Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

87 reviews

littki's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Abortion

starredbyalice's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

hannahfoster832's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

kierstratton's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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

4.0

I'm still thinking about this book days later... It took me a while to get through - by no means is it an easy read for multiple reasons. The subject matter is tough, with hard hitting and emotional topics/themes. (Read: a lot of content/trigger warnings here.) The writing is genuine, taking on a dialect/accent of the MC and supporting characters. The book is dense. It covers a long period of time and a lot of ground (literally and figuratively). It tells of loss but also inspiration, some found family, and actually resolves itself at the end. Demon Copperhead ties itself up nicely, but boy is it an emotional roller coaster to get there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Miscarriage, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

al_xwith997's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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

Having read Shuggie Bain, it has a similar sense of ache and longing for these characters to have good things finally happen to them. Watching their lives fall apart, it is entirely heartbreaking. The depiction of them at their worst is harrowing, and the desire to help them from a readers perspective is difficult to grasp. I cannot recommend enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Self harm, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

gossamer_lens's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

Just so very good. There was strong David Copperfield vibes and influences and the overall plot, characters, and narrative style were compelling and interesting. I honestly only picked this book up to compare to David Copperfield and then ended up falling for the story in so many ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

ash_bees's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

Trigger warnings: all of them.

Well written.  Reminded me a lot of a modern Huckleberry Finn, but with the rough times didn't end when Huck's father dies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lisajha's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

fpcat99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism