Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

7 reviews

latashman's review against another edition

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

5.0

I couldn't help but cheer for Demon the entire book. This book was heartbreaking. Unfortunately some of the pieces of the story are true or based on truth. I couldn't help but think of all the Demons in the world who we will never know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Miscarriage, Homophobia, Mental illness, Slavery, and Racial slurs

sjanke2's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

This is a challenging book, both in the sense of Demon's stream-of-consciousness voice and the trials he endures. But after 50 pages, one's brain adapts to Kingsolver's writing style. The audiobook narrator helped in developing a stride. Demon goes through so much, and there's a balance of both good and bad influences in the side characters. I also appreciated Kingsolver's strong stance on the war wreaked upon Appalachians by land grabbers, mining companies, and Big Pharma. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, Self harm, Animal death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Blood, Emotional abuse, Rape, Medical content, and Physical abuse

Minor: Gun violence, Trafficking, War, Abortion, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence

madthemme's review against another edition

It was way too heavy on the unmitigated traumas tragedy for me. I dreaded picking up the book so let myself off the hook for this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Slavery, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, and Addiction

hadsadley's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring 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, Physical abuse, and Slavery

jaswoahreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Slavery

lauraportalupi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

4.75

Took me about 100 pages to adjust to the voice. This is a difficult book to read: you’ll be immersed in loss, injustice, and systemic oppression. Though there is humor throughout the book, too. And Kingsolver does a great job of helping readers understand the severity of the opioid crisis. Read with caution, especially if you are sensitive to child abuse, being orphaned as a child, and drug addiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Excrement, Medical content, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Grief, Sexism, and Vomit

lozababe's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

Such a sad book, and one that I can’t say I enjoyed like you would other books. I kept reading on hoping that things would get better for Demon and every time you thought they were about to, something else would knock him for six and have him back down to rock bottom all over again. 
Demon Copperhead starts with Demon, or Damon as he is actually called, being born. We find out that his mother was a drug addict, but had managed to keep herself off drugs while she was pregnant. He becomes the parent in their two person family, having to remind her to set alarms, where her shoes are to go to work and taking care of her when she overdoses. He has some respite in the family who live next door, the Peggots, who seem to look out for both him and his mother. His best friend is their grandson, Maggot, who they are looking after while his mother is in prison and they become a surrogate family for Demon when he needs to be a child again. Although not an ideal upbringing, Demon’s life is heavenly at that point compared to what has to come in the rest of the book. 
The book focuses on the very real problem of poverty, drug abuse and the system letting children down. Demon goes through so much of this, it is a wonder that he made it to adulthood. The whole book is extremely sad and while rooting for Demon throughout the whole thing, I couldn’t see a way out of all of this sorrow for him. It is a very powerful book that makes you think of things in a different way, a bit like Charles Dickens did all of those years ago. 
Thank you to Barbara Kingsolver and the online book club The Pigeonhole for allowing me to read this interesting but sorrowful book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Slavery, Addiction, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Emotional abuse