As we often do, we started off our year with a chunkster, this year’s being Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. This is our second Kingsolver novel, as we discussed her Poisonwood Bible, way back in 2001. It too was our summer chunkster read!
Published in 2022, Demon Copperhead is Kingsolver’s ninth novel. It won the 2022 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, was a co-winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and also won the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction. The novel was inspired by Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield, but is set in late 20th century-early 21st century Appalachia.
First impressions
The majority of the group liked or loved the book, with a few absolutely loving it. One called it a “masterpiece”, while another described it as “brilliant” and one of the best books she’d ever read. The things we liked – and this included the few who were less effusive – were:
- The voice: Most of us loved the character of Demon Copperhead, and how well Kingsolver got his voice. One said Kingsolver did an “amazing job” of getting his voice; another described Demon as “an energetic, positive character”; while another commented on his “extraordinary resilience”.
- The themes: Of course, most of us mentioned the subject matter. We liked its exploration of “significant social problems”; her insight into being poor and part of a maligned group (the Appalachian hillbillies).
- The characters: Most liked Kingsolver’s characters, in addition to Demon.
- The resolution: Several commented on the ending, some loving it.
- The humour and the writing: Several commented on the humour, which helped them read through the tough, dark aspects of the novel. One described the language as “amazing”, while another loved Kingsolver’s “mastery of language” and said some “juxtaposition of images” made her laugh.
- The close parallels with David Copperfield: Some read (re-read) Dickens’ novel in conjunction with reading this novel, while another had vivid memories of Dickens’ book. This member, in particular, enjoyed matching up the respective characters between the two novels (but was initially confused by Angus, until it was revealed she was female).
- The read: Members used words like “engrossing”, “sticks with you”, “uplifting”, but also “intense”, “confronting”.
There were criticisms however. One in particular found its intensity difficult, and although she thought it started well, she also found the early violence and description of poverty “horrible”, making it difficult to keep reading. Another found it so intense that she felt it was not good for her mental health, but she was ultimately glad she read it, and said she experienced some “cathartic crying” at the end. Another member who ended up loving the book, found the first 100 pages difficult and off-putting.
Even those who loved it had some criticisms. These included that it was a bit long (that Kingsolver didn’t need to emulate Dickens that closely), that there was too much detail at times, and that it was occasionally a bit didactic.
Several comparisons were made with Dickens. One member found Demon Copperhead heavier than Dickens, partly because she thought Dickens used humour better, though she recognised that both novels dealt with injustice and the problems of orphans and fostering.
Another said it reminded her of Douglas Stuart’s novel Shuggie Bain and JD Vance’s memoir Hillbilly elegy.
A member pointed us to an article just published (28 January 2024) in The Guardian the ongoing OxyContin problem, and the role of big pharma in targeting the Appalachian region.
Discussion
Oh my, the discussion – as usual I suppose – moved quickly across many topics, many of course picking up points made during our First Impressions.
Language, voice and humour, plotting
Most of us enjoyed Kingsolver’s writing. It’s what kept most of us engaged. We loved the voice, though one member thought it was a “bit smart alecky” at times and that made it hard for her to empathise with Demon. She found David Copperfield a more empathetic character, partly because she liked Dickens’ humour more. Most though didn’t agree with the “smart alecky” assessment, despite an example being provided from the opening lines. We didn’t see it that way.
While we liked the way Kingsolver resolved her story for Demon, some felt Fast Forward’s ending felt forced, melodramatic, but others countered that Steerforth’s ending (Dickens’ “Fast Forward” character) is also melodramatic.
We found it hard to pick good examples of Kingsolver’s writing because we loved so much of Demon’s descriptions, but one member shared his description on first seeing Coach:
Coach Winfield came down the stairway like something dumped out of a bucket, making a big man’s racket, talking before he’s even in the room.
Another member liked the idea of “brain-Lysol” as a calming process, and Demon’s response to Emmy that it’s not that easy:
“It’s not your fault. You can’t really help what’s in your brain.”
She turned around and looked at me. I sat up. “I know everybody says that. Clean out your juvenile little head and put something nice in there. I get that all the time, and I’m like, Seriously? Just spray around brain-Lysol and get over it? How’s that work?”
Nonetheless, Demon admits soon after that thinking about the ocean is his “brain-Lysol”.
Most of us liked the humour in the novel, with one member identifying the phone-sex scenes as being particularly funny.
Characters
We talked a lot about the characters, of which there are many. We commented on Demon’s high emotional intelligence, and his early statement that “a kid is a terrible thing to be”. We laughed about his recognition that Dickens got “the picture on kids and orphans getting screwed over and nobody giving a rat’s ass. You’d think he was from around here”.
We talked about Coach, and that he’d been derelict in his duty, though he’s not a totally unsympathetic character. We all loved June, who, said our Dickens-compared-with-Kingsover expert, didn’t have a direct parallel in Dickens.
We talked a little about other female characters, particularly Angus (Agnes), whom most of us loved but one thought was a bit boring, but also briefly Emmy and Dori.
Issues
Demon Copperhead is an issues-laden book, and one member wondered if there were too many. Many of us had thought that the book was going to be about the OxyContin/opioid addiction crisis, and were surprised to find the novel’s subject matter to be broader than that. Overall, the book is about poverty and the intergenerational trauma that this engenders (which then lays the foundation for something like OxyContin to take hold). Indeed, Kingsolver says in her acknowledgements that “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.”
That said, OxyContin, together with other addictions, thread through the novel from the first chapter. One member thought the book offered a “gripping description of addiction”. Another commented that she thought some scenes came straight out of the Netflix series, Painkiller, but it was pointed out that in her acknowledgements Kingsolver talks about her research into the topics she covered, including addiction.
Other issues we talked about included:
- love of the environment, which comes out in Demon’s love of the “woods”, and his discussion of city versus country and how poverty plays out differently in each place. For Demon, life is easier if you have access to land. A member shared how this was true in Australia during the Depression.
- family, and the way people create family out of what they have. We talked about Tommy, and how he eventually found family for himself. One member called him the “unsung hero” of the novel.
- racism, which is explored through the mixed marriage of Miss Annie and Mr Armstrong, and the racism they constantly face, but also through more subtle things such as the military recruiting poor (often black) people.
- capitalism, which is explored through the way pharmaceutical companies targeted the poor with their painkillers, and through the coal companies shutting out any other options for work in coal mining communities, then leaving those communities bereft when they shut their mines down.
- Trumpism, and the fact that the denigration of whole communities, like the “hillbillies”, is one of the reasons for the rise of “populism” (which, in the USA, is manifesting itself in Trump’s MAGA movement)
- anti-intellectualism, and the fact that money flowed quite easily for football but Angus could not raise money for an academic club
Kingsolver includes, through Demon, much commentary on human nature, but this one which occurs near the end, caught the attention of a few of us:
I thought about what Rose said, wanting to see the rest of us hurt, because she was hurting. You have to wonder how much of the whole world’s turning is fueled by that very fire.
You sure do!
Finally, we commented how none of us had heard of Melungeons before, a group of which Demon is a member.
All up, a great book to get our year going. We had a full-house attendance.
Present: 11 members
Minerva Reads ACT 