Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

21 reviews

bananastasia's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

The first half of this book was my favorite. I was very hopeful for Demon throughout until a certain point where he did not seem to want to help himself.

The whole point of this is obviously breaking this cycle of abuse that takes a firm grasp on people who are impoverished and these people are taken advantage of to an insane degree.

I wanted things to move a bit quicker as Demon got older and I think this would have had a greater impact if it did move faster. I also find issue with typing up all of the loose ends in a nice neat little bow. Sometimes part of moving on from your past involves leaving it behind completely, and I don’t think every single of the many characters had to be addressed at the end of this novel. All of this in mind, I have found myself recommending this book to a lot of friends so I must like it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

a_library_lion's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual content, Grief, and Suicide attempt

ehknits's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape

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

ynaiita_5896's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

🚍 Damon 'Demon Copperhead' was born to a teenaged single mother in a trailer park in Lee County, Virginia. He tells his life story from birth to adulthood, depicting how the odds were always stacked against him in a story of loss, love and survival.

🚍 Battling loneliness, poverty, substance abuse and a broken home, Demon's story never pauses for relief. Kingsolver is a genius and beautifully writes Demon's heartbreaking and hopeful story while still injecting moments of humour and warmth.

🚍 Adding her own twist to Charles Dickens' classic David Copperfield, the author shines the spotlight on the broken boys whom society have given up on because they are born into a cruel world, the one they've only ever truly known. Applause must also be given to the colourful, tragic, lovable characters in Demon's life that I rooted for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

dua_liepard's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this was a very very character heavy book (not in amount but in development and exploration), so definitely keep that in mind when deciding to read this. while i think it should’ve been cut down a bit, all of the pages allowed us to fully understand and watch not only the main character, but all the characters. this was definitely a good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

jbry44's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

hsieh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

Kingsolver writes a masterpiece here, a pointed critique of how capitalism fails America and its poorest, through the lens of the struggles of its foster children, the opioid crisis, and how so many people stereotype the rural people of America's forgotten heartland. But Kingsolver is never piteous, never condescending: her characters seek only to be met face to face, understood as full people.

Speaking of, Kingsolver writes characters that could jump off the pages. I cherish, hate and mourn for them like they're my own friends. They're so real I had to double check this wasn't an autobiography. I feel empty now without them.

One of the things I appreciate most about this book, however, is that it never feels like tragedy porn -- a trap I felt books like "A Little Life" sometimes fell into. Each tragedy is crushing, but not without hope; there's always characters on the margins rooting for the protagonist, and his community, to succeed. I only wish their analogues in real life could find the same support.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Abortion, and Murder

bookworm356's review against another edition

challenging dark 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol