Demon Copperhead

by Barbara Kingsolver, Barbara Kingsolver

No cover — Barbara Kingsolver, Barbara Kingsolver: Demon Copperhead (2022, Faber & Faber, Limited)

English language

Published Nov. 15, 2022 by Faber & Faber, Limited.

ISBN:: 978-0-571-37647-6

View on OpenLibrary

(58 reviews)

12 editions

Machinedreamread reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Heartfelt and Sad, worth the read

4 stars

Demon Copperhead had me hoping for the best outcome for the main character Demon the whole story. This was a book with a lot of heartbreak but had a hopeful ending. Shines a light on the opioid epidemic and how it has taken over so many people’s lives. Good book. I want to read David Copperfield by Dickens now to see how these two compare. Great narrator! (listened through Libby)

73pctGeek reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

A good read.

3 stars

A loose retelling of David Copperfield set in 90s(?) Appalachia.

Well-written, and with a strong narrator, the Dickensian characters are easily recognisable, whilst still working after being updated to the modern setting. The abuses young Demon and his fellow children were subject to felt a little too Victorian, but perhaps they are anchored in some horrible reality. The endless sadness of drug abuse began to wear on me, and had I not previously read David Copperfield, I doubt I’d have enjoyed the book as much. Worth the read.

Jim Brown reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Great writing and storytelling, perhaps heavy-handed...but also maybe not

No rating

Kingsolver is a fantastic writer. This is the only novel of hers I've read, but the ability to turn a sentence is pretty amazing. The characters are great and the story also.

I think folks reading this in 2022 would have accused it of being "heavy-handed" and of being a fictional version of "let's interview Trump supporters at the local diner." Maybe that's a fair critique, maybe it's not. But I think reading it in 2025 is a whole different experience, at least for me. The political situation requires that voices like those of Damon Fields can't really be written off. Then again, Damon is kinda too good to be true.

I haven't read David Copperfield, which inspired this book. Might need to turn to that next.

Kingsolver is a fantastic writer. This is the only novel of hers I've read, but the ability to turn a sentence is pretty amazing. The characters are great and the story also.

I haven't read David Copperfield, which inspired this book. Might need to turn to that next.

Brian Plunkett reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Demon Copperhead - 5 Stars

5 stars

(Read in 2023) I think Kirkus hit the nail on the head ("an angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage" for its Appalachian community) - and I guess that's what I was in the mood for, because I loved it. Stunning. Somehow it managed to be funny and hopeful, despite plenty of misery and asshole-type people doing their thing. Great audiobook narration by Charlie Thurston.

outofrange reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Beautifully painful

4 stars

I grabbed this without much consideration and got embarrassingly far through it before I got the Dickens heritage. If I read David Copperfield I've forgotten it, but if it explores real societal issues through the eyes of kids as well as this story does, it would be worth a comparison to get a sense of how the problems have evolved. It's not just problems though, they are lived by good characters.

lilithian reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Review of 'Demon Copperhead' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

One of the best books of 2024

ChristyB reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

An amazing retelling of David Copperfield

No rating

Content warning Spoilers

Set in Appalachia, this modern retelling of David Copperfield shows the how much the issues of poverty and exploitation that Dickens wrote about are still relevant today. Demon Copperhead is born into extreme poverty. His single, drug addicted mother soon dies, leaving him to a dysfunctional foster care system. Once he escapes from this broken institution, he finds himself in another -- American high school sports. The football team makes him a hero, but ultimately it discards him when he is no longer able to play. From there, the pharmaceutical industry prey on him in his weakened state.

While this plot line seems over-the-top in the retelling, it is believable as told in the novel. In part, this is due to the depth of the characters, each of whom is flawed and therefore realistic. Demon himself makes all the stupid, horrible decisions that young people make. Yet, throughout the novel, we understand that he is a victim of circumstance -- of birth, of institutions, of growing up during the opioid epidemic. Getting this balance right - that one is neither a blameless victim nor completely at fault - is one of the strengths of the novel.

kfitz reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Painful and gorgeous

4 stars

I started reading this on an international flight and immediately got completely absorbed into its universe -- our universe, filled with the forsaken and despised of impoverished rural Appalachia as the opioid crisis is generated around and through them, another industry (like coal mining before) grinding up an entire culture for private, corrupt gain. I got a bit bogged down in the middle as the pain became hard to stay with, but am really glad I pushed through. By turns hilarious and tragic, Kingsolver rewrites Dickens for the 21st century, reminding us that the social damage done by capitalism scars communities, families, and individuals in ways that we might not see but should not ignore.

valparty reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Great read!

5 stars

Loved!

cheesetoasty reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Demon Copperhead

4 stars

Compelling story with characters I grew to love. My only complaint is that it was a bit too long.

jd 🔆 reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

David Copperfield redux

4 stars

Inspired by Dicken’s David Copperfield, the novel, set in rural Kentucky circa 1980-2000, centres around Demon, a trailer park kid who got kicked around to various foster homes, briefly became a local high school football star until a knee injury put an end to that, and sent him crashing into a life of opioids and addiction. His one talent, drawing, helped with his ultimate redemption. A theme running through it, like that of the Dicken’s novel, is that of institutional poverty and its effects on the lives ordinary people. Though it held my interest, the book was ultimately too long.

Wild Woila reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

So good it hurt to read

5 stars

A harrowing journey through foster care and the opiate crisis. So good it hurt to read. Raw deal after raw deal left my heart aching, but enough clear-sighted humanity to stave off despair.

Reading time 9 days, 61 pages/day

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Cincise31 reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

No rating

Characters you're 'rooting' for throughout. An exposé of the worst societal abuses upon communities and it's impact. Amazingly; hope!

anaulin reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Gripping story, compelling voice

5 stars

Despite a bit of oversimplification of the socioeconomics and politics of the region (mainly at the very end), I couldn't help but be gripped and moved by the story. Hard and dark and also warm and strangely hopeful, written in a compelling voice.

markm reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Review of 'Demon Copperhead' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A very good story with an entertaining, observant, and ironic narrator, at least in his early childhood. Am I more aware of poverty in southwestern Virginia or problems with Oxycodone because of it? Is the novel better because it closely follows the structure of David Copperfield? Maybe.