A beautifully tragic story about the ugliest parts of humanity, Demon Copperfield follows Damon Fields, who is dealt crap cards from the start, from a young boy into manhood as he faces impossible circumstances. As a reader, I was hopelessly optimistic that every opportunity would be where he “overcomes it all,” yet that is not how life works. 

The poverty is all-consuming, the lack of positive role models abounds, and the crumbling social services fail Damon over and over. He seeks security, support, and love, which all constantly allude him.  

Targeted by parasitic pharmaceutical companies, its minerals and forests stripped and then abandoned and perceived as backward by those who have never even seen its beauty, Appalachia has not been given the opportunities it deserves. Demanding the reader to accept that his life presents a harsh reality many have been blessed to have never experienced, Damon both embodies and challenges every stereotype of rural Americans out there

Having lived less than 10 miles from where this book takes place, I felt this story in my bones and could picture many similar stories. Kingsolver’s compulsive writing demonstrates that the people of Appalachia are resilient. 

The social commentary abounds in this novel, and I could go for days, but I want to focus on addiction and how Kingsolver captures it so perfectly. Addiction is, by definition, a disease, yet it has been villainized into a personality trait. As a physician, I have cared for people with an addiction in their darkest times, and I have seen them excel in recovery. Kingsolver’s prose demonstrates the way substance use disorder ravages communities in not exaggerated but rather depressingly accurate depictions. 

I read this book completely blind, and although I have never actually read the Dickens’ novel that inspired it, I can tell you that this version is impactful, unexpected, and challenging. If you enjoy reading about the harrowing nature of being human, this is a must-read.