Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

There There by Tommy Orange

120 reviews

lindsayorme's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective tense fast-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

4.25

A really deeply moving story that manages to balance information about the Native American experience and emotional family stories with irreverence and humor. I generally enjoy stories that bring together multiple separate character threads to a final cohesive narrative/event, and this is a particularly well executed example of that trope. I will be thinking about this one for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

Minor: Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Car accident

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

raoulalexander's review against another edition

reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

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

mitrabird2010's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

katekatiekait's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Addiction, Murder, Alcohol, Racism, Violence, Drug use, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Grief, and Genocide

Minor: Physical abuse, Cultural appropriation, Excrement, Bullying, Cancer, Terminal illness, Suicide, Pregnancy, Abortion, and Car accident

baguettegay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death of parent, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Drug abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

196books's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense 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: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Violence, and Addiction

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse

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