Reviews tagging 'Racism'

There There by Tommy Orange

111 reviews

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.

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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

placeholder13's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Car accident

pferdina's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Twelve interconnected characters illustrate modern native life in Oakland. Called the Urban Indians, these are not the reservation inhabitants nor the stereotypes of American Indians. The chapters are told from different perspectives. It was difficult for me to read the urban dialogue and to identify with the characters but I’m glad I read this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Alcoholism, Cursing, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, Cancer, Racism, Drug use, Mental illness, Car accident, and Domestic abuse

jupytwo's review

informative sad 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

this one will sit heavy in my chest for a while. beautifully and heartbreakingly interwoven. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Racism and Rape

withlivjones's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A beautifully written book with so much feeling, each character’s story is told so vividly and I loved how they were all interconnected, as well as how the story gradually built to a massive climax at the end. I’ve never read any Native American literature before and I’m really glad I picked this one up as it’s a really eye-opening read. I do wish I’d read it in print though rather than as an ebook as I would’ve benefitted from being able to flip back to the character index, since with so many narrators it was tricky to understand who’s who at first. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent and Suicide

danajoy's review against another edition

emotional sad tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Genocide, and Racism

ridern2002's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Genocide, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Car accident, Body shaming, Alcohol, Gun violence, Addiction, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Grief, and Drug abuse

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.

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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

thebookgiraffe's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Colonisation, Racism, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug use

Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Animal death, Suicide, Animal cruelty, and Cancer

dinipandareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

3.5 stars rounded up.

This isn't an easy book to review and there's nothing I can say that others haven't already said and done so much better than I ever could, too. This is a highly-lauded piece of literary fiction and part of me understands why but maybe this book was just too smart for me because I often struggled to really "get" it. I empathised with many of the characters and I wound up spilling tears over them by the end but, at times, it was hard to feel fully immersed in the story and to grasp what the author was trying to share. Perhaps it was the writing style that also didn't entirely work for me as we switched from third-person and first-person perspectives almost every other chapter. Add to that the wide array of characters and shifting timelines as we get their life stories from childhood to adulthood, and it wasn't always easy to keep track of who's who and what's what. That said, I loved seeing how each character's life intersects with another and I think Orange masterfully weaves together the fabric of their stories to create one big, captivating, yet heartbreaking tapestry.

Although the novel discusses the beauty, pride and fortitude of the native community, it is not a happy story. It explores weighty subjects including race, colonialism, intergenerational trauma, identity and belonging, mental health, abuse, and addiction. There is a lot of power behind the author's writing and although each character's narrative was difficult to read it also emphasised the need and importance of their stories being heard. Some of the quotes in this hit so hard and I think one of them sums this story up rather perfectly:

“The tragedy of it all will be unspeakable, the fact we’ve been fighting for decades to be recognized as a present-tense people, modern and relevant, alive, only to die in the grass wearing feathers.”

How utterly devastating. 🥺

Ultimately, while it wasn't always smooth sailing, I'm glad that I didn't give up on this because it was rewarding to work through. I can see why it's so well-loved and I'm glad to have finally read it. I don't doubt that although it may not feel like it right now, this will be a story I'll continue to think about long after I put it back on the shelf.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, Death, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Colonisation, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Addiction