This is dark story of part of America that time has passed by, has been taken advantaged of and arguably setup to ensure they can never crawl out from it. Child abuse - check; Alcoholism - check; Racism - check; Abusive foster parents - check; Uncaring Civil Service support - check; Drug abuse - check; Opioid abuse - hell this is the birth cradle of it - Big Check; The only bright spot in their lives is High School football and even that just leaves fallen heroes and futureless stars littered on the side of the road. Add in the star football coach who can't get himself out of bed in the offseason sleeping it off and in season sending hurt players to a doctor to kickoff their opioid lives so they can play past their pains. All that darkness and still this was an excellent book. Kingsolver is a gifted writer who can tell a story, describe a scene and builds the perfect characters for this story. Though the book is that dark, it is so rich and well written you can't help but really like this book. ( )

A story of poverty and the department of Social Services in the South Appalachian mountains. Takes place in the late 1900's and makes you wonder who is actually doing their job. The story follows a red headed boy as he grows up through the trauma of being poor and being pushed around from one foster parent to another. It is the story of foster parents and those who take advantage of these children, it is a story of the opioid crisis. As usual, well written and fast paced. You root for the red head in the end. ( )

I had a love-hate relationship with this book. Hated it, put it aside. Started again a week or two later. Loved it. At first. But in the end, I wondered what the point of reinterpreting the Dickens classic was, though of course it's fun observing all the correspondences with David Copperfield. Kingsolver's passion for social justice shines through, but in the end Demon's spectacular falls from grace become slightly wearying. Just as his final redemption seemed to be hurried through, and not entirely convincing, considering how deeply damaged he was by his falls. I was relieved to finish the bok. ( )

Demon Copperhead tackles a lot of heavy subjects - neglected children, abusive relationships, the foster care system, pressure on high school athletes to perform, drug addiction and the culpability of pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers, American cultural divides and I'm probably missing a couple things. And it's Barbara Kingsolver, so needless to say it's all handled with incredible insight and finesse. Demon Copperhead isn't my favorite Kingsolver book (and I haven't read them all yet) but it's definitely well-worth the read. ( )

"Literature is a long conversation through time and space."
Barbara Kingsolver

Although this book is intellectually stimulating and well- written, its bleakness can be depressing.
In her introduction, Kingsolver speaks of the inspiration for this novel. She had finished a tour for her last book, and was grappling with subject for the next one. She knew that she wanted to write about opiod addiction. She knew that "any novel worth your time and mine should concern itself with the problems that keep us awake at night." She just did not know how to present it.
In the introduction to the Barnes and Nobles Exclusive Edition, Kingsolver recounts how the story of Demon Copperhead came about. She was staying at an inn that was once Bleak House, the seaside residence of Charles Dickens and was allowed to explore the house and even sit at the desk where Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield. She writes that while looking out at the sea, she realized that this was also Dickens view while he wrote the novel that was "closest to his heart."
She then had an "ethereal visit" and felt "a ghost of outrage past, suggesting I was a coward if I couldn't risk telling the stories that matter most. Whether or not people want to hear about such things. It's the artist's job to make them want to hear." A voice told her : "Look to the child". Was this Dicken's permission to rewrite David Copperfield to tell a tale of misery about the Appalachian mountains, "a beautiful, rural place" in which she grew up, now a place where an entire generation of kids are growing up a product of families destroyed by prescription drug abuse.
With Dickens' apparent approval, she has it all here: every major character rewritten in this tale of childhood trauma and eventual resilience. If you are interesting in comparing the original to this version, I recommend this link as a place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Copperhead
Reading the original is not a prerequisite for this book.
Just beware. This is not feel good fiction. Along with an exploration of the opiod crisis in Appalachia, the characters discuss the economic tragedy brought about by the mining industry,the education system in the region, society's denegration of their lifestyle as "hillbilly" culture, and the social/historical aspects of melungeon people, the foster system, child labor and lastly, the role of art as a means for societal change.
Kingsolver, feels that Dickens would approve. In her acknowledgements she starts with the following paragraph:
"I'm grateful to Charles Dickens for writing David Copperfield, his impassioned critique of insitiutional 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 thinkof him as my genius friend."
This book is a selection chosen for both book clubs I belong to. I am interested in finding out what the members' thoughts will be!
4 out of 5 stars not only for the utter bleakness of the book but for the ending! ( )