Set in the city of Oakland California, in something of a now-ish time, There, There follows a cast of characters, all Native American to one degree or another, whose stories are connected by bonds they do not understand.
Their lives converge on one single event, the Big Oakland Powwow. Some are there to reconnect to family, others to share stories and dance, but some are there with much darker intentions.
Tommy Orange is doing something different here. While the subject matter in this story is sombre, perhaps angry, and dark, no doubt gathered from even darker realities, Orange isn’t here for just that. Despite the heavy subject matter, hope is woven throughout.
Everything works together, plot, character, even the writing itself, developing the pulse-like pace into the hammering rhythm of the drums, leading the reader to fitting and curious end.
In the hands of a lesser writer the prismatic narrative could easily trip up plot and hamper development. Yet each character is completely unique and authentic.
However all are united by a common thread. All seem to struggle with the past. Not just their own personal past, but the heavy scars of history. They wear their history in one way or another.
The long brutality, the near genocide of a people. It manifests in drinking and drugs, but also in fear and struggle. Fear of themselves. Of struggling with what it means to be ‘Indian’, and understanding what that means now.
I loved this book, though I am not certain what I was expecting when I picked it up. I heard it was good. I heard it was great. I heard it was some people’s top book of the last decade - big shoes to fill, I know.
Yet even with all that praise I did not expect something so profound, so fierce, so…
There, There is resonant. Refreshing, not like a fine breeze, but like a plunge into an icy river. An unforgettable shock. It is a story that needs to be told now. That the past is not just the past and the First People of North America are not gone; not some cowboy legend reminding the reader that the Native American story is not over.
“For the first time in a long time I got a little hope in my chest.”
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, the sequel to There, There, comes out on March 21.
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