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Harper

Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner

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WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTIONNew York Times Readers’ Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century • An Oprah’s Book Club Selection • An Instant New York Times Bestseller • An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller • A 1 Washington Post Bestseller • A New York Times "Ten Best Books of the Year" "Demon is a voice for the ages—akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield—only even more resilient.” —Beth Macy, author of Dopesick"May be the best novel of [the year]. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love.” —Ron Charles, Washington PostFrom the acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees and the recipient of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero’s unforgettable journey to maturitySet in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. 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. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper


Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 18, 2022


Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 560 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063251922


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 22


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.9 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.48 x 9 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #11,565 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #10 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books) #36 in Classic Literature & Fiction #37 in Literary Fiction (Books)


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Shadows Cast down help illuminate Appalachia
Format: Hardcover
The coal-filled mountains of Appalachia cast darkness on the small towns dotted throughout the eastern us. The book begins as the main character, Demon, starts to tell his story, which is a twisting path at the bottom of the mountain that begins interjectory not up the mountain but down into the darkness where spiderwebs of misfortune are found deep in the coal mines. Demon’s childhood is a spiral of terrible circumstances and an environment accompanied by adults who make poor decisions in a community that thrives on coal and drugs (both legal and illegal.) Demon, throughout his childhood, is raised by his young mother, a drug addict, and his neighbors, the Peggots, who assist in trying to keep Demon on a straight path as they deal with the same institutional issues living in the mountaintop small-town Appalachia, drug addiction, crime, poverty, and a poor economy. “The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.” Demon’s mother soon marries a man called Stoner, who is abusive to both Demon and his mother; during their marriage, Demon’s mother relapses, and Demon and Stoner struggle as Demon attempts to call for help and Stoner attempts to stop him, and Demon loses his mother and his unborn sibling. After his mother’s death, he’s given to a foster home where he is worked like hired help on a tobacco farm, echoing the horribleness of how the American foster system can harm a child. Demon learns the ins and outs of the family on this farm through his peers getting into trouble, lusting for a good meal, and starting to take drugs for fun. Eventually, Demon, as he ages and moves to another foster family who struggles in the poverty of Appalachia, Demon runs away to his grandmother’s house in Murder Valley, Tennessee. On his trip, he meets a preacher, gets his money stolen by a prostitute, and sleeps in a barn. Eventually, he meets Betsy Woodall and her disabled brother Dick who get Demon back in shape and, using her connections, gets him a foster home with a football coach. Demon’s problems for a short while disappear, as he starts school again, taking special classes in art and getting by in other courses, but eventually, the freedom of youth escapes him, and he spirals back down, even as he’s the star player a football team the pinnacle of any small town. Demon eventually gets injured and addicted to oxicotten on a legal script that doctors at the time were pushing to everyone to deal with pain, knowing the drug was addictive; in doing so, Demon falls for a girl, Dori, who had her own addiction issues and Demon’s life course even when going well for just a few short years spirals again. “I said probably they were just scared he was going to put ideas in our heads.” She smiled. “Imagine that. A teacher, putting ideas in kids’ heads.” The ending is not a tragic blunder about addiction and poverty but a tour of struggle and pain as Demon grows and fails and picks himself up, eventually using his artistic skills to slowly build a world around him that may give him enough structure to break a cycle that many fail to do. Eventually, Demon realizes the few people close to him who constantly annoyed him were the very few people that only wanted Demon Copperhead to stand tall and be the better person he deserved to be. “I can still feel in my bones how being mad was the one thing holding me together.” The book’s plot is based on a request given to Demon during his struggles and is only released at the end. Mrs. Kingsolver’s writing style has a tone and character not seen in writing, often using appropriate slang and terms in the Appalachian area. Demon’s voice, written by Mrs. Kingsolver, is unique and baked in with a sincerity of hard luck and oppression not often found in modern literary writing. The book was hard to put down and flowed well chapter into the chapter as Demon continued to be put into horrible situations by those who were supposed to take care of him. At times, during the parts of the story about addiction and drugs, I would step away from the book because the trauma, pain, and hopelessness portrayed in the words and mood can become very real. These are all complex topics to read and, at times, to enjoy, but Mrs. Kingsolver provides the proper framing in Demon’s voice and the appropriate amount of darkness and light to keep the pages turning, never letting the pace or tone become too much for the reader. I would consider adding this book to every high school-required reading list. Demon Copperhead was the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2023, was named “10 best books of 2022” by the NYT and Washington Post, and shared the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with Hernan Diaz’s book Trust. This was the first time the prize was split. The novel has lingered on the fringes of books I wanted to read. I picked it up as part of my book club reads for 2024, and I’m glad I did. I would recommend it to anyone, as it features superior prose, various authentic characters, and a modern setting with hundreds of tragedies, comedies, and dramas that must be told. Word of note, this book can get dark and deals with modern-day problems that may trigger emotions and people impacted in such situations. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2024 by Matthew
