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A review by justinlife
There There by Tommy Orange
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I’m giving this 4 stars not because I really liked it, but because it was well written.
I found this book exhausting, sad, and focusing on the bleakness of urban native living. In the book club I was in, it was suggested that maybe we need hope b/c we’re white, and that may be true.
Orange has a talent for writing well crafted characters. They felt lived in and alive. Their stories wrangle true to what the lives experience could be. It seemed so devoid of joy though that it was hard to get through.
There’s a certain kind of violence that pervades American culture and it’s here in this novel too. Orange humanizes it and allows what could be a headline feel personal.
My one beef that took me out of it was one newly sober person trying for sobriety didn’t have a sponsor or didn’t do 90/90. Someone who’s been in recovery would know that.
I found this book exhausting, sad, and focusing on the bleakness of urban native living. In the book club I was in, it was suggested that maybe we need hope b/c we’re white, and that may be true.
Orange has a talent for writing well crafted characters. They felt lived in and alive. Their stories wrangle true to what the lives experience could be. It seemed so devoid of joy though that it was hard to get through.
There’s a certain kind of violence that pervades American culture and it’s here in this novel too. Orange humanizes it and allows what could be a headline feel personal.
My one beef that took me out of it was one newly sober person trying for sobriety didn’t have a sponsor or didn’t do 90/90. Someone who’s been in recovery would know that.