Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

There There by Tommy Orange

32 reviews

bridgeca2's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Abandonment, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, and Violence

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Murder, Alcohol, Racism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Death, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Child abuse, Car accident, Colonisation, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Drug use, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Suicide, and Animal death

Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Incest, Misogyny, Torture, War, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Cancer, Body horror, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Excrement, and Rape

allisoncc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Death, Child abuse, Mass/school shootings, Suicide, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Rape, Blood, Body shaming, Car accident, Genocide, Child death, Violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Body shaming, Terminal illness, Violence, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Genocide, and Domestic abuse

chaosandwildflowers's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

3.0

The idea of this book is so phenomenal; it's a character study focused on the diverse range of life experiences within the Native American community, while simultaneously drawing attention to the fact that a growing number of Native Americans now live in cities - not on reservations. It explores various themes, including self-discovery, identity, self-loathing, heritage, parental expectations, toxic/abusive relationships, forgiveness, etc etc etc. The book also tells different character perspectives in different styles, including every thing from first to second to third person POVs, past and present verb tenses, and various other tone shifts used to distinguish characters from one another.

One of Tommy Orange's greatest strengths is in his writing and his understanding of the human psyche. The writing truly is beautiful, even feeling poetic in some places, and though the cast of characters is vast, he takes time to explore each of them in at least a little bit of depth.

However, I do think the book tried to do too much in too little space. Some characters feel extremely similar, making their chapters feel repetitive, and the sheer number of characters made it difficult to really delve into more than a few of them. I believe this book should have either streamlined its plot to fit the space or allowed itself more pages to really explore the themes. I also felt like the story ended very abruptly, with a few loose ends and unexplained plot points.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book. Hard stop. I think it's important to read, especially in our current society. But I'd also suggest that readers go into it expecting to focus more on the characters than on an extremely coherent plot. Solid 3/5 stars!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, and Rape

clare072's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings and Gun violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Cursing, and Mental illness

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Fatphobia, Cancer, Car accident, Genocide, Abortion, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness

gilnean's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Excrement, Murder, Gore, Death, Genocide, Colonisation, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Cursing, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Child death, Alcoholism, Grief, Alcohol, Addiction, Drug abuse, Racism, Gun violence, Suicide, Drug use, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, Death of parent, Medical content, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pedophilia, Torture, Abandonment, Abortion, Self harm, Classism, Kidnapping, Confinement, Child abuse, Mental illness, Body horror, and Religious bigotry

jenny_d's review

emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Racism

Minor: Excrement

kulera's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Sexual assault, and Abortion

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Colonisation, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Car accident, Drug abuse, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Violence, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Fatphobia

Minor: Abortion, Child abuse, Death, Excrement, Incest, and Infidelity