Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

154 reviews

annamay1021's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abortion and Pregnancy

ceejayvee's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Car accident, and Abortion

tbyrdistheword's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-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

It's an oft read book for a reason.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Trafficking and Abortion

booksinherhead's review against another edition

• 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

DEMON COPPERHEAD is the book of my heart. The voice of our protagonist Demon is so strong through this text–even with a meandering plot through Demon's childhood and adolesence his perspective is quite frankly so compelling I found it difficult to put this 500+ page book down. I'll be thinking about the characters Kingslover has constructed for years to come. Be prepared for heartbreak and a story you'll never forget. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Abortion

additional (but non exhaustive) content warnings include: drowning, gun violence, foster care system, adoption, guardianship t

carleigh95's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

tdawgg07's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Self harm, Abortion, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

abbywj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism and Abortion

suryac's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

You lie down with snakes, you get up with the urge to bite back. All I’m saying

Good people don’t give up on the ones they love

4/5 ⭐

I've always wanted to read Barbara Kingsolver's works before and there were times where I've tried to get "The Poisonwood Bible", only for it to be sold out in almost every place I could get it in my place. So when I got my hands on this book, I thought "Finally!!".

I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the book, which was heartbreaking at times, exploring Demon's life from the beginning, which was one hardship after another. I loved the way Peggots took care of him and his mother, the trips to cities, trying to teach him things he wasn't willing to listen, living with Angus. It was fascinating to learn about the lives of people living in the mountains of southern Appalachia region. Reading about the struggles of addiction and the long torturous road to sobriety depicted in the story was a deeply moving experience, it offers a poignant reflection on the struggles faced by people grappling with substance abuse, as well as the importance of support and compassion in the journey towards recovery. It sickens me that various pharma companies used the ignorance of people in those times to exploit and profit off of their pain. It makes me wonder this could be happening still in small communities.

I found myself losing interest in the middle, especially his teenage years, which were filled with lots of people and lots of problems and lots of stupid decisions. There were times I wondered where the story is going. Also, there were times, I couldn't understand why different people in the story were making these ridiculous decisions at various points in the story, but maybe that's the difference between people who are addicted to something and people who aren't, that they are not aware that there's another way. Thankfully the story picked up momentum at the end, which honestly redeemed my opinion of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Abortion, and Death of parent

rinku's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abortion

katelbr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad slow-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

4.75

I need to chew on this a little longer. 

My initial reaction is that this is a masterpiece and it’s not for everyone. The themes were so dark at times. I’m glad I read it because it gave me a lot of reasons to reflect on my own bias of Appalachian culture and the opioid epidemic. The slow pace of the story was annoying at times but completely necessary. This is a book with proper character development. All of the events and story lead to developing and exposing the main character rather than to climax a story. 

There were a few times I was acutely aware that a 60 year old woman was writing a teenage boys thoughts. But that would be my only complaint.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy