A little while ago, I wrote a review about Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. If you remember, I despised that book. Annoying characters, terrible plot, awful writing; just a whole load of complete garbage. That book wanted to be Demon Copperhead. Demon Copperhead slaps unbelievably hard.

The poor white Americans is a subject that I don’t hear about much, being from Australia. I did know of their existence, but this book slams through the door and shows how being poor isn’t a dependant variable on race. Similarly, through Kingsolver’s author’s voice through “Tommy” you learn there were and are governmental and societal restrictions which cause the lower socioeconomic standard.

One thing I loved about this book is the pace of the demise. Kingsolver drops hints all through previous chapters. She fills the gaps with beautiful descriptions, then in Demon’s introspections at the start of the chapter, he drops the hammer. No better example for this than your comprehension of the squaller of Demon’s house and then he admits that he is a drug addict.

Another beautifully crafted part of this book is the respective voice of Demon from the future. The prose is a perfectly crafted blend of simple language and wrong punctuation that you would expect of Demon. Additionally, his writing improves over the course of the novel, a sign of growth throughout. This book is a piece of picturesque writing.

My parents work in the realm of “troubled youth” and for that reason this book his home for me. The stories really came to life as I’ve heard stories of their analogues in real life. For that reason, this book was an incredibly challenging read. However, incredibly rewarding on the backend. This is a fantastic book and I highly recommend it.