RSVL December 2025 — Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

📖 Why this book? 📖

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100
Books of the 21st Century
• An Oprah's Book Club Selection
• An Instant New York Times Bestseller
• An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller
• A #1 Washington Post Bestseller
• A New York Times ""Ten Best Books of the Year''

''Demon is a voice for the ages — akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield — only even more resilient." — Beth Macy, author of Dopesick

''May be the best novel of [the year]....
Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love." - Ron Charles, Washington Post
From the acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero's unforgettable journey to maturity

Hard to find a book? Suggest a title or use Zip Books at your local library.

💠 What can I expect? 💠

We will meet in-person in the community “Gather Room” at the back of the store.

💬 We catch up socially,
🧊 including a brief icebreaker in which we mention a book or author we recommend, and
🕡 at 6:30 we start our book discussion.

👜 WHAT DO I BRING? 👜

◾️ A snack or drink from Raley’s to share
◾️ $5 (cash or Venmo)
◾️ And you could bring your book 😄

✴️ Event Details ✴️

The $5 offsets Meetup fees. You can venmo me (https://venmo.com/u/Rebecca-Bon) or bring cash.

However❕We would never want you to miss a book club discussion because of the $5, so please message me if you have any concerns.

Thanks, and see you all soon!

📚 ** BOOK SUMMARY ** 📚

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addic-tion, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society.

Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.