Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver, is a 2022 award-winning novel which retells Dickens’ David Copperfield. It trades the poverty of industrial England for the deprivation of post-industrial Appalachia. It is a masterfully written book whose main character keeps his moral compass, thus remaining sympathetic even while making horrible choices.
Some, like Lorraine Berry (“Mountains of the damned”), who call the work poverty porn and ask, “Is it wrong to stare at the people of a doomed Appalachia?” seem to miss the point. I am from a poor rural area in Newfoundland, where the main industry failed; this is to say that I would be sensitive to text about poverty that felt exploitative. The institutional forces that create these broken families, generational poverty and drug and alcohol abuse made their presence known throughout the novel. The choices that lead the characters to various misfortunes make sense, given the world they inhabit. The characters never feel like they are there for us to gawk or laugh at. While having no experience in Appalachia, these characters feel real; they evolve and change throughout the novel. They felt like people I had known growing up. The book even captured the struggle of leaving the place where you have all your social connections to get an education or a better job and the decision to return.
Demon Copperhead was a great read but not an easy one. Several times I stopped partway through a chapter and was reluctant to restart as I knew something terrible awaited the protagonist. Kingsolver is a giant of the American literary scene, and this work deserves the accolades it has received.
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