Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

650 reviews

sarahinthecapital's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Classism

raechrae's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sandro_reads'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I have never read Dickens’ David Copperfield which provided the inspiration for this novel so I did not have that as a reference point. But, Kingsolver delivers a tour-de-force with characters who felt so real, I often heard their voices while reading.

It’s a heartbreaking tale of systemic poverty and the opioid crisis in rural Appalachia that grabs you and takes hold. I did not want it to end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

karamojagirl's review

dark emotional 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

3.0

This was a hard read for me. I learned a lot about a life I’ve never experienced and hope I never do! I’m thankful there was some redemption at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

douglasgraves's review

dark hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.5

I've not read David Copperfield, but was familiar enough to know how this would go. 

Nevertheless, Kingsolver's Appalachian adaptation is nothing short of brilliant. She takes an ageless story and puts it smack in the middle of one of America's most often dismissed and forgotten regions. Without further disparaging Appalachia, she depicts the abuses of the system while capturing the hope in community that many are fortunate to have; reminding readers everywhere to recognize and be grateful for the support and encouragement that comes with strong communities, that we'd be nowhere without it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit, Trafficking, and Toxic friendship

readasaurus_rex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

lisajha's review

challenging dark emotional medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

famousthecat's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book. Barbara Kingsolver's telling from the perspective of Demon was just brilliant. I believed from the very beginning I was listening to his voice, this fully formed person, the whole time. 

I'm thankful for the happy-ish ending. About 3/4 of the way through, I told my husband my heart was breaking because I just didn't see how this was going to work out for the main characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Abandonment

thisreadingcorner's review against another edition

4.0

Demon Copperhead follows a young man born into a rough life in Appalachia (Lee County, Virginia to be specific). Damon/Demon's future voice narrates his life story in chronological order through rural small town life, a mother struggling with sobriety, a variety of abuses, foster care, addiction, and a kaleidoscope of relationships. 

I see the weight a story like this could hold for someone who has not seen themselves in fiction before. There's a case to be made for the value of stories about the impact of opioids on Americans that focus on the mundane lives of those most directly hit. I have seen tribute posts to lives lost in the aftermath of the Sackler family's greed. That said, the book feels dually written for those people and a sort of "average" American who has never considered the possibility of poor (white) people in rural towns being impacted by systems of oppression. I am not part of that demographic and as a result the tone of some of the book strikes me as condescendingly simplistic. 

That said, I think this is a good one to buddy read, it lends itself to some conversation about the choices of the main characters and the plot arcs. I for one could have done without U-Haul's conspiracy and the Angus plot twist that shocked absolutely nobody. Thanks to the long rambles through minor details in Demon's childhood, we get a lot less time with adult Demon and his remaining community members. While a happily ever after epilogue wouldn't match the tone of the book, a little more in the way of present-day life snippets would have been appreciated. 

I likely would not have read this had it not been a book club pick, and it wouldn't make my top ten of the century...but I think it's well written and I'm not surprised to see so many people find it compelling. It strikes the same beats as a lot of the boyhood coming of age classics that were incorporated in my educational curriculum, and for that reason, I'm mostly ambivalent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Death of parent

thebanhammer's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book... this was a tough read but worth every word on the page. It is wonderfully written and deserves all the praise it garners. 

I will tell you that there are times when I question if the explicit detail is really needed or adds to the narrative. I am not saying it doesn't, but I am also not sure that it does. I am very much a person who is not opposed to explicit writing or even vulgar writing, but I do feel it needs to be done with intentionality and be an overall addition to the work. I am not sure those elements meet the mark in this particular story. 

That said, this was one of the better books I have read in a long time. I highly recommend it if you have the emotional capacity for a powerful story full of heartache and suffering. It is a rich story with amazing character development, beautiful prose, and excellent execution. The fact that it is a retelling heightens the narrative and is done so deftly that this story clearly stands entirely on its own merit—a very rare feat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Classism