Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

77 reviews

alxbryn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

This book was haunting and funny and upsetting and hopeful all at once. A really driven narrative that's so unsettling and addictive. I both loved and hated picking it up for fear of what was going happen next. This book has been living rent free in my head the entire time I've been reading it and I'm sure it'll stay for some time to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, and Trafficking

Moderate: Vomit and Gore

Minor: Suicide, Homophobia, and Sexual harassment

tourmaline_and_tomes's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug abuse, Death, Trafficking, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

alisonvh's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

This is my favorite book by Barbara Kingsolver I’ve read so far. Not sure if it’s the book or the fact that I listened to this one rather than reading it, but either way I loved every minute.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Suicide, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Violence, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Racism

mkcate's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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: Drug use and Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault and Toxic relationship

Minor: Racism, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Trafficking, and Suicide

honeybeewitched87's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Sexual content, Trafficking, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Medical content, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

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

jferguson1138's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

Well that was tragic.

It’s such an intriguing book. It almost feels like Huck Finn, but if he grew up a modern day complete with the abusive drunken step father. But it veers off a simple translation with the specter Friday night lights, drugs, and lives ruined across Appalachia.

It’s Huck Finn crossed with the ruin of Purdue pharma pushed painkillers.

The audiobook was read incredibly well and really added to the rural flavors.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death, Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Trafficking

agnesg's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Abandonment, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Animal death, Grief, Drug use, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Car accident, Trafficking, Vomit, and Toxic relationship

jamie_rich's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book made my heart hurt. But it's beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Grief, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Trafficking

saraberkes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Kingsolver is just so brilliant at characters, you root so hard for Demon through the whole book. I felt all the emotions reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

Moderate: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

Minor: Suicide and Trafficking