Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Demon Copperhead

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

71 reviews

ceejayvee's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

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carleigh95's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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

4.5

A very great read that will challenge the way you look at struggle and privilege. This book pulls at your heart and has you rooting for different characters throughout.
It is written through the point of view of a young boy growing up in the backcountry and I found the tone and language a bit difficult to get used to at first. Also, it is a very long read which may deter some readers, but the story itself is so beautiful.

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marypaz13's review

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emotional hopeful sad medium-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

4.5

Finally finished it!!

I can see why this one the Pulitzer.
Book about addiction. A book about losing hope but at the same time not being able to give up.

Demon is such a lovable character, flaws and all. That poor kid. I didn't necessarily hate the other characters, they were just there. I liked June, definitely eldest sister vibes, the one that grew up to fast. Agnes was that one in a million, the one that was able to make it out. And we all have that Maggot in our lives, the one that's always too childish no matter how old.

When I started this book, I had the misconception that it took place in the the 50's/60's, but once it mentioned some pop culture things, I realized it was definitely 70's to the present (at least the early 2000's) -- I don't remember the book actually mentioning the year.

Love that art is the outlet that was used.

This book served as a history rabbit hole for me. Had no idea about the oxidation clinics, had to google it. Crazy shiitake!! Like, the idea was inconceivable until I read about it. No wonder the whole "war on drugs" was such a big deal.

And the whole hillbilly/redneck thing. The idea that the term alone is derogatory yet people don't realize that it is.

Such a great read. I did a hybrid read; started with the book ended up with the audio. Which I did like the narrator, I felt he encompassed Demon's character to a T.

P.S. I may add more to this review, maybe, idk.

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mkwoods's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny 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

It’s as amazing as they say if you stick with it.

I loved the narrator’s voice, how well Kingsolver captured young boy. I saw traces of my brothers in it, and even in the darkest moments Demon made me laugh.

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rinku's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

3.5

I struggle a bit with rating Demon Copperhead, and I settled with a 3.5-star rating for now. The story was generally interesting, just like the characters, but it was a bit too cliché and there was too much misery for my taste. I think the average rating here on Goodreads is way too high though.

The struggle centres around Demon who’s born in an trailer park in the Appalachians to a drug-addicted single mom. The whole setting is really American which is maybe why I couldn’t relate to much happening as a European. The depiction of the foster system was quite interesting, and I learned a lot from it. It’s so sad how Demon has no place to stay, especially after the really predictable

death of his mother

. Still, these parts of the story were written well, and there are some sections in this novel that really make you think. Socio-political themes are a subject as well but I wished that they would’ve been thematized more. It was just your stereotypical “the city lefts don’t care for the poor people!” which I’m always irritated by since it’s just not true.

I think my main problem with Demon Copperhead is its length. I honestly think that the book could’ve ended after the half: There’s a lot of misery, and everything goes wrong until there’s finally a glimpse of light, even though you’re wondering how long it’ll last. In my opinion, this was the best part of the book. But then, the really cliché addiction storyline starts with the introduction of one of the flattest characters in the book aka Dori. It annoyed me how much Demon was focussed on her since she was such a bad influence; it was no surprise that

she died as well

. The ending feels bittersweet and melancholic but the fact that Demon’s stepsister

is apparently in love with him

left me with an irritated feeling.

Besides this, I also feel torn about the writing style. There’s a lot of telling and things that are described are written vulgarly and grotesque. There’s also a lot of ableism, homophobia, and sexism, but this is just the way Demon grew up, I suppose. I also don’t know if it’s just in the German translation but the slurs were a bit too much in my opinion. Furthermore, I struggled with the depiction of abuse. I don’t really know how to say it, but for me it was written too carelessly, if it makes sense. It felt more like shock value to me.

I don’t really have much to say about the characters as well. There were too many and I couldn’t remember all the names. Some characters were really great, like Tommy, Angus, or Mr Dick (even though we only see him a few times. Compared to this, Dori was quite the flat character, and Demon behaved so cliché at some points as well, like this cliché “oh, the city is so crowded, me, the countryside child, could never live here!”.

So, I’m not sure whether I would recommend <Demon Copperhead. It won the Pulitzer Prize, so people who like to read those kind of books will enjoy it. For me, it was too negative and also just too long.

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erinsca's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.75

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bronzeageholly's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

Tackling this book felt like an immense task but I'm so so glad I completed it.

For those who know David Copperfield, it is a close enough interpretation to make you go "oh no! I know where this is going! stop the ride!" at least once a chapter. But, in saying that, it is also a very unique concept, an incredible tale of the care system and opioid crisis in the US.

Each character was so well fleshed out, in particular Demon; his narratorial voice was so strong, moving, and hilarious. His thoughtfulness, his anger, his empathy are heartbreaking. The accounts of each of the characters moved me to tears many times; I wanted desperately to reach into the pages and swoop Demon and the others away to safety.

I found the pacing quite difficult to get into and had to swap from the physical book to an audiobook around 1/5 of the way in. The lack of abstraction throughout meant that when there were descriptions of intense suffering my reading quickened ("I need to keep going to make sure they're okay"), and then would slow dramatically during the 'bildungsroman' areas. Because of this I had an on-again-off-again relationship with the book, however the audiobook helped immensely and I found myself unable to put it down for the last few hours.

The central themes of addiction, judgement, loss, and love are devastating and important, and I would implore every adult to read it. There are so many lines that I will hold with me forever.

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