“Dead in the heart of Lee County, between the Ruelynn coal camp and a settlement people call Right Poor, the top of a road between two steep mountains is where our single-wide was set. I wasted more hours up in those woods than you’d want to count, alongside of a boy named Maggot.”
That’s a passage from the first chapter of Barbara Kingsolver’s novel Demon Copperhead. Kingsolver is a very gifted writer, and this 500+ page tome does not disappoint. Inspired by Dickens’ novel David Copperfield, this is a story of a boy born to a poor unwed mother in the mountains of southern Appalachia.
Demon narrates his own story beginning with his birth. At age 10, when his mother dies, he spends time with three different foster homes, each one abusive. At age 11 he runs away to his paternal mother’s home. She sends him to live with the local high school football coach and his daughter. Being big for his age, Demon qualifies for football early and becomes a star until a major injury causes him to become addicted to pain killers. He drops out of school, moves in with his drug addict girlfriend, and spends his days finding ways to earn money to buy his next fix.
As the book jacket says, “In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves and crushing losses.”
I won’t tell you how the story ends but, as depressing as it sounds, it is well worth reading. If you’re a fan of Kingsolver, or Dickens, then you must read Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
