Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

30 reviews

seahorselady's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Gore

Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion

madmadmaddymad's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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

5.0

This is one of the best books I’ve ever listened to. Highly, highly recommend the audiobook. I love the narrator, and the style. 

My favorite line is when he was talking about gossiping in the bathroom and the person you’re talking about is in the stall right next to you. “We can hear you.” And how it feels to be living in the mountains in Virginia and the butt of every American joke. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

araecreative'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

3.0

This book was hard to read and painful from the perspective of someone who spent teen years in dark, addiction-driven, poor, abusive spaces. It was relentless in its pain and offers very little in the way of joy, and that to me does not equal an amazing book. There were bits that were poignant, but amidst a shroud of crudely overwritten idioms they sort of beat you over the head. This sits in the category of poverty p*rn for me, the kind that wins big awards because literary circles like to feel like they’ve witnessed suffering in a way they’ve never seen before. That said, the re-imagining of David Copperfield was executed masterfully and bridged a gap between two worlds that is impactful and well-crafted. As an achievement in appreciation of a classic milestone in literature, it is well-executed. Standing on its own it was not enjoyable to experience and I felt it stank of self-importance as a piece centered on the devastation of the opioid crisis. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

intravenous drug use

heroin use

extreme poverty

children in danger

fentanyl use

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

camichughes's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, and Abortion

racheln23's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-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

5.0

Wow. What an incredible work of art. Demon Copperhead is a slow-paced, winding narrative of the life of someone who was born into a life of hardship. The book is extremely long, and loses a tad bit of steam a little over halfway through, but that just might be my impatience with the character. Demon Copperhead spends about 100 pages to tell a year of Demon's life, give or take a bit. The first half of the book I absolutely loved, as you see how a child has to handle the life that has been thrown at him. For the second half, I was frequently exasperated with Demon, and I think it's because, at that older age, it is no longer him rolling with the punches thrown at him for no reason, he is actively making dumb choices. That was hard to get on board with, and I didn't feel much pity for him. In fact, I wanted to abandon him for squandering his jackpot. However, the book overall a masterpiece, and I will not remove stars just because a person makes their bad decisions.

I am also astounded how wonderfully Kingsolver got the details of the time period. Yes, I lived almost exactly during the same time period as Demon (regarding we are almost the same age), however, the tiniest details clue the reader into the authentic experience. This book is as good as a history textbook for this anthropological time. 

I have always heard, "write what you know," and as I was reading this book I thought, "Wow, Kingsolver has to know Appalachia." Lo and behold, unbeknownst to me, yes, she is from Appalachia. As a culture, I think we need to be so thankful to have this area and time preserved through this book. While not from Appalachia, I spent some time growing up in a very rural area, and it is a unique take to have authentic storytelling coming from these type of places. One of the most frustrating things about being a rural citizen is feeling like its you against the world, and the concentrated population sometimes gets too much of a say in how you should live your life or how you should think. This trickling down through Hollywood et al does the rural folk no favors.

Another thing I was absolutely amazed at what Kingsolver's capability of nailing such an authentic voice of an Appalachian boy up through his 20s in the 90's/00s. I think that would be rough for me even as someone who was a teen in the 90s/00s, and then take into account that Kingsolver was a well established adult during that time period.  So, bravo to her. I have so much admiration for her storytelling.

If you begin Demon Copperhead and do not find yourself liking it after a few chapters, please do yourself a favor and stop. This story does not pretend to ever be something else than what it is for the entire 560 pages. Once again, it was a little too long in my opinion, but at the same time, this would be a great book to physically own, and realize you are reading vinyettes. These chapters read like short essays "On Life" by an orphan. I think I would have preferred to read this as slowly as it is paced, maybe a chapter or essay every night over a few months. Instead, I started at my typical speed of nightly, plus dedicated my whole weekend to it at a breakneck pace, and found myself still with hours left to read. Although I loved it, I wanted it to be over.

So, prepare yourself for the reading journey. It is an excellent book but extremely long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gore

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, and Abandonment

amandak's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

bananastasia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad 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

The first half of this book was my favorite. I was very hopeful for Demon throughout until a certain point where he did not seem to want to help himself.

The whole point of this is obviously breaking this cycle of abuse that takes a firm grasp on people who are impoverished and these people are taken advantage of to an insane degree.

I wanted things to move a bit quicker as Demon got older and I think this would have had a greater impact if it did move faster. I also find issue with typing up all of the loose ends in a nice neat little bow. Sometimes part of moving on from your past involves leaving it behind completely, and I don’t think every single of the many characters had to be addressed at the end of this novel. All of this in mind, I have found myself recommending this book to a lot of friends so I must like it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

beklovesbooks's review

dark emotional informative sad

4.0

I can see why it won a Pulitzer. Remarkable imagery, authentic voice, themes mostly came around to neat closure. 
Unfortunately, there were excessive graphic descriptions of drug use and sex. Every imaginable locker room crude sexual innuendo. It’s too bad the very good descriptive capabilities of the author was applied to trash you don’t want in your mind as well as nature and life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

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