Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

22 reviews

mobymaize's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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

4.0

Demon Copperhead is a hard read. It isn't hard in terms of the actual language of it not making too much sense, but it's hard because you want Demon to stop doing so much shit. You want him to stop suffering, to get help before he loses everything. It's emotional, it's devastating, and, if anything, it is full of hope. Hope to become better, to recover, to mend oneself and become a person who, while still having traumas, is an actual person. Overall fantastic :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Grief, Medical content, Trafficking, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Racism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

macykey's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.25

This book was excellent. The writing was gorgeous, the story was engrossing. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but the writing style seemed to change as Demon got older. It made me think the writing was reflecting his aging, which I thought was smart. There were a couple things that didn’t sit right with me or rubbed me the wrong way. I felt the ending was wrapped up too quickly. I saw the interpersonal development coming, but I wish it’d been done sooner. I also felt that some of the traumatic things that happened to Demon were a little more detailed than necessary. And I get people having nicknames, but sometimes they all just got lost in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Blood, Violence, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Death of parent, and Vomit

Moderate: Murder, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Rape, Pregnancy, and Self harm

Minor: Suicide, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Cancer, and Car accident

melissa_b_67's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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: Vomit, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Ableism, Abortion, Blood, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Excrement, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

Minor: Suicide and War

amyford's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Classism, Gore, Medical content, Miscarriage, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

crossinthepnw's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective 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

5.0

Oh man…where to even start with this one. Demon Copperhead is easily one of my top three reads for 2023, and will always hold a special place in my heart. To be clear - this is my first Kingsolver work I’ve read (and now I will be reading more of her stories!), and I’ve never read David Copperfield by Charles Dickens…but now I am curious to read the source behind the inspiration for her novel.

Demon Copperhead will piss you off. It will make you cry. You will try to remind yourself that this is a work of fiction, but is clearly based in reality, which will in turn make you even more upset that this kind of shit is still happening. If you didn’t hate Big Pharma before (which if you already don’t…come on), you will after reading this novel. It also made me think about the joke of the war on drugs and the opioid crisis. How our foster care system is screwed. How some folks are just fucked before they even get a start in life.

But the novel isn’t all doom and gloom, I promise. There is hope, love, joy, and laughs along the way. It’s also a coming of age story about a boy who many people wouldn’t give a second thought about on account of where he grew up. The first person narrative of Demon took this tale to another level; Kingsolver has a way of transporting you to his world and his life.

 I am so happy that Kingsolver took the time to tell this story, about the “rednecks”, “hillbillies”, or “trailer trash” folks don't seem to give a shit about, and how the opioid epidemic has done so much damage in Appalachia. Please, read this one; I read it in five days because I could not put it down!

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Cancer, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide

atamano's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Gun violence, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Classism, and Gore

Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, and Pregnancy

bdowning81's review

dark 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

5.0

Incredibly moving and engrossing modern-day take on David Copperfield in the Appalachia region. I kept having to pause the audiobook - wonderfully narrated by Charlie Thurston - to catch my breath or cry, or just to process what I'd just heard.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

grboph's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

This was a really amazing book. It was such a compelling story that touches on so many important issues that affect the world today, and kind of made me want to read the original David Copperfield!! Kingsolver is such an excellent writer and I would recommend this book to literally anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Outing, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness

Minor: Abortion and Dementia

annarau's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Cancer, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, and Child abuse