Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

50 reviews

books_withblooms's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Drug use, Child abuse, and Grief

tigerkind's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A really tough read but worth it. Sucks you right in, punches you in the gut and throws you out on the other side with a whole new set of emotions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Mental illness, Classism, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Gore, Addiction, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Moderate: Xenophobia, Sexism, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Dementia

Minor: Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Pedophilia, War, and Outing

rly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug abuse, Trafficking, Suicide, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Abortion, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Drug use, Rape, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Addiction

indydc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Violence, Vomit, Sexual violence, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Vomit, Rape, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Medical content, Blood, Excrement, Car accident, and Racism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Animal death, Homophobia, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Gun violence

qqjj's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Vomit, Self harm, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Death, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Drug use, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was a bit hard to get through, not just because of the page amount. Demon Copperhead follows the life of Damon Fields, aka Demon, from his birth all the way up until close to 18 years of age.  It does not follow a typical story structure, as it is more showing the ups and downs of Demon's, of which there are a lot of "downs".

The only other book I have read by Barbara Kingsolver was The Poisonwood Bible a couple of years ago, so I will make some comparisons based on that. Truly, the two books aren't that similar. Demon Copperhead is a reimagining of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, just set in the modern day with a look at poverty and issues of our times, versus Dickens's own commentary of his time period. However, The Poisonwood Bible also touches on issues that persist today, just those that pertain to the colonization of the African continent, in particular, the colonization of what used to be known as the Congo. Kingsolver is a genius when it comes to showing you a world outside of your own, whether that is an African community or the Appalachian country folk. Her prose is also still something to be lauded, as she really transformed language to make that which occurred in Demon's life sometimes more tragic, and sometimes straight up hilarious in the face of tragedy.

I am comfortable recommending this book, though I am not sure how much those who have not read Kingsolver before will enjoy it. It can get quite depressing at times, and I highly recommend checking out content warnings for those who could be triggered by the heavy themes within the book. This is not a book for some light reading.

Still, I hope others check it out as I loved the look into Appalachian culture as someone who lives in Virginia, though Northern, and is aware of the rural parts of our state but never quite visited long enough to learn more than what was taught in school. And, as Kingsolver says in her acknowledgments, "For the kids who wake up hungry in those dark places every day, who've lost their families to poverty and pain pills, whose caseworkers keep losing their files, who feel invisible, or wish they were: this book is for you."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Drug use, Grief, Sexual content, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexism, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Eating disorder, Racism, and Physical abuse

mrcesq's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Really beautiful book. Did what Hillbilly Elegy was trying to do. Put a personal story to the opioid crisis and it’s inherent classism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, and Drug use

Moderate: Domestic abuse

ceramirezmcfarlin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Abandonment, and Racism

Despite the heavy story content, this book is brilliant and beautiful.

britgirlreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Toxic relationship

liblibby's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I finished this book not 90 seconds ago and I hurried here to write my review because I want it to be fresh in my mind.

This book touched me. I knew that I would enjoy it because it's Barbara Kingsolver and the way that she writes gives me goosebumps--but I didn't expect this. I didn't expect it to fully wreck me and teach me and light a fire inside of me. This book is dark and long but it is a fully compelling and ultimately hopeful critique of systemic poverty and pain pills. I can't believe how quickly I burned through huge swaths of this book.

We are cheering for Demon from the very first page. We get to know him so deeply, so intimately to the point where we understand every single move he makes--even when they're the wrong moves we feel like we couldn't imagine doing anything different. 
This book is sad. It's deeply sad but it also has some very funny parts. Demon is so darn witty.  It's going down as one of the greatest books I've ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pedophilia