Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Exceptional! It was a long audiobook (21 hours) but captivated me throughout. The voice of Demon Copperhead will remain with me for a long time, as will the story. An updated take on Dickens's David Copperfield, Kingsolver unveils the hidden world of Appalachia, the brunt of many a joke and devastated by the Opioid crisis. Instead of the old story of country vs city, the underlying truth is this is one of self-sufficiency vs corporations (like Purdue Pharma) who make neglected people dependent on their highly addictive pain medication. There is so much more to the story: the horrors of foster care and addiction recovery, for example. There is lots of humour too, and an eye-opening exploration of "redneck" culture.



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