Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

23 reviews

ecn's review against another edition

4.5

So so good, excellent mesh of prequel and sequel, and an absolute KNOCK out ending

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Medical content, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Racism, Mental illness, War, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Slavery, Murder, Cancer, Violence, Genocide, Drug use, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Torture, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Grief, Death, Colonisation, Blood, Self harm, Medical trauma, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Car accident, and Gun violence

brittanymccubbs's review

challenging emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

What a wonderful book. Tommy Orange has done it again. Tommy Orange really draws you into his writing and the stories he weaves into his books. This book follows a group of characters all from the same family, for the most part. We move through various generations and see what being Native means to them, and how it impacts their lives.

This book deals with the idea of belonging, addiction, recovery, generational trauma, and what home means when your peoples’ land was stolen from them. It’s about the way violence and trauma affects the lives of victims and the people around them. This book holds so much emotion, and so much gravity. It tells the tale of a family who are now the descendants of people that were the victims of a massacre. It dives into the trauma carried with that, and the conflict involved in finding out who you are in a place separated from your tribe and your people.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, and Death

lettuce_read's review against another edition

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Gun violence

readingwithkaitlyn's review

reflective sad slow-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, Blood, Murder, Racism, Death, Addiction, Drug use, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Mental illness, Grief, Child abuse, Colonisation, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Animal death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Ableism, Cancer, War, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Cultural appropriation, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Antisemitism, Car accident, Pandemic/Epidemic, Ableism, Sexual assault, Bullying, Transphobia, Vomit, Body shaming, Rape, Racial slurs, Child death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Dementia, Misogyny, Excrement, and Abandonment

womanwill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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

A multigenerational look at belonging, identity, and family through the lens of colonization, addiction, and generational trauma on the Indigenous communities in the U.S. Set mostly in modern-day Oakland, the land of the Ohlone tribe and a follow up to Orange's There There, his writing is as rich and all-encompassing as ever. I highlighted elite paragraphs of prose dripping with beauty and pain. 

I most loved being back with the characters, particularly Opal Bearshield as she fiercely loves her family and 3 grandkids: Orvil, Lony, and Loother Redfeather. As well as their true grandma and Opal's sister, Jacque Redfeather as she worked through alcoholism. This book, also, at parts spans centuries in their family line of Cheyenne ancestors: a family that survives the Sand Creek Massacre, boarding schools, alcoholism and addiction.

This is not a light read but it is well worth its emotional depth and a must read for anyone who wants to read about the harsh survival of "Native Americans".

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcoholism, War, Cancer, and Gun violence

Minor: Racial slurs and Mass/school shootings

tamtasticbooks's review

challenging 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

4.75

Wandering Stars starts with a man escaping the Sand Creek Massacre and follows his lineage down through addiction, trying to assimilate into a non-native society, and trauma. Each story is a little vignette into a piece of their lives and their choices. You can see them all strugggling to keep their culture a part of them, even as the world tries to tear it away. Halfway through the book, we move into the future, which continues the lineage and the trauma, but in a present, currently happening kind of way, rather than vignettes. 

I loved this choice, showing the history and trauma built up and passed down over generations, and then how similar the current situations were. Addiction was a prominent theme, and death and everyone's constant proximity to it. Tommy Orange writes so well, it makes me heart hurt for these characters as if they were real people I know.

I probably would call this a follow-up rather than a sequel to There, There, and maybe that's because for some reason, even though I had long ago read the synopsis for this story, I forgot that it was going to end up dealing with characters from There, There. So when I got to the Part 2 of the book, I was BLOWN AWAY by the connection. That's on me and my poor memory, but I wouldn't have changed that experience. 

Excellent story, interesting set-up, and beautifully written. Loved.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the e-ARC!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Gun violence

sssnoo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

Tommy Orange's words often stop me in my tracks. He is a master of evocative sentences, paragraphs, and pages. And for that, I loved his new release, Wandering Stars. Orange's books are word artistry. Plots, though, are more elusive in his writing. There is structure, but it is ephemeral and involves many intersecting people and events. His characters are some of the most genuine people I've encountered in literature. Broken but healing.

If you love words, if you are looking for a book where the words will take you deep into another's universe, you should give this book a read. Tommy Orange is probably not your author if you want a linear story with a clear-cut plot. 

The first part of this book details the multigenerational past of Orvil's family (Orval was a shooting victim from There There). The second half of the book deals with Orvil and his extended family. It goes deep into drug abuse and other mental health crises - it is dark reading at times. 

This would be a good pick for a book club with many discussion topics.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for a review.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Self harm, Drug abuse, Suicide, Gun violence, and Mental illness

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Grief, Cancer, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Abandonment, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Racism, Addiction, and Blood

Minor: Mass/school shootings and Gun violence

audreylee's review

dark emotional informative 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

3.0

Whereas “There There” was rapid bursts of characters which eventually connected, “Wandering Stars” is a slow, concentric, unending ebb and flow of relationships and secrets. Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an arc.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Suicide attempt

Minor: Gun violence

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

Thanks to AA Knopf for the free copy of this book.

 - I knew Orange would break my heart with WANDERING STARS, and he sure did.
- Orange expands on the legacy of colonization and the generational traumas that stem from it, showing different ways they manifested throughout the decades.
- Orange’s writing is so gorgeous, the kind of writing that you can’t imagine being done any other way.
- I reread THERE THERE immediately before this one, and am happy to report that the anti-fat bias in the first book is almost entirely gone. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Medical content, Addiction, Drug use, Alcohol, Death, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Mass/school shootings, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Rape