Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

33 reviews

miap09's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Genocide and Gun violence

joanna_banana's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative 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

4.5

There There was one of my favorite books of the last decade. This picked up where There There left off but was prequel and sequel all in one. Tommy Orange’s writing is so enjoyable - piercing descriptions, social commentary, and love oozing through tough material about addiction and death by imperialists or capitalists or both. I liked the multiple voices again though in the second half got lost a little bit. Lony was my favorite and I’m glad it ended with his voice. I wondered how much was autobiographical or people in Orange’s family. Would strongly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

megan_martha_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Grief, and Colonisation

kirstym25's review

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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings

raoulalexander's review against another edition

emotional reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cancer, Gun violence, Self harm, and Medical content

Minor: Car accident and Pandemic/Epidemic

chickaboogawah's review

challenging emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

knkoch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

This was a strong, hard second novel from Tommy Orange, and I had no idea going in (my own fault for avoiding blurbs) that it was partially a direct continuation of the characters and story he began in There There. It’s been quite some time since I read that, and I worried at times that remembering only a loose sense of the details of the first book held me back in the second.

I'm sure they work really well read consecutively, but even if I had attempted that, I’m not sure I would have been successful. This was a really hard story to stick with and absorb, and at times I dreaded it. It’s the sort of book I had to sit with for several uninterrupted hours, as it just felt too heavy to dip in and out of. I think I liked this better than There There, if possible, because it examines the aftermath of the pivotal events at the end of the first book. Wandering Stars is all about aftermath: how do people survive after trauma, massacres, and violence? How do Native people, especially, recover and rebuild after each new wave of institutional erasure and attempted destruction? And how do they draw strength not just from their own resilience but the passed-down stories of those who came before?

This is a detailed and heartfelt examination of one family line, and it was satisfying to see their stories meaningfully summed up by the end. The characters Orange returns to felt well-realized, and he has a strong, distinctive prose style. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer

The second half of the book deals extensively with opioid addiction.

kayarosee's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I loved the beginning and the end. The middle had a very teen sounding voice which wasn’t my favorite, but I understood why it was done. It was nessacary to portray the emotions of the adolescent characters at that moment. But the beginning with the history and the letters, and the end with the grown revelations really took me and made me feel so many emotions. It all felt so close to home and so beautiful. The only reason I am giving it a 4 and not a 5 is just because I had a difficult time getting through the part filled with high-school angst. Maybe that is just because I do not really want to re-live those days or those feelings. All-in-all a beautiful book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gun violence

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

arrr's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Powerful intergenerational story of colonization and its effects on an Oakland Indigenous family up to and after the modern day shooting in the first book. Some parts are understandably dark, but the message is hopeful and reflective. Worth getting to the end, even if you have to put it down a few times to have a break and a cry. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Absolutely worth the read if you're in a good safe headspace to cope with the many triggers.

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad slow-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

3.5

I liked it better than There, There, but it was emotionally draining to read. There were too many characters and storylines to get invested as deeply as I would’ve liked. Felt like the author was trying to cover way more ground than made sense for one book, or that it would’ve been a more successful effort if the book had been longer and taken more time to unravel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic