“Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver – Reviews and recommendations

A boy is born in a house­carriage on land­village in the United States. Mother is 18 years old.

When the contractions came, she drank a bottle of gin. Then she took amphetamines to get energy, and an opium­mixed remedy to numb the pain.

Then she conked out.

But the boy survived.

One of the big questions through this wonderfully entertaining and thought­awakening novel, is to discover whether the boy is right in his prediction.

Is he lost? Will he become a drug addict?

A wonderful hero

Because this is a book about addiction. About abuse. About dysfunctional families and a system that fails. Not just the individual, but a whole people­group, and an entire region.

The hard birth is only the beginning. The boy has a tough childhood. A rough life.

The mother is not the best. A bad stepfather doesn’t help. No children­rather protected. He becomes familiar with illegitimate children early on­work. With isolation and loneliness. Is far too young when death takes the first of all he will lose.

It’s rough, but not without lift. Because this boy is a real trickster. Smart. Observer. A guy with the moral compass in order, despite everything and everyone who tries to drag him down.

A hero to root for and love. With buoyancy.

He is nicknamed Demon Copperhead because “devil” is tougher than dopey­the name “Damon”, and because he has hair red as copper.

Furthermore, because Barbara Kingsolver is closely inspired by Charles Dickens’ classic novel “David Copperfield”, which is also about a poor boy with buoyancy despite terribly bad odds.

Anyone who has read Dickens can enjoy finding similarities between the books. But it is not necessary. “Demon Copperhead” stands on its own two feet.

Justice for “rednecks”

It is a book that both wants – and achieves – much more than being a Dickens copy.

Barbara Kingsolver has added the plot to Appalachane. That will say the poor mountain­the region of Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and parts of Virginia. Long was timber­very important here. Since col­mines and tobacco cultivation.

Now everything is shut down.

Left behind are ruined nature and work­stupid person. The kind of Americans everyone loves to hate: Poor. Under-educate. Often with poor health and ditto prospects. Village­people who grow their own food and trade­economy rather than contributing taxes to the state.

Why is it culturally acceptable to call other people “white trash” – quite simply garbage(!) – asks Kingsolver. Why do we laugh at jokes about stupid “hillbillies” and “rednecks”?

And what does it do to a person to be called “trash”? Barbara Kingsolver shows it, both on an individual and societal level­plan. She is engaged. Knowledge­rich. Clearly angry.

But she takes the pill well. The knowledge of mountains­the Appalachian people come as an interesting bonus, because the story of Demon’s roller-coaster life is so interesting.

The opioid epidemic in the United States

Speaking of pills: The poor Appalachian states are also among those hardest hit by the ongoing drug epidemic in the United States.

In “Demon Copperhead”, Barbara Kingsolver writes about how medicine­the company rolled into the region, and got thousands of people hooked on narcotic drugs.

People who cannot afford to go to the doctor, and who anyway live miles away from the nearest hospital, the promise became pain­free life. Forget surgery – here’s a pill!

People quickly became addicted, completely contrary to the promises of the pill sellers. Many switched from prescription­medicine to others, even harder drugs.

Now over 100,000 Americans die of obesity­doses annually. In addition, everyone who lives like a drug comes­dependent. Children who become parents­louse Anyone who loses someone.

“Demon Copperhead” shows the enormous human costs of the opioid epidemic.

Kingsolver’s resentment is well-placed. Again, the reader’s prejudices are adjusted: Maybe people didn’t get hooked on drugs because they are stupid and lazy, but because the whole system was rigged against them from the start?

Best­selling price­wins

Barbara Kingsolver has won several literary prizes, including the Pulitzer and the Women’s Prize for “Demon Copperhead”. In the USA, the book is one of the best­sells. It is easy to see why.

This is a novel with a very linguistic drive, well translated into fresh Norwegian by Kirsti Vogt, with a main character­a person one soon forgets.

In exchange, the reader may get to smash a prejudice or three about stupid and drugged Americans, and learn a great deal about a lesser-known region of the country.

Demon puts it this way:

This is a good story, about a guy with a good heart.