Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

327 reviews

imceebee's review against another edition

Subject matter was unsettling.
Abuse

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

famousthecat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. Barbara Kingsolver's telling from the perspective of Demon was just brilliant. I believed from the very beginning I was listening to his voice, this fully formed person, the whole time. 

I'm thankful for the happy-ish ending. About 3/4 of the way through, I told my husband my heart was breaking because I just didn't see how this was going to work out for the main characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Abandonment

thebanhammer's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

This book... this was a tough read but worth every word on the page. It is wonderfully written and deserves all the praise it garners. 

I will tell you that there are times when I question if the explicit detail is really needed or adds to the narrative. I am not saying it doesn't, but I am also not sure that it does. I am very much a person who is not opposed to explicit writing or even vulgar writing, but I do feel it needs to be done with intentionality and be an overall addition to the work. I am not sure those elements meet the mark in this particular story. 

That said, this was one of the better books I have read in a long time. I highly recommend it if you have the emotional capacity for a powerful story full of heartache and suffering. It is a rich story with amazing character development, beautiful prose, and excellent execution. The fact that it is a retelling heightens the narrative and is done so deftly that this story clearly stands entirely on its own merit—a very rare feat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Classism

jadey_c23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

Possibly the most beautifully written, heart wrenching, meaningful book I have ever read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

infinitezest's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This is a really heartbreaking and evocative coming-of-age story that sets the reader squarely in the center of the opioid epidemic, rural poverty, and a broken child welfare system. I felt a LOT of emotions following along with Damon's story. I would rate the first half or so of the book 5 million stars, but the second half was so depressing and I felt it difficult, emotionally, to keep going at times. The ending felt like too quick of a wrap-up, like it was trying to meet a deadline for the book and spent too much time on the early years. I would still recommend it but with all the trigger warnings, and it's NOT a vacation book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

lilymor's review against another edition

It’s brutal stuff … tons of abuse. A little too much for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

proudtobeabookaholic's review

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Demon Copperhead has all odds against him at birth: still in the amniotic sac when he slides out of his 18-year-old, drug addict of a mother, on the floor of a trailer. The only things the future has to offer are foster care, rawness and addiction. But Demon has a strong survival instinct and a dream: to one day see the ocean. 

Barbara Kingsolver has been inspired by Dickens' "David Copperfield" and she does a great job with changing the setting to our modern world. "Demon Copperhead" won both the Pulitzer Prize and Women's Prize for Fiction in 2023, as well as being chosen for Oprah's Book Club. I didn't pick it up for any of those reasons, but because I'm going to talk about this book (amongst others) at an event at work next week. I've been listening to the English version, but also read quite a lot from the Swedish edition I have at home (courtesy of the publisher).

To begin with I was wondering what I had gotten myself into, because it certainly isn't an encouraging read. It's heartbreaking and dense, but then we get tiny rays of hope, thankfully. In addition, Kingsolver has found the exact right tone for us to sympathize with the main character, even though he doesn't always do as you wish. Despite being given a bad hand - that sometimes lead to bad decisions - it's very clear that Demon Copperhead is a good person. He also has two talents; American football and drawing. One will ruin him, the other gives him a future. 

Don't let the amount of pages/hours stand in your way - this is a book worth reading. Now that I've finished it I wish I could have had more time with Demon!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

courtthelionberryann's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Medical trauma

Minor: Pedophilia and Trafficking

clare_dv's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage

br3nda's review

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This is a 3.5 star read for me. I was disappointed that I did not fall under the "best read of the year" or "a 5 star read". I honestly don't get what all the hype is about.

*****SPOILERS at this point


This book is way longer than it needs to be. So much of Damon's story could have been condensed. It felt like we were reading (I listened to) every day of every week for the few years of his life. It was like reading his daily diary.
I was happy that Damon found a way through all that he was living but there was nothing happy in this story. I understand that life was no picnic for the rural areas of mining country but surely there was something to be happy about? Additionally, this story made every character sound ignorant of any the perils of opioids. 

The story is very predictable... of course a small-town boy that is in the crappy foster system finally finds a good place to stay and then a sport he is suddenly good at and becomes a temporary star because he blows out his knee and gets addicted to drugs and goes downhill from there, but in the end he magically is reformed and finally gets to see the only thing on his bucket list... the ocean (eye roll).

This is my first book from this author but I don't think there will be others. It just was not there for me.

I can definitely give 4 stars to the narrator Charlie Thurston. Excellent job at telling this story. Only thing is you need to practice on the female voices. (shrug)

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship