Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

There There by Tommy Orange

36 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

itsradsmads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Rape, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Hate crime

mtnest's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicide, Cursing, Racism, Rape, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship

dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Mental illness

Moderate: Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

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

joensign'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Death, Violence, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Alcohol, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Abortion, Addiction, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Car accident

tpasta's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

This book is beautifully written. The start is a bit slow but the author does a fantastic job drawing you in. The stories his characters tell were so vivid in my mind. I'm not sure if this type of story was for me, I have trouble with cliffhangers, but I can still appreciate a well written book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Stalking, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Racism

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

chaosandwildflowers's review

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

3.0

The idea of this book is so phenomenal; it's a character study focused on the diverse range of life experiences within the Native American community, while simultaneously drawing attention to the fact that a growing number of Native Americans now live in cities - not on reservations. It explores various themes, including self-discovery, identity, self-loathing, heritage, parental expectations, toxic/abusive relationships, forgiveness, etc etc etc. The book also tells different character perspectives in different styles, including every thing from first to second to third person POVs, past and present verb tenses, and various other tone shifts used to distinguish characters from one another.

One of Tommy Orange's greatest strengths is in his writing and his understanding of the human psyche. The writing truly is beautiful, even feeling poetic in some places, and though the cast of characters is vast, he takes time to explore each of them in at least a little bit of depth.

However, I do think the book tried to do too much in too little space. Some characters feel extremely similar, making their chapters feel repetitive, and the sheer number of characters made it difficult to really delve into more than a few of them. I believe this book should have either streamlined its plot to fit the space or allowed itself more pages to really explore the themes. I also felt like the story ended very abruptly, with a few loose ends and unexplained plot points.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book. Hard stop. I think it's important to read, especially in our current society. But I'd also suggest that readers go into it expecting to focus more on the characters than on an extremely coherent plot. Solid 3/5 stars!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, and Rape

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

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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

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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