Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

233 reviews

angorarabbit's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

Context: I have tried but never finished Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. I have no intention in trying again. I did have to skim two chapters of Demon Copperhead (the one with the truck stop and one with U-Haul). 

 

TLDR: The fact that I could read this is a testament to the writing skill of Ms Kingsolver, I am in awe. 

 

I want to spend a little time on the foster care system as described in the novel. DSS is in about half of Demon’s life officially and spreads into the rest of his life. All of it is true to reality. Older children (especially boys) do have a harder time finding placement in foster homes. According to the Children’s Bureau at the Administration for Children and Families (a division of the USDHHS), there were 407,000 children in foster care in the US in 2020. By the age of 17 over 50% of those children will have encounters with law enforcement. The foster care to juevie pipeline is a real phenomenon. The novel also delves into the emotional toll the death of parents and foster care takes on a child through out their lives in the narrative of the main character that I relate to. 

 

That said, Demon was incredibly lucky. He actually has better foster homes than many kids in his first two foster homes and his third is hitting the jackpot. He also is told he gets his survivor benefits  when he turns 18. My experience is that any SS money goes to the agency handling the foster care which uses it to pay the foster parents and administrative costs. The child times out with a few clothes and perhaps a half-way house to move into an adult life they are usually ill prepared for. 

 

I also vibed with how much the characters loved their home. Not the house but everything, the creek, the mountains, the wildlife, the friends, the family. And how hard it is to leave that behind to find work or escape addictions. Hiraeth is not just for Wales. 

 

My only criticism; lack of depth in the slime ball characters U-Haul, Fast Forward, Stoner and truck stop woman. In particular U-Haul is given no backstory even though he is a major plot point in the second half. Why does he stay as the coach’s lackey hauling his kids around? I get that he has the hots for Angus but he waits almost 20 years to act. He’s just slimy because some one has to be Uriah Heep I guess. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Car accident

child neglect, child labor, the foster care system, snakes, sex work, rats, unsanitary conditions

dany_oche's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

stevienielson's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lisettemarie's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

puffinthedog's review

emotional 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

An achingly sad but beautifully written novel that touches on the effects of generational trauma, substance use disorders, domestic violence, poverty, and grief. Kingsolver handles difficult and often incredibly stigmatized issues with honesty and respect. Her characters are multi dimensional and handled with care. As someone with almost a decade in recovery from an opiate use disorder, this book brought me back to the fear and bodily sensations that so often accompany active addiction in a way that no other book has. Realistic and devastating but without being trauma or inspiration porn. 

It was a book that I was sad to finish and maybe for that reason I do wish she had spent more time covering the pain of early recovery and realizing all of what you had been numbing, but this book is such a masterpiece as it is that maybe adding anything else would have only lessened the work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

amybartoli29's review

challenging funny informative 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, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Grief

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

Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, and Abortion

travelreader85's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug abuse

Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

mdwsn27's review

Janet Fitch's White Oleander manages to resonate like- and accomplish what- Demon Copperhead doesn't.

Maybe because this story is too familiar after working day-to-day with kids in DCFS custody, or since I haven't read David Copperfield (and no longer plan to), I didn't finish--having stopped at page 246. A shame considering how long I had this on my to-read list/waited for it to become available.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism

putzkid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

omged. the writting style was beautiful. the story was so goddamn depressing but so important, informative and entrapping. im both relieved it ended where it did and wanting more. but this was an amazing book. i love how she writes, very witty and odd and random and disturbing and messy and unstable but absolutely perfect for the plot. 
take away .25ths cause it was really upsetting and disturbing, but that still matters, just not my favourite thing, personally. 
please check all trigger/content warnings to be prepared :):). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Classism

emlund13's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Classism