Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

285 reviews

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

nolawords's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

Wow. This novel is an absolute treasure.

Demon Copperhead was on my TBR for some time, thanks to reading other works by Kingsolver and always being left very impressed. My timing for finally picking up this book serendipitously coincided with renewed buzz around it, thanks to the release of the NYT Best Books list of the 21st century.

This book took me around 2 weeks to get through, and I savored every minute of it. Kingsolver created such a rich story that was aching, heartbreaking, hopeful, and informative. The centers of these characters are their flaws, but they are developed with such nuance and humanity you cannot help but love them, root for them, and grieve with them deeply. I cannot say enough good things about this book - of every accolade it is most definitely deserving.

5+ stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, and Abandonment

moraina's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful 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

5.0

Demon Copperhead is a book that really highlights the struggles of growing up poor, in a broken family, and surrounded by substance abuse. Set in Appalachia, where these issues are common for many families, Barbara Kingsolver does a fantastic job conveying a teenager’s thought process when they’ve had to grow up too quickly. Demon is a good kid, despite his numerous issues, and the whole book is spent illustrating how the adults in his life have failed him. 

While I have not read David Copperfield, I think the modernized retelling of an orphan story is a great idea and brings awareness to problems that many children in today’s world face. I would absolutely recommend this book and will be reading more by the author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

rokhan's review

dark emotional funny reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Abandonment

itsdeenlee's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense slow-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

Oof - this is a hard read, mostly because it’s not particularly happy, but growing up in Appalachia isn’t really often happy either. this book hit a particular nerve and deep love that I have for growing up there

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Abandonment, and Classism

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

and_abigail's review

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

adilahi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

kristinnyoung's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-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: Death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Miscarriage and Abortion