Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

8 reviews

kniterature's review against another edition

This book is clearly very well written but also very dark. At this point in my life as a new mother I was unable to handle the content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

aevarts's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Medical content, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

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

bosco29's review

Very depressing.  To be fair, I had no idea what this book was even about when I started it.  A friend loved it and recommended it so I just started reading without any prior knowledge other than it took place in Appalachia, which i normally like.  This book was just so depressing and I had to do reading it bec use it was not getting any better, it was just depressing things kept happening over and over and over again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Toxic relationship

hannahemparman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Torture, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Trafficking

lizsim's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Pedophilia, and Vomit

Minor: Bullying, Chronic illness, Gun violence, and Classism

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This book was a bit hard to get through, not just because of the page amount. Demon Copperhead follows the life of Damon Fields, aka Demon, from his birth all the way up until close to 18 years of age.  It does not follow a typical story structure, as it is more showing the ups and downs of Demon's, of which there are a lot of "downs".

The only other book I have read by Barbara Kingsolver was The Poisonwood Bible a couple of years ago, so I will make some comparisons based on that. Truly, the two books aren't that similar. Demon Copperhead is a reimagining of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, just set in the modern day with a look at poverty and issues of our times, versus Dickens's own commentary of his time period. However, The Poisonwood Bible also touches on issues that persist today, just those that pertain to the colonization of the African continent, in particular, the colonization of what used to be known as the Congo. Kingsolver is a genius when it comes to showing you a world outside of your own, whether that is an African community or the Appalachian country folk. Her prose is also still something to be lauded, as she really transformed language to make that which occurred in Demon's life sometimes more tragic, and sometimes straight up hilarious in the face of tragedy.

I am comfortable recommending this book, though I am not sure how much those who have not read Kingsolver before will enjoy it. It can get quite depressing at times, and I highly recommend checking out content warnings for those who could be triggered by the heavy themes within the book. This is not a book for some light reading.

Still, I hope others check it out as I loved the look into Appalachian culture as someone who lives in Virginia, though Northern, and is aware of the rural parts of our state but never quite visited long enough to learn more than what was taught in school. And, as Kingsolver says in her acknowledgments, "For the kids who wake up hungry in those dark places every day, who've lost their families to poverty and pain pills, whose caseworkers keep losing their files, who feel invisible, or wish they were: this book is for you."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Abortion

thebabybookworm's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

I loved this book but sometimes it dragged on. The writing was top notch. I would recommend this book to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship