Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

There There by Tommy Orange

52 reviews

tomnoor's review

3.5

In terms of themes there were so many that were intriguing, but I largely felt they were underdeveloped. There were also so many characters to keep track of that I often felt confused, and it was hard to form an emotional connection with any of them since we spent so little time with each before moving to the next, which ultimately made it difficult to care much about the events at the climax. I would’ve liked there to be another hundred pages or so to flesh things out more. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gun violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Mass/school shootings, Alcoholism, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Blood, and Physical abuse

Minor: Rape and Car accident

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

---

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

mekaylynn's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Grief, Mental illness, and Colonisation

Moderate: Racism, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Medical content, Genocide, Sexual assault, and Rape

laurao's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Religious bigotry, Racism, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Genocide, Fatphobia, Excrement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Car accident, Cancer, Body shaming, Blood, and Addiction

Minor: War and Xenophobia

The characters were numb and isolated. It’s an important topic, but it was just hard to read.

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

---

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

---

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

libraryjen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad

2.0

This is an incredibly hard book for me to rate. Some of the chapters were five stars, and some were horrible and I wanted to DNF the book. Normally when I feel that way about a book I'll give it three stars, but this one's ending brought it down to two for me.

We get the stories of 12 different people, all considered "Urban Indians," and all headed, for various reasons, to a big Powwow in Oakland, California. There's also a lot of side characters mentioned so that number is actually low for how many people the reader needs to keep track of to follow the story line. The jump from 1st to 2nd to 3rd person POV between chapters is also difficult to track sometimes.

Some of these stories depressed me (alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic violence, joblessness, hopelessness, etc.), some fascinated me (I had no idea that a group of Native Americans had taken up residence on Alcatraz Island in 1969!), and some moved me (the love sisters Opal and Jacquie had for each other and Thomas finding peace and purpose in drumming). One of the difficulties that I had with this book was that there were too many characters and I had a hard time keeping them straight. The stories were not told chronologically either, so the flashbacks could be confusing. I found myself turning pages back constantly to remind myself what was the last thing I read about that particular character and how they were related (or not) to other characters. It was hard to follow and that brought me out of the flow of the story and decreased my enjoyment. I definitely would NOT recommend listening to this one on audio for that reason.

This story pulls no punches in its description of life for Indigenous people once the white settlers arrived (the fictional story Edwin wants to write about halfway through the book is a great metaphor!) and is an important one to be told. I do not dispute that, and I acknowledge that this book does that powerfully. As a reader, though, I want a little payback for my investment in the book and this book gave me nothing. It was depressing and then the ending literally just stopped. There was no rhyme or reason to what happened and we get no resolution for any of the characters. It's like the author just decided to stop writing in the middle of the book. Another 50 pages would have easily given the reader some resolution and return on investment. I don't mind sad, I don't even mind tragedy, and I don't need everything tied up in a pretty bow and served to me on a silver platter. But, I do need an actual conclusion to the story when I've read almost 300 pages. The story just stops.

So, I can't in good conscience recommend it without these caveats: it's a powerful and important work dealing with harsh and hard issues, but it's difficult to track and has no ending. Read at your own risk. If I'm being 100% honest, I would have given up on it if I hadn't been reading it for the 2022 Popsugar Challenge (https://www.popsugar.com/entertainmen...) (prompt is to read an Anisfield-Wolf Award winner). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Racism

Minor: Rape

ashleycmms's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Violence, Drug abuse, Blood, Death, Child death, Suicide, Alcohol, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Racism, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Animal death, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

ourxstorybegins's review against another edition

4.5

This was a really great book. The stories of individual Native people from Oakland and their stories intertwining in small ways until they all come together at a pow wow. I read the audiobook and the performances of the narrators were absolutely incredible. I had characters I was able to root for and characters I couldn’t stand, but was still able to see and understand their perspectives in a lot of ways.

There were a couple of things that I think were well done, but still threw me off:
- The author shifted points of view when he shifted characters. Some stories were told in first person, most in third person, and one character’s story was written in second person? I ended up getting distracted trying to figure out the purpose of the POV shifts, especially when it came to the character that was told from 2nd person.
- There were a lot of different characters and storylines to keep up with. I found myself going back to previous chapters because once everyone came together, it was hard to remember who was who.

All that said, the story was still incredibly well-crafted, and I really enjoyed it overall.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Gun violence, and Fatphobia

cheesepuppy's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

Very powerful

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Mass/school shootings, Classism, Death of parent, and Blood

Moderate: Colonisation, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Emotional abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Mental illness