Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

5 reviews

puffinthedog's review against another edition

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

adriano64's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

astoriareader's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

SYNOPSIS:

• Damon Fields, aka Demon Copperhead, is born in Southern Virginia in the late 1980s to a teen mom with substance issues. Demon’s mom is in and out of rehab, and he is partly raised by the Peggots.
• Demon’s mom ends up marrying an abusive man.
• Demon is shuffled off to a foster home run by Mr. Creakle & then a few more. He finally ends up with football coach, and the book weaves his story with opiod addiction.

MY THOUGHTS

• Prior to reading this one, I saw some articles online about it that said it is a retelling of Dicken’s novel entitled David Copperfield.
• After seeing rave reviews & that the author won the Pulitzer Prize for this book, I waited on library wait list for quite a while. I am in the minority here, but this book & writing style was not for me. 
• Although the opiod crisis is a serious topic, I can’t recommend this book. This book DRAGS. It is so unnecessarily slow. It took me 7 days to finish. I typically finish any book, even books I don’t like, in max 4 days. It was getting to feel like homework getting through it. There’s a ton of parts that didn’t need to be included.
• The writing style was nauseating to me. I hated it. It is Demon describing & relaying things, and his voice wasn’t strong enough for that job. It’s like a child relaying things to you for 500+ pages. I also didn’t buy Kingsolver’s ability to write in the shoes of this character. It didn’t sound realistic at all.
• The characters are all flat & many are stereotypical cliches. To name a few, think: single drug addicted mom living in trailer, abusive stepdad, Appalachians are all white people, Appalachians are hillbillies.
• I also found Demon’s trajectory unbelievable in terms of his path to drugs. It doesn’t line up with everything he has witnessed & experienced. The author comes across as an outsider to the subject. 
• I did like the Peggots, Aunt June, Mrs. Annie, and Tommy.
• I enjoy complex characters that make sense, but the characters in this book don’t make sense.

TL;DR: ⭐️unreal to me that this won a Pulitzer Prize.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia and Vomit

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide and War

yuna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Trafficking, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail