Book Review: Demon Copperhead

Title: Demon Copperhead
Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Genre: Literary; Coming of Age
Book Length: 556 pages (print)
Format Read: eBook
Year Published: October 18, 2022

Date Started: July 26, 2024
Date finished: July 31, 2024

This modern-day take on the classic “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens tells a story of a boy named Demon Copperhead, who is raised by a single mother. When his mother dies, he is placed in foster care where he’s moved from one home to another. Each foster family has its own issues, and Demon never feels like he belongs anywhere. When his social worker quits, he is reassigned to a previous social worker he dislikes. Instead of following the social worker’s instructions, he decides to run away to find his grandmother.

Demon’s grandmother was able to provide him a home, with the husband of a woman she had raised, where he was able to finish school and live a normal life. However, things don’t improve much. He reconnects with past friends, makes new ones, and unfortunately falls into drugs and alcohol abuse, along with his friends. A tragic situation occurs, leading to a couple of deaths, and Demon realizing he needs to change his life.

Overall, this was a good read. I enjoyed the storytelling, and the struggles Demon went through in foster care. I liked how he persevered and was determined to find his grandmother. What I wasn’t too fond of was Demon’s drug and alcohol abuse given how his mother died from a drug addiction and how passive she was when her new husband was cruel to him. Additionally, while the parallels to Dicken’s “David Copperfield” were interesting, it felt like the author tried too hard to emulate the original. Even the main character’s name and the book title was similar (Demon Copperhead/David Copperfield). While I appreciate the homage, I still find Dicken’s classic superior. Dickens has a way with vivid descriptions of people, surroundings/setting, and the struggles during the Industrial Revolution.

Who should read this book: Anyone who is a fan of Charles Dickens or enjoy coming of age stories.