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Barbara Kingsolver, Barbara Kingsolver: Demon Copperhead (Hardcover, Harper) 4 stars

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy …

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.