Demon Copperhead Delivers
Why you should read Barbara Kingsolver's Magnum Opus
I just read Demon Copperhead for my library book club and ever since I’ve been taking a deep dive into Demon Copperhead-Barbara Kingsolver content because I just love reading in community. I expected to like this book from the moment I saw it on our 2026 reading list, because I had encountered other enthusiastic fans and I’d read some of her books in the past (Prodigal Summer, The Bean Trees, and The Poisonwood Bible). I knew it would make a great book club book - especially for rural Kentucky readers who are familiar with so much of Demon’s world and challenges. However, I was not prepared for how much I want to barnstorm for this book like a revival preacher.
Like Barbara Kingsolver I am frustrated and angered by the stereotypes and sickened by the repeated ravaging of Appalachia by the moneyed classes and abandonment by government and society. America’s favorite sport is victim blaming and Appalachia in specific and rural Americans in general are a great example because it is somehow Appalachians fault that the education system sucks, there few jobs offering a living wage, and addiction has hollowed out families and communities for generations. There aren’t enough bootstraps in the world, folks.
I was not born in Appalachia, but I was born in a rural upstate New York county that is more Appalachian in many ways than the rural eastern Kentucky county where I’ve lived for 30 years. I went to college in the north country of New York State and the local friends I made while living there have much in common with the Appalachian students I taught for almost three decades. Appalachia is my home and Appalachians are my people. I love them. The 30 years I have lived in Appalachia have been spent writing about and with Appalachians so I have learned their stories and felt the ways they echo my own. The decades I have taught writing and writing teachers in Appalachia have simmered me in a well-seasoned cast iron pot on the back of the stove. My fellow writers, my fellow teachers, and my fellow students have all made contributions to the simmering pot. Plus I birthed and raised an Appalachian. I have high stakes in this fight for not just the survival but flourishing of this region because too many people I love will never leave.
Those are just some of the reasons I want to personally press a copy of Demon Copperhead onto every person who makes a comment on my son’s accent or the literacy of my students or the competency of the teachers I’ve taught and worked beside. I want to wield the book more forcefully upon every person who makes or laughs at redneck jokes, thinks everyone here is inbred, shoeless, and living in a trailer, but especially those who think Appalachians are illiterate, lazy, and less than in every way we measure humanity. I want to weaponize the book against those who exploit this region for gain so every cultural reference and news story only reinforces the ugly stereotypes.
Living in Appalachia has made me a more loving and generous human because I am surrounded by the same. Writing in Appalachia has made me a better writer because these people are such rich storytellers. That is what I loved about Demon Copperhead. Barbara Kingsolver used Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield template to show everyone all the ways that Appalachia has been repeatedly pillaged and then blamed for not overcoming the systematic destruction of any force that would allow the region to withstand each new tsunami.
But Demon Copperhead is also masterfully written as a love letter to Appalachia celebrating the love and loyalty, the humor and storytelling, and the beauty of this place and people despite everything outsiders have done to exploit and destroy them. I know this work of fiction is set in a specific Virginia County with side trips to Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia, but I knew this place and these people even though I have never been to Lee County.
Last, but not least, Demon Copperhead is the book everyone (especially those who think that other famous book masquerading as a portrayal of Appalachia is a good book) must read. Everyone is entitled to their memoir, even politicians I don’t like, but no one is allowed to represent Appalachians without the credentials another Appalachian recognizes. I read that book because so many of my friends and neighbors were upset by its content and message. I have heard none of that outcry about Demon Copperhead because game recognizes game.
I have lived in Appalachia long enough to know exactly how much I can speak for and claim Appalachia as someone born and raised somewhere else. I have also lived here long enough to know the difference between a hatchet job continuing a long tradition of exploitation and a love letter shining light on that exploitation.
But don’t just take my word for it, check out:
10 Appalachian Alternatives to that book (I will add Tore All To Pieces by Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. because it speaks so specifically to the places and people of Eastern Kentucky).
Appalachian Bookshelf: Demon Copperhead - a special crossover episode for Appalachian Bookshelf, a joint project between Read Appalachia and Appodlachia.
Barbara Kingsolver (author of Demon Copperhead) | Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
I’ve got a trip planned so I’m not sure when I’ll get to my July update, so I’ll just drop some quick references to things I have learned about reading in community that enhanced my reading experience (with both Demon Copperhead and Tore All To Pieces). Barbara Kingsolver’s template was David Copperfield which was read in installments so it was one of the OG slow reads. I know the fact that I had a month (and I used it) to slowly read and contemplate a few chapters at a time truly enhanced my experience so do check out: Celebrating the Slow Read. Also, I added both books to my Reading the USA Challenge. I am enjoying the journey of exploring all 50 states plus territories through books. I have learned, I have laughed, I have cried, and I have been reminded of why I love this country and my fellow citizens and that is a journey we should all take.
What are your thoughts on Demon Copperhead as well as my argument that it should be required reading?