Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

There There by Tommy Orange

33 reviews

itsjadenbaby's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book should be read by everyone who can stomach the triggers. Getting perspectives from Native Americans who don’t live on reservations is SO important when society acts like they don’t exist. The plot is heartbreaking, but highlights the centuries-old story of how non-natives continue to exploit native land, money, and resources.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Drug use, and Cancer

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Fatphobia, and Classism

readingwithkaitlyn's review

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

annamay1021'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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Cancer, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

blacksphinx's review

challenging dark emotional slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Addiction, Violence, Domestic abuse, Racism, Pregnancy, and Ableism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

moriahleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Abandonment, Mass/school shootings, Addiction, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Minor: Cancer and Car accident

angievansprang's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Wow. This book was a sucker-punch to the gut by the end, but such a poignant and important read. I appreciated the mix of the author’s personal voice on more fact-based pieces interspersed throughout the book and I loved the large cast of characters. Tommy Orange did a wonderful job weaving together the lives of so many in a believable and riveting way. I highly recommend this book, but prepare to be devastated by the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Cancer, and Car accident

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

God, I devoured this book. So intense, so real, so complex. If you're thinking about reading this book, just do it. An important book about Native communities and just all communities. How we've failed our neighbors on a systemic level since the inception of this country that was built on stolen land.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Violence, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Abandonment, and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Classism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Fatphobia, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Toxic relationship, Child death, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Drug abuse, Racism, Abortion, Bullying, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

lilacwhisker's review

dark emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Beautiful look into many different Native people’s lives. Surprisingly it didn’t take long to get used to and remember the characters (my personal favorite was Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield’s!!) and the stories were all great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, Murder, Colonisation, Alcohol, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Mental illness

Moderate: Rape, Body shaming, Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, Blood, Sexual assault, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, and Pregnancy

Minor: Ableism, Abortion, Animal cruelty, and Abandonment

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

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

• 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

4.0

There There is the story of twelve indigenous people who end up at a powwow in Oakland, California. It traces their lives and their struggles and their relationships with each other in a gorgeously non-linear way.

There are so many interesting and experimental things going on in this book. There’s definitely a whole capstone paper about indigenous temporarily here. There’s a lot of interesting ruminations on Native identity and urban Native identity in particular (and I’m sure I missed a lot more as a white reader).

This is the first piece of long-form fiction that I’ve ever seen successfully incorporate first, second, AND third person point of view chapters as well as both present and past tense sections interspersed throughout the book (see earlier point about non-linear storytelling).

I read There There this week because it’s the Great Read at the library where I work and therefore kind of the book of the moment in my town. Tommy Orange is doing an author event that I tragically won’t be able to attend. It’s all very cool and I’m glad it got me to read this book!

I didn’t totally love this one, though. Some of the characters felt a bit too similar. The women in particular were all defined by sexual violence in one way or another, and while I know that it’s really important to talk about the horrible amounts of sexual violence faced by Native women, I wish that there had been more variety of women’s stories in this book. Maybe that’s unreasonable to expect from a cis man author. I don’t know.

Also, why did I think that Tommy Orange was queer? I’m pretty sure he’s not and the book is incredibly cishet, so I’m not sure where that idea came from. Oh well.

Please look at the very extensive list of content warnings if you have any of the major triggers. This book contains most of them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Racism, Blood, Child death, Death, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Body shaming, Cancer, Colonisation, Suicide, Fatphobia, and Genocide