Demon is born into poverty with a teenage, widowed mom in Appalachia. This story seems like it might be scary because of the title of the book (which is the main character's nickname) but the only thing scary are the odds against the protagonist. Kingsolver nails Demon's voice in this first-person chronicle of his coming of age in the nineties.
Demon's mom is underemployed and a recovering addict raising him in a trailer: the addiction theme is key in this novel and plays as much of a role as any character. When Demon is a boy, his mom marries a guy who is bad news and starts pushing them around. Demon's mom starts using again and dies of an overdose. His neighbors are kind and giving but cannot take young Demon. When he asks them if they will have him, they say no and it's the definition of heartbreaking.
A string of foster homes awaits Demon. First, he is taken into a farmhouse and used as a farm slave along with several other boys. Next a family struggling financially takes him in and make him sleep in a cold laundry room and work a job to contribute at eleven years old. Hunger and discomfort are common states for the boy. During this time Demon thinks to himself, "I wanted to go home. Which was nowhere but it's a feeling you keep having, even after that's no place anymore."
Finally, Demon makes his way to his birth father's mom who helps him find another home. She has a connection with the local high school football coach who takes him in and gets him playing. Things are looking up for Demon as a promising football player in high school until he blows out his knee. Demon is given Fentanyl and OxyContin for the pain and thus begins a downward spiral.
Demon encounters the range of human decency in this story. There are other foster kids that have hearts of gold and foster kids that have a darkness in their souls. There are adults who take him under his wing and adults who use and take advantage of him. The trainwreck one can't help but seeing is Demon's addiction to Opioids which is all too common especially at this time in our nation's history. The narrative tackles big pharmaceutical companies and coal companies alike and their contributions to this beleaguered area of our country.
Eventually after almost everyone around Demon dies or crashes, he goes into rehab. It is then that Demon has this thought: "some little nut cracks open and a tree starts to grow". In spite of many things stacked against our protagonist this moving story leaves the reader with hope and a belief in the resilience of human spirit. This book is riveting, and I highly recommend it.
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