Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

900 reviews

bluejeepbaby's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Alcohol

delcomrkhjenreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

(Check your triggers)This was a 4 star: powerful and reflective portrayal of the tough lives in Appalachian poverty, addiction, and foster care.

Compelling story of the main character struggles. 

Cons: feels overly heavy-handed - sometimes at the expense of character development and plot; I wanted more from the characters' struggles, and that the Dickens-inspired plot structure doesn't fully translate to the modern setting, leaving some plot points feeling forced. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

queerbooksandtea's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

I feel like Kingsolver re-invents her style with every book and every time she excels at it. This modern Appalachian re-telling of David Copperfield is just as engaging, meaningful and poetically verbose as the original with more current social commentary. The narrative voice immediately pulls you in with its raw, colorful descriptions and dark humor. There were many sad parts  but it is the tenacious hopefulness that went right to my heart. One of my favorite reads in a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use

noura's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Abortion

bibliobb91's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

loopy_charge's review

challenging dark sad medium-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

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

camillatd's review against another edition

challenging sad medium-paced

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

3.5

My reflections on Barbara Kingsolver’s highly acclaimed 2022 novel Demon Copperhead are complicated; they don’t neatly fall into the categories of “this is a good book, you should read it”, or “this is a bad book, you shouldn’t read it.” Much has been said about the novel’s merits, from its clever reimagining of David Copperfield (which, I’ll note, I haven’t read), to its emotional depth, to its direct evisceration of pharmaceutical violence and structural neglect of poor and rural communities. It’s a deeply affecting and—loathe as I am to use the cliche—undoubtedly powerful novel. You can find these reviews in basically every corner of the literary internet, so here are some of my thoughts on the novel’s thorny complexities and pitfalls.

The novel is told entirely in Demon’s voice, which shapes the reader’s perspective of each character and interaction. Demon’s voice is very much that of a teenage boy (which he is for most of the novel), and it shows in the casual and rampant misogyny in his inner monologue and perceptions of the women in his life. Dori is the character who I found the most painful to read through Demon’s eyes: she is introduced as a first and foremost sexual object, then, in time, she becomes a burden to him, a ‘doll baby’ he needs to care for and save. This particular relationship becomes emblematic of Demon’s worldview, particular in the dichotomies of good and bad, savior and saved, worthy and unworthy. 

I talked to @booksarebrainfood a lot about the strange sense of voyeurism we’ve each felt when reading books like this about a particular experience of poverty and suffering, especially when those books become highly lauded by the white, literature-reading, non-rural classes. Some of this is beyond my scope of context: I very much fall into these aforementioned classes.

It makes me wonder: who is this novel for? Is it for Kingsolver, and the community she comes from? Is it for those who might see themselves in Demon’s story (survivors of childhood neglect, the foster care system, or the opioid crisis)? Is it for the “redneck” community about which it is written? Or is it for the very people Demon names as those who look down on his community?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

mac23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I have a lot of questions, as a critical thinker. I thought it was a good novel, but I found myself consistently asking the same questions of the author…”how would you know?” It’s written by a straight white older woman from the perspective of a heterosexual male person of color, who goes through some seriously traumatic experiences, and written from their first person point of view. Admittedly, the light research that I’ve done on the author does not show that she has been in any of these experiences first hand, especially addiction. If you haven’t experienced that directly, I don’t feel that it is appropriate or accurate to write about that experience as though you have, first hand. There is a level of nuance there that is seriously missing, IMO. It read to me as obtuse. For the prizes this book won, I’m surprised, but also not surprised, that it got this much attention for as problematic as it was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

elvaira_ludina's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Death of parent

alshoema's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

Beautifully written, hard to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Abandonment, and Classism