — that’s Kingsolver isn’t it. She’s politically passionate, but she can write great warm-hearted characters who get you in.
This novel left me, at times, bereft. I am glad I read it [I think!], although I think it could have been pruned slightly. As you can probably tell, it is divisive, even within my own brain.
Thanks Karenlee, I realised after I went to bed last night that I didn’t really talk about how gut-wrenching it is at times, because it is. I loved his voice so much that like you I felt irritated at times by the detail while also quite liking hearing him tell it to us! Two parts of my brain thinking two things – “oh, we don’t really need all this but, oh, I’m quite enjoying Demon telling me it.”
Big Pharma, eh ? – seller of statins as well as opioids ..
Fair point MR …
I tried one by Kingsolver. Never again.
Which one Guy? Poisonwood Bible? I liked that except that it could have ended before the jump to later, as I recollect. I did like the first two – much shorter novels - of hers that I read.
She is a writer of social problem novels and doesn’t let you forget it. But I don’t mind that because of her warmth. However, I also understand what you are saying. I didn’t feel compelled to read any more of hers as I felt I knew what she was about – but as it turned out I wasn’t sorry I read this.
I’ve blocked it from my memory.
Oh dear… That bad! Fair enough.
I have a co-worker who is reading this book also for a book group and she is liking it very much. I will not likely ever get around to reading this book, but I enjoyed reading your thoughts on it 🙂
That’s good enough for me Stefanie. Thanks.
Kate at Books are My Favourite and Best has just reviewed this too!
For me, it’s a case of other books having priority when — based on reviews pro and anti — I suspect that I’d be one of those not liking it much.
But Oh! I loved David Copperfield. I have such fond memories of my year of reading Dickens! In English II we had to choose an author to study in depth so I chose Dickens, because I’d read the complete set we had in the family, and I read them all (yes, all) three times that year. Before uni started, in the holidays, then started again when lectures started, and then again when I was preparing my seminar and my essay. I was totally absorbed in Dickens, I read (almost) nothing else! My favourites were David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and Hard Times, but Great Expectations is the one I love the most.
Oh has she, Lisa, I’ll go read it.
I still haven’t read all of Dickens but it took me three goes… my early teens, my 20s and finally 40s to finally get through Great expectations. And that third time, I finally got it. Between those I read Tale of two cities, A Christmas carol and Dombey and son. After it I read Bleak House. Somewhere I read David Copperfield. I don’t think I’ve ever read Oliver Twist or Our mutual friend but “know” them from adaptations. When I think Dickens it’s Bleak House that I tend to go to… For its opening I think, but GE is now up there too. I’d like to read others, like Pickwick Papers which was one of Mum’s favourites.
Truth be told, I wouldn’t set out now to read them all. Some are better than others. I never liked A Child’s History of England but I had to read it when I was 10 because it had a small font. My optometrist said I had to read small print for 20 minutes a day to strengthen my short vision (after surgery) … and since children’s books are usually in bigger fonts, our Dickens set was the only book we had in a small font that was ‘suitable reading’. I think you can safely skip that one!
Oh poor you… Eye issues from a young age! I will take your advice on that Dickens.
No, lucky me. It was purely by chance that my mother met an eminent eye specialist at the beach (where I suspect he was trying to chat her up because she was a very gorgeous young woman) and she told him all about the diagnosis that I would go blind and he offered to do experimental surgery on me! If not for that, I wouldn’t be reading or writing this now.
Still – a shame you had to go through that but yes, sounds like lucky you.
For me it was Nicholas Nickleby and Dombey & Son…
I’m not going to read this novel. I quite liked Poisonwood Bible but Kingsolver generally seems to write novels to solve issues she has researched. And while I probably agree with her politically (more or less) that’s not an approach I like in fiction.
I do appreciate your tease out my feelings approach.
Thanks Bill. Glad you liked the approach.
Yes, I think you would have similar politics. I wouldn’t say she’s trying to “solve” the issues as much as expose them.
I have had this one in my sights for awhile but will borrow from the library rather than buy it. I’ve never read David Copperfield but I suspect that doesn’t matter.
No I don’t think you do… Many in my reading group hadn’t. One who had spent a lot of time looking for all the parallel characters. Others had no idea of sny parallel characters. I think a retelling – which this really is I think – fails if you need to read the original to appreciate it. This case particularly so because it’s not like those retellings from a different eg feminist perspective but more one that applies the same concerns to a different situation.
That was my thought as well… it’s not supposed to be a faithful reimagining. It’s just “inspired by” and taking the framework of that narrative and situating it in another time and place.
Actually that’s what I thought before I read it but it parallels Dickens way more than I’d expected. Many of the characters have Dickens parallels but I still don’t think it’s necessary to know that. I’d forgotten a lot of it!
Thank you for the link 🙂
I’ve tried to read Kingsolver before this but found her style way too preachy for my tastes, so I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t find this to be so with Demon. Perhaps my didactic radar has shifted?
Actually it’s probably more about me completely backing away from anything that smacks of preachy religious stuff, but I am willing to go along when it concerns social issues I also feel passionate about too.
I’m persuaded – purchased on line – thanks WG. By the way, I think Joe Bageant far more reliable than JD Vance. Jim
Sorry, don’t think I saw this last week Jim, but thanks for this. I’ve had a few recommendations for Joe Bageant.
