Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

There There by Tommy Orange

84 reviews

smgossett77's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

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

faduma's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Mass/school shootings, and Self harm

taylor24's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Grief, Suicide, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Body shaming, Colonisation, and Sexual assault

cassielaj's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

Absolutely stunning. This book features quite a few characters, each of whom has a fully crafted perspective and story. The author is able to pack so much emotion and story into each chapter, and he does an incredible job of weaving these stories and characters together. The book is a snapshot of the characters’ lives, but imbued with the depth of years, decades, generations of the stories that came before. The pace steadily increases throughout, giving this book a beautiful sense of flow and forward momentum. This book will be a classic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Gun violence, Death, Mental illness, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Blood, Violence, Grief, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Alcohol, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Fatphobia, Rape, and Pregnancy

This book is emotionally taxing, but so worth the read

jennshelfishlife's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

There There is a powerful story that connects the stories of urban Native Americans.
The dozen or so characters all have plans to attend the Big Oakland Powwow, which is how their stories interconnect along with the shared heritage. All of their stories were quite sad and had triggers (e.g. domestic abuse, guns, substance use, abandonment). Each character expresses a range of emotions from sadness to anger to joy. Tommy Orange's work is quite brilliant and sheds light on the experiences of some indigenous people. I recommend this novel to readers that enjoy sociology, culture, and the human experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Abandonment, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, and Animal cruelty

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

loryyyy's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Gun violence

darcyparcy's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.25

Orange's writing was beautiful, but I found the plot a little difficult and confusing. I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending and how ambiguous parts of it is. I can see how this book can be incredibly impactful, so I'm sad that I didn't like it as much as I hoped to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

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