Barbara Kingsolver and the book ‘Demon Copperhead’

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Barbara Kingsolver‘s reimagining of the Charles Dickens book David Copperfield was released October 18th, 2022. Demon Copperhead is set in the southern mountains of Appalachia, beginning in Virginia of the 1990s United States rather than the 1820s of Suffolk, England. While both works are coming-of-age tales (bildungsroman), with Kingsolver focusing on struggle and strife alongside perseverance and redemption.

(Barbara Kingsolver won the Pulitzer Prize for Demon Copperhead).

Demon Copperhead is both the title of Kingsolver‘s latest book, in addition to being the nickname of the central protagonist and narrator, Damon Fields. Beginning with Fields’ birth to an addicted teenage mother living in a mobile home. Kids transform his first name quickly, with his hair as red as a copper penny and last name conferring the last name. The death of Damon’s father before the child’s birth, along with the child coming to terms with the emotions and meaning of this event. An analogous storyline for the book is an affection the author aims to share largely for Virginia and Tennessee, along with lesser parts Kentucky and Georgia.

(An alternate cover for the Barbara Kingsolver book Demon Copperhead, which was first released on October 18th, 2022).

A truly difficult upbringing for Damon Fields suggests exploring a couple of redeeming themes for what largely a sad, depressing tale. The redemption rests in Damon’s ability to persevere through the trauma experienced firsthand and through those around him; strength further stands out with the example of nurse practitioner June Peggart, foster sister (to Damon) Angus Winfield, and the fate of Maggot and his mother by the story’s end. Those who might find poverty, domestic abuse, childhood neglect, foster care failures, teen pregnancy, addiction, fentanyl and oxycodone use, human death, animal death, racial prejudice, or heritage prejudice difficult subject matter might need to look elsewhere for subject matter.

(David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, from which Demon Copperhead was reimagined, was released on November 1st, 1850).

Damon’s eventual fate, and some of his experiences in the above, takes a trajectory upwards with his meeting his paternal grandmother, Betsy Woodall. While in many ways no magic solution, the effort to humanize many with this tale while getting to something of an uplifting place, echoing David Copperfield, provides that uplifting feel that will resonate for many investing the time to read Demon Copperhead. I grant Demon Copperhead as written by Barbara Kingsolver 4.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins and Season Three of ‘Justified’

We first introduced you to the FX television series Justified (2010-2015) with our look into the first season last July. We followed with a look into season two in September. The third 13-episode season of Justified brings an exiled Detroit mobster to Harlan through Lexington, Kentucky to establish the oxycontin trade. Meanwhile, a couple of other criminal feuds breakout with allegiances changing with rapid fire, ending up with Nobles Holler playing a decent part in the larger story.

(Natalie Zea as Winona Hawkins, left, and Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens in the television series Justified).

Timothy Olyphant continues to star in season three of Justified as the righteous yet rule-bending lawman morally mixed-up with his ex-wife Winona Hawkins, as portrayed by Natalie Zea. The story involving Gary Hawkins, as portrayed by William Ragsdale, is one worth keeping an eye on through the season.

(Left to right, Neal McDonough as Robert Quarles, William Ragsdale as Gary Hawkins and Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy in the television series Justified).

The exiled Detroit mobster Robert Quarles, portrayed by Neal McDonough, interplays with Dixie Mafia enforcer Wynn Duffy, as portrayed by Jere Burns. The banter among these characters highlights cultural differences between the Midwestern United States and Appalachia, aiming for humor in the approach.

(Left to right, Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder, Raymond J. Barry as Arlo Givens and Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder in the television series Justified).

Old feuds surface in the telling of the story of introducing new players into the vacuum caused by the deaths of Mags Bennett and others in the second season of the series. The feud between Boyd Crowder, as portrayed by Walton Goggins, and Dickie Bennett, as portrayed by Jeremy Davies, is a central part of that tale. Ava Crowder remains in league with her former brother-in-law, Boyd, while Arlo Givens joins the Crowders, including wheel-chair bound Johnny Crowder, in that process. Joelle Carter plays Ava Crowder. Raymond J. Barry plays Arlo Givens, the father to Raylan. David Meunier plays Johnny Crowder.

(Todd Stashwick as Ash Murphy, left, and Jeremy Davies as Dickie Bennett in the television series Justified).

Almost everybody through the third season of Justified has an interest in the money that Mags Bennett has left in trust with the Ellstin Limehouse in Noble’s Holler. Dickie Bennett believes himself to be the rightful heir to the fortune, which in separate parts motivates behavior for Boyd, Johnny and Ava Crowder, Arlo Givens, Raylan Givens, Ash Murphy and Ellstin Limehouse. Ash Murphy, a Kentucky jailer, is portrayed by Todd Stashwick. Ellstin Limehouse is portrayed by Mykelti Williamson.

(Left to right, Mykelti Williamson as Ellstin Limehouse, Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks and Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens in the television series Justified).

Law enforcement officers with the U.S. Marshals Service in Justified continue to include Rachel Brooks as portrayed by Erica Tazel, Art Mullen as portrayed by Nick Searcy and Tim Gutterson as portrayed by Jacob Pitts. A nebulous and entertaining fictional part of this series is the different degrees of gray that these characters, and all the characters to some degree, in this series occupy.

(Left to right, Nick Searcy as Art Mullen, Jacob Pitts as Tim Gutterson and Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens in the television series Justified).

The third season of this series hits another home run of entertaining for me, which allowed me to move quickly through the season. The emotional truths of different characters in the story, flaws and quirks right there for the telling, is part of what resonates in the storytelling of this season. The same has been true of the series overall, with payoffs among the different seasons as well. I grade for season three of Justified at 4.25-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, January 18, 2020