Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

54 reviews

siobhankennedy's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

kristelbelle248's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Abortion

cloverandmoss's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.25

This book dragged on and on endlessly. Lot of filler that doesn’t add to the storyline .  The POV when main char was 8 yrs was not believable. Felt like homework to finish this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

mbdryden's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Abortion

espurrr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-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

This book has given me a lot to think on. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

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

gold_star_reader's review

challenging dark hopeful sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death

maisiehcrb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

rainbopagn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I was born and raised in West Virginia. Judging by the way it's written, Demon is only a few years older than me. You can tell Kingsolver is Appalachian herself because this is a haunting account of poverty in this area. The depiction of the prevalence of substances and the ease to get it in the early 00s is so vividly real I wonder if the author had family fall victim to it like mine did. My grandmother was one of the first victims of opioid abuse and it distorted the way my childhood should have been. 

This is not a book for the faint heart. I had to stop several times as passages brought my own traumas back up. But this is a masterwork in not only literature but life in some of the poorest parts of the United States.

Oh and she name dropped Purdue. That gets an extra star alone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Car accident and Abortion