Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

154 reviews

kellijones's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

This is a story I will remember for a long time to come. Demon is a character you can't help but care for. He's set up for failure, but he has so many qualities: self awareness, resilience, intelligences of all kinds, honesty, observance. This book reads like you're sitting down with someone and hearing his life story. Unfortunately, his story is probably not unique in regards to his disadvantages in life: poverty, a lack of consistent nurturing, drug use. There is a lot of unsavory content in this book, but it is not gratuitous. I feel like my capacity for empathy has yet again increased for having read this book, which is exactly what I want from a work of fiction. I'm amazed at the author's unpretentious brilliance of this story and the way it's told.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Abortion

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

wyabook234's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective relaxing 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

4.75

When you read Demon Copperhead without knowing what classic Dicken's tale Kingsolver's own story was initially based on, it wouldn't make a difference in how you interpret Demon's journey as he goes through a series of broken and not-as-broken homes. In other words, it can be easy to separate the past and the present renditions based on well-written characters that you overlook, that they are just modern adaptations. So Kingsolver can be praised for further differentiating her characters as individual victims of their vices and the background of the opioid epidemic, even if the story beats of David Copperfield can be disseminated within the text. Kingsolver can be appreciated for how she places further emphasis on the subject of wayward children and the effects of drug addiction through the struggles of Demon in how he becomes a mature young man and realizes his future in life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

abernathy_33's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful 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, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, and Abortion

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

sandakie's review against another edition

sad medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Cursing, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Abortion

br3nda's review

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This is a 3.5 star read for me. I was disappointed that I did not fall under the "best read of the year" or "a 5 star read". I honestly don't get what all the hype is about.

*****SPOILERS at this point


This book is way longer than it needs to be. So much of Damon's story could have been condensed. It felt like we were reading (I listened to) every day of every week for the few years of his life. It was like reading his daily diary.
I was happy that Damon found a way through all that he was living but there was nothing happy in this story. I understand that life was no picnic for the rural areas of mining country but surely there was something to be happy about? Additionally, this story made every character sound ignorant of any the perils of opioids. 

The story is very predictable... of course a small-town boy that is in the crappy foster system finally finds a good place to stay and then a sport he is suddenly good at and becomes a temporary star because he blows out his knee and gets addicted to drugs and goes downhill from there, but in the end he magically is reformed and finally gets to see the only thing on his bucket list... the ocean (eye roll).

This is my first book from this author but I don't think there will be others. It just was not there for me.

I can definitely give 4 stars to the narrator Charlie Thurston. Excellent job at telling this story. Only thing is you need to practice on the female voices. (shrug)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Abortion

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

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

jbbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative tense 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

5.0

I couldn’t put this down, it is a triumph. The main character has a voice which talks you through his life in a relatable, comic, hopeful way even when that life is often so dark, sad and chaotic. His hope, in the face of everything against him, is tangible. The people who love him in spite of everything are the constant framework he lives within - a community from the same background, doggedly sticking with him, despite everything that’s thrown at them. I loved it.
Also very present is the author’s simmering anger that the lot of poverty has not changed since Dickens, just presents itself in different clothes,  and that those who are wealthy and in power will always exploit the lowly position of those who are not. This is powerful writing. I’m heading back to David Copperfield now! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Violence, Abortion, Death of parent, and Alcohol

stellahadz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

The Pulitzer prize for this book was well-deserved. The writing is immersive and descriptive, plunging the reader into a world that may not be familiar to them (it certainly wasn't for me). I loved the descriptions of family life and Demon's desire to have somewhere to fit in. I was captivated by his journey and constantly rooting for him to find his home. The other characters were great, too - my personal favorite was Mr. Armstrong. The story is equal parts funny and heartbreaking, and it's definitely long, but absolutely worth it. The scene where

Demon drives away from Lee County and hikes into the mountains

made me tear up. It's the kind of book that I feel almost sad to have finished.

Spoilers ahead:

I know some people aren't fans of the "everything gets tied up neatly" type of ending, but I personally love it, and if anyone deserves it, it's Demon. Also, if I HAD to choose a complaint about this book, it would be that he may or may not end up dating his foster sister...

but the rest of the book is so incredible that I stand by the 5-star rating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gun violence, Racism, Suicide, Medical content, and Abortion