Reviews tagging 'Death'

There There by Tommy Orange

184 reviews

libbybooboo1123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

thoughts:
I don’t usually read contemporary so this was a good book to get me out of my comfort zone. The writing was superb, the complexity of the characters was enthralling and the connections between them intricate. The moments of reflection were also great.

 I would have loved to know what happens to the characters next, I feel like the ending was so sudden and there were still story lines that didn’t get wrapped up fully. There was a lot of backstory on the characters until suddenly the tragic events happens and then it’s chaos. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Drug use, Rape, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Addiction, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Violence, Genocide, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Murder, and Racial slurs

colormecaro's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Topic wise this is absolutely a 5⭐️ book for me. However, for some parts I wasn’t a fan of the writing (long sentences strung together with too many commas; an odd chapter told in the second person).

There are a lot of characters that are being followed throughout, which makes sense given the overall story and how they all tie together. However, at times it felt like I didn’t know much about each character. There are so many of them and you get fragments of each character, but this comes at the expense of giving each one the depth they deserve. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Colonisation, Violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, Drug use, Gun violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Rape

che1s's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Addiction, Death of parent, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Physical abuse, Genocide, Grief, War, Drug use, and Drug abuse

stellahadz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Tommy Orange can definitely write - the prologue was powerful and pulled me right into the book. It was interesting to read about urban Indigenous people in the US, and I really liked the premise of the story. That being said, I felt like there was something missing, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is - maybe there were too many characters? It took me a while to remember who was who, which I think made the story drag a bit. There are quite a few loose ends by the end of the book, which is odd because the ending itself feels extremely rushed. I know there's a sequel (which I will probably read), but I feel like the story could have been wrapped up in a single book. 

If you liked this book (particularly the multiple-narrator technique), you might also enjoy Katherena Vermette's The Break (and the two follow-up novels, The Strangers and The Circle). It follows various members of a Métis community in Winnipeg and recounts the story of a crime and its aftermath through all of their perspectives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Colonisation, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Racism

Minor: Excrement

madsreads1995's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicide, Blood, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Death

leila_scola's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Death

amandaevans's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I did enjoy this book, don’t get me wrong. But I personally have such a hard time with books that are told from so many POV’s. 

There are twelve main characters in this book. Twelve. And they all have their own POV chapters. Some people love this, but for me I have such a hard time keeping up with the different characters and timelines in a story such as this one. 

I loved the reflection of the native people and the urban communities of native Americans, as I’ve never really encountered anything like this, but overall the story fell kinda flat for me. It was kinda hard to get into because of the layout. I found myself being more confused trying to keep up than anything else. 

But it is an interesting, and important story overall. I think it is crucial to read and hear marginalized stories from marginalized peoples. So for that aspect, I would highly recommend.

Worth the read, but good to know the layout beforehand if you are someone that struggles with this kind of writing style. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Pregnancy, Addiction, Blood, Alcohol, Death, and Car accident

franklola's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Cancer, Death, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Car accident, Suicide, Mental illness, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Alcohol, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Sexual violence

cass_cgallegos's review against another edition

5.0

if i had a way to rate this higher, i would. read the trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Abandonment, and Addiction

Minor: Pregnancy, Fatphobia, and Rape

buttercat42's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Suicide, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Death