Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver won the Pulitzer Prize in 2023 and won the Women’s Prize for Fiction. It’s the first Kingsolver book I ever read and now I’m reading another book of hers, “The Lacuna.” I loved this book. It draws inspiration from Charles Dickens’ book, “David Copperfield”, but you don’t need to have any prior Dickens or Kingsolver experience to enjoy this book. For a Pulitzer winner it is a quick easy read! The chapters are short, and as a busy mom, I love short chapters. I wouldn’t classify this as a beach read though. I read this in February, for me winter is a good time to dive into award winning or dense books as that’s when I have more concentrated reading time.
The book follows the life of its title character, Demon Copperhead from birth through to adulthood. It provides an inside view on an impoverished life in Appalachia–a forgotten, discarded place. Demon’s life is not easy and he keeps you on the edge as he aggressively recounts his misadventures. Kingsolver writes male characters with remarkable depth and humanity–I love this quality in writers, when they can transcend their own gender and convincingly convey the human experience. It’s one of my favorite aspects of fiction writing. I felt drawn into a world entirely different from my own and I was shown around with compassion and awe.
This book gets a 5 out of 5 rating from me. I highly recommend it.