I’m persuaded – purchased on line – thanks WG. By the way, I think Joe Bageant far more reliable than JD Vance. Jim
Oh do let me know what you think Jim. As I’ve said, it’s a divisive book.
WG: (LH)I’ve begun reading (on the way to a performance by the NTC (Newcastle Theatre Co. of “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time” which was, by the way, excellent. Directed by Zac Smith. I’ve read a couple of B K’s books – The Poisonwood Bible, Flight Behaviour – and the first of those two touched on an aspect of fundamentalist protestant Christian very close to aspects of my own upbringing. Chatham and Gad’s Hill were both places just minutes away from cousins in Kent – Chatham having an annual Dickensian Festival (maybe still). Dombey & Son I’d read three times by the time I was 13 (and entering my Intermediate Certificate year) because – as I understood years later (and with Nicholas Nickleby, too) there were aspects of the horror and darkness with which I found clear resonance to my own childhood. Anyway – though only 20 pages in – I’m hooked! JSK
Oh I’m glad Jim… I was captivated by his voice early on too.
Your upbringing sounds interesting. Are you writing a memoir?
Let’s say it is interesting to me but in truth probably no more so than the stories of just about everyone else. The memoir which is of interest to others depends upon the style and ability of the writer. I won’t say I haven’t started several times – various aspects of my life – family, teaching, travelling, my years in Japan – but having begun I tend to look critically at the writing and realise it IS only for me, in truth… Speaking honestly… though thanks for asking, WG.
I understand Jim … I don’t have the writing skill to pull off a memoir. But, I do hope you are capturing your stories at least for your family.
I know I should probably let it go, but ever since I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I cannot stand Kingsolver. It wasn’t even a fiction book, for which she is so popular! She did this whole experiment with her family where they couldn’t eat anything unless it was grown within 100 miles of a house they bought in the Appalachia region. She fails to discuss her regular paycheck from being a writer or that she can work from home, but goes on and on about how people living in cities should grow a garden on their balcony to supplement their groceries and avoid buying food that has been transported long distances. Like, okay? What balcony? I’ve lived in apartments until just two years ago, and she’s lost touch with things. The women in my book club at the time, who were in their 80s and are now likely dead, all hated her book, too, because they remembered the days when farming was a necessity, not a cute experiment, and it was hot, awful, hard work.
But I do love David Copperfield, so now I’m bitter she thinks she and Dickens are friends, lol.
I must say I was never interested in that book because i understood the principles I felt and was not interested in reading a whole book about. I do think Kingsolver has a big heart. But it’s a shame if she didn’t appreciate that that goal is just not possible for everyone. I think too of families struggling just to survive day to day … they just don’t have the time and energy to rngage in somthingblike this even if they have a balcony. Did she really not recognise this?
She did not seem to, no. In fact, she was quite adamant that she would not accept excuses.
Well that’s a bit inflexible of her to say the least. I don’t think being that black and white helps anyone – my go to really is “what’s going on in their shoes?” and then take it from there.
I’m not so quick as to rush out for a new novel by her now but I eventually get to them and enjoy them just as much as her earlier fiction, as with your bookclub selection. (I was hooked by The Bean Trees, and Pigs in Heaven, when serious issues percolated up from beneath rather than claiming centre stage from start ’til stop.) I enjoy the way she builds character and introduces concepts along the way to ask big “what if?” questions. She’s also written a good collection of essays, High Tide in Tuscon, which includes a lovely piece about the importance of libraries, a real favourite. In Animal, Veg, Miracle, she’s super clear about the fact that she recognises the luxuries she has available to her (concrete and otherwise) but I do remember feeling a bit excluded from her narrative because I envied her ability to try (and often fail) to live out these values when I couldn’t do that myself, not to that scale anyway. But even when I’m not so fond of one of her books, there’s still much to recommend them. It sounds like it might be extra-fun to be able to unravel the parallels between this and the Dickens novel, even if it’s not required.
I think you’ve perfectly captured how I feel about Kingsolver, Marcie. Those two – The Bean Trees, and Pigs in Heaven – were my first. I loved them, they were so warm-hearted but got their message across as you say. I was living in the US at the time which gave them added immediacy.
One member in my reading group LOVED unravelling the parallels with David Copperfield.
I’ve always thought I’d like to read High tide in Tucson. I hear what you say about Animal Vegetable Mineral. From what I know of her, what you say makes sense about how she approached it and how you responded.
An excellent review which I really enjoyed. I struggled to review it in December (but do pop over to see the amusing path I took to actually getting this in my hands and read!) https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2023/12/23/book-review-barbara-kingsolver-demon-copperhead/ as so many people had already reviewed it. And it did turn out to be one of my books of the year. I didn’t re-read David Copperfield and didn’t find I missed too much; and yes, Kingsolver is didactic but I don’t mind that. I really enjoy her non-fiction, too, and agree with Marcie on Animal, Veg.
Oh thanks Liz …. I feel I’ve achieved something when someone says they enjoyed reading a review I’ve written. Like you I don’t mind her didacticism here. It did stick out in a couple of places but didn’t overwhelm the flow. I’ve always intended to read her essays but somehow haven’t got to them.