Reviews tagging 'Violence'

There There by Tommy Orange

117 reviews

library_anne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Mass/school shootings, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Rape, War, Violence, Child abuse, Hate crime, Murder, Drug use, Addiction, Blood, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Cursing, Genocide, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

spicycronereads's review against another edition

funny hopeful reflective sad 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

A beautiful and heartbreaking read. 

The narrative is made up of many different points of view of “urban Indians,” mostly in and around Oakland, CA. With the multiple POVs you see the vast interconnectedness of the characters that leads toward the climactic event but you do lose out on a sense of depth with any given character. Nor do they have time to develop. So it is more like sketches of the various actors who all meet at the powwow event in the climax. 

Each of the characters is dealing with their indigenous identity as well as various class-based and family traumas, that are undoubtedly connected to the historic violence against Native Americans. I do wish that with one or two characters we could have focused more on community, or their successes, or joy. The focus was almost entirely anchored in trauma and deficit, exploring the “there there” that is gone. I suspect that contemporary indigenous identity is more multi-dimensional than that. 

There are many moments of poetry throughout the book. One of my favorite lines is “To cry is to waste the feeling. He needs to dance with it. Crying is for when there’s nothing left to do.” 

The ending is ambiguous and I didn’t mind that though there were a couple of loose ends I would have liked to have seen tied up.

Like, what does the spider legs mean? Did Blue and Edwin ever figure out their relationship? Did Tony die?

Overall a gorgeous read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Racism

Moderate: Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Abandonment

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Animal death

sydneylount's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Child abuse, Racism, Violence, Child death, Death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexism, Death of parent, and Rape

cheazcakeguy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

This was a powerful read. Tommy Orange's writing feels like there's a real weight behind it with every sentence. It forces you to slow down at times and really reflect on the characters and their stories. You experience the full range of human emotion while reading this book, and there were several truly gut-wrenching moments, especially at the end. The ending

was shocking yet inevitable, and I can't stop thinking about the incredible metaphor of the spider's web, both a home and a trap, which brought the characters together...

Highly recommend, though this isn't a light read and it will tear your heart out.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Violence, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, and Gun violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Car accident, Addiction, Death of parent, Suicide, Cancer, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Grief

Minor: Self harm, Animal death, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Child death, Rape, Racism, and Sexual assault

leahrosereads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

There There was such a stunning, haunting at times story, that ended with such a heart wrenching moment. I'm glad I read this when I did, because Wandering Stars, the follow up to this novel will be out in a few months.

While I normally don't mind open endings, I really want to see more from these characters and the aftermath of what happened at the powwow.

Orange's poetic storytelling did so much for this book, bringing a lot of really necessary and hard hitting conversations to light in digestible moments.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, and Gun violence

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

sad 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Violence, Blood, Genocide, Alcoholism, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Minor: Rape

morgankailackerman's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

This is an absolutely gorgeous book. There is so much there in the pages of this book less than 300 pages. It’s so well written and it’s filled with depth. I’m excited to see what Tommy Orange does in the future if this is the debut novel. I love the format of the book and the scope of characters is amazing. Orange weaves the narrative together so ingeniously. 

Although I really liked it, my own personal history puts me off to it. It is so violent, not my normal kind of book (I read this for one of my grad classes). I would not teach this book to high schoolers, like my professor suggested, because it is way too violent. It has a beauitful message, but the Native on Native violence is nuanced, and I would worry it is too nuanced (and triggering and intense) for a high schooler to understand. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Drug use, Murder, Hate crime, and Sexual harassment

danajoy's review against another edition

emotional sad tense

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Genocide, and Racism

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.5

I really liked this a lot: a story of various interconnected characters converging on a tragedy that is foreshadowed early on but impossible to look away from. Each character had a unique voice so they were easy to tell apart even though there were so many. It bugged me a bit that some chapters were in first person and some were in third (one even in second!) but not enough to really affect my enjoyment. I'll think about this book for a long time.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Alcoholism, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Genocide, Animal death, Ableism, Colonisation, Abortion, Drug use, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, and Rape

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Ableism, Body horror, Death, Cursing, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Racism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Genocide, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Grief, Addiction, Blood, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death of parent, Dysphoria, and Suicide

Moderate: Abortion