Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

23 reviews

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is my first by Tommy Orange, and based on reviews from other readers, I do wish I had read There, There first, as it would likely have helped orient me within the family and the timeline. This is an unflinching look at the multigenerational trauma experienced by Indigenous families who survived European colonization and genocide. Wandering Stars picks up in the wake up the Sand Creek Massacre and then explores each following generation in episodic, character-driven chapters that jump between third, second and first-person. At about the halfway point, we jump ahead to 2018 and our story begins to circle two primary characters - both Indigenous high-school boys living in Oakland with their complicated families and nascent addictions to painkillers. There is a throughline in school trauma across generations - from the violent imprisonment and forced assimilation of boarding schools like Carlisle to today's schools rocked by gun violence and inequity. 

This read was ultimately not for me. It didn't stand alone easily, and I felt I was missing too much of There, There to really understand these big character jumps (requesting this ARC when I hadn't read There, There is ENTIRELY on me - I truly thought this would stand alone). I also don't love overwrought prose - sentences that are routinely paragraph-length run-ons remind me why I don't read as much lit fiction anymore. These are my own preferences, though, and I would still say this is an important and propulsive read that will likely be appreciated by those who loved There, There. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Murder, Drug use, Death, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Colonisation, and Abandonment

Moderate: War, Sexual assault, and Cancer

faduma's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Abandonment, Alcohol, Racism, Torture, Violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Gore, and Racial slurs

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Dysphoria, Mass/school shootings, Cancer, and Gun violence

ecn's review against another edition

4.5

So so good, excellent mesh of prequel and sequel, and an absolute KNOCK out ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Medical content, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Racism, Mental illness, War, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Slavery, Murder, Cancer, Violence, Genocide, Drug use, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Torture, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Grief, Death, Colonisation, Blood, Self harm, Medical trauma, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Car accident, and Gun violence

serena_storybook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

I liked Wandering Stars more than There There and appreciated the

closure and healing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Mental illness, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Genocide, Grief, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Death of parent, Car accident, and Abandonment

kimmykelly's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Drug abuse, Genocide, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Addiction, Bullying, Drug use, Deadnaming, Abandonment, Self harm, and Violence

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Racism, Death, Addiction, Drug use, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Mental illness, Grief, Child abuse, Colonisation, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Animal death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Ableism, Cancer, War, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Cultural appropriation, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Antisemitism, Car accident, Pandemic/Epidemic, Ableism, Sexual assault, Bullying, Transphobia, Vomit, Body shaming, Rape, Racial slurs, Child death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Dementia, Misogyny, Excrement, and Abandonment

shansometimes's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

I was excited to hear that Tommy Orange was releasing a new book in 2024 after reading his debut novel, THERE, THERE, in 2019. I enjoyed THERE, THERE but wasn't wowed. I thought WANDERING STARS was a much more cohesive book; the characters weren't exactly developed in a lot of detail, but their personalities were somehow still clear to me, and their inner monologues, emotional pain, etc., felt sincere.

WANDERING STARS follows multiple generations of a family navigating their Native American heritage and identity, individual and generational traumas, and addiction. Opal, one of the grandmothers, tries desperately to keep her family stable and together through it all as the poverty and addictions of the generations before her continue to follow the family. It can get a little difficult to follow all of the POVs—some in first-person and others in third—but the story is beautifully written, heartbreaking at parts, and an important historical analysis tackling the impact of boarding schools, colonization, and more on Native American bloodlines.

*This review is based on a digital ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

"I thought maybe there was some looped aspect to people partying at the lake, then ending up at the rehab at the lake, then relapsing and partying again on the lake like some hell in paradise or paradise in hell. That's what addiction had always felt like, like the best little thing you'd forget on the worst day possible, or the worst big thing on a day in a life you thought kept getting better because you kept getting high."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Drug use

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Grief, Cancer, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Abandonment, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Racism, Addiction, and Blood

Minor: Mass/school shootings and Gun violence

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

Thanks to AA Knopf for the free copy of this book.

 - I knew Orange would break my heart with WANDERING STARS, and he sure did.
- Orange expands on the legacy of colonization and the generational traumas that stem from it, showing different ways they manifested throughout the decades.
- Orange’s writing is so gorgeous, the kind of writing that you can’t imagine being done any other way.
- I reread THERE THERE immediately before this one, and am happy to report that the anti-fat bias in the first book is almost entirely gone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Medical content, Addiction, Drug use, Alcohol, Death, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Mass/school shootings, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Rape