Demon Copperhead

Demon Copperhead: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins, 2022)

I’m a big fan of Barbara Kingsolver’s books but this one is a lot to take in. The writing is great, the story is depressing as hell. Kingsolver has taken on the challenge of writing about the drug addiction crisis in Appalachia (in conjunction with their economic issues) from the point of view of a young man. After his single mother overdoses, he bounces between terrible foster homes until a brief interlude as a high school football star results in a knee injury that sends him down the same drug addiction route. Kingsolver does a good job of explaining the ways and whys of Appalachian life to outsiders, right down to why the men frequently go by weird nicknames such as Demon Copperhead. Even though it’s hard to read, this book is important for understanding the “opioid crisis” in the United States from a human perspective.