    • Copperhead Road
Format: Kindle
In an interview with Ezra Klein on his podcast, Barbara Kingsolver said she wanted to write “the great Appalachian novel.” She conceded, however, that the notion “probably sounds ridiculous.” In particular, Kingsolver said she wanted to write about the fact that the people who live in Appalachia “are the most resourceful Americans you’re probably going to find anywhere.” Kingsolver, who was raised in rural Kentucky and now lives in rural Virginia, said she wanted to explore the shame she had internalized from her choice of a place to live. “How many people well-meaning people have asked me, ‘how could I live there in the middle of nowhere?’” said Kingsolver. “People, this is my everywhere. This is my everything.” Later in the chat: “Everybody looks down on the country people and the country people sort of absorb that. You can’t help but absorb it. So when I set out to write my great Appalachian novel. I was paralyzed with self-doubt because, I mean, my starting point was that I wanted to write about the opioid epidemic, which is become a huge assault on our culture, our families, our communities. It’s devastated so many of the good things about this region that we value and that we love. And so I wanted to write about these kids who’ve been damaged and this place that’s been damaged, and it seemed like a really hopelessly sad story. Plus, it’s about people that I didn’t feel the outer world cared about. And so I just really, I spent a couple of years walking around and around this story, trying to figure out how to break into that house because I really felt sure nobody wants to read it.” Well, Kingsolver was wrong. At least, she was wrong about the interest in her topic—not her take on the people of Appalachia. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and 85,000+ ratings on Amazon (4.6 stars). There’s so much to like about Demon Copperhead but one of the main things is that it’s so breezily readable. For a 546-page epic, it goes down fast. It’s episodic, a la Dickens, but the character flow is organic, unforced. Demon’s voice is engaging and his struggles are real, particularly when it comes to the challenges of the foster care system and the brutality of OxyContin addictions. Kingsolver’s empathy for addicts comes pouring out of the story. She is non-judgmental, plays it straight. Here is Demon, somewhat early on, looking back on the power of addiction: “I had roads to travel before I would know it’s not that simple, the dope versus the person you love. That a craving can ratchet itself up and up inside a body and a mind, at the same time that body’s strength for tolerating is favorite drug goes down and down. That the longer you’ve gone hurting between fixes, the higher the odds that you’ll reach too hard for the stars next time. That first big rush of relief could be your last. In the long run, that’s how I’ve come to picture Mom at the end: reaching as hard as her little body would stretch, trying to touch the blue sky, reaching for some peace.” That’s as good a passage about the feeling of addiction, and a description of its power, that I’ve ever read. (Kingsolver also read that section on Klein’s podcast.) Kingsolver is a deceiving writer. Her style is unassuming and keen-eyed. The text is full of specificity. And energy. If you have any doubts about tackling this book because it looks too heavy, squash those notions. Here’s the beginning of Chapter 34: “A lot of firsts that school year. First scrimmage, first JV game, first tackle, first passing yards made. First school dance, with an eighth-grader girl that was dead serious about it. So, my first real date, evidently. Angus and Sax went together dressed as Planet of the Apes, loser of their grade contest (Sax) being the human on a leash. This is Homecoming mind you, not Halloween, so. Not a date. But Angus took mine over, ordered the corsage from Walmart, took me to Goodwill where we found this dope white suit from the sixties. In my size, unbelievable. I’ve grown into my hands and feet by this point, and I’m pushing 6 feet. Thank you, Mattie Kate.” Mattie Kate is the housekeeper who worked for football Coach Wingate, where Demon lived while he was being developed as a potential football star. There are plenty of characters to keep track of, but Kingsolver gives them juicy nicknames (again, a la Dickens) or colorful descriptions so they are easy to track. U-Haul. Fast Forward. Waddles. Mouse. If you know David Copperfield (it’s been decades since I read it) you’ll have a great time with what Kingsolver did with her names. For instance, Uriah Heep becomes Ryan Pyles. The “resourcefulness” of Demon is apparent in his stubborn ability to survive. He’s smarter than he acknowledges, and very observant. In Demon Copperhead, bad things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people, too. Many around Demon are not so fortunate and literally or metaphorically drown. You can’t help but think about the failure of our institutions around child welfare, the foster care system, adult welfare, and drug abuse. But Demon finds his talent, develops a passion, and puts it to use. Hello, the power of art. And love. Every great novel, and this is one, is a love story in the end. Demon Copperfield was written with passion for Kingsolver’s very personal reasons. The execution is a thing of beauty—and something we can all admire. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2024 by Mark Stevens
    • Extremely well written, depressing but with a heartwarming ending
Format: Kindle
Really my title says it all. This is a compelling and tough read. The painful parts are relentless and so after faithfully ready two thirds of it, I skipped to the last three chapter which offered an ending that was thankfully befitting our beleaguered hero.
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2026 by T. Lorraine Young

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