Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

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

january_one's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

Gave me a lot of anxiety but well written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Addiction, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Self harm, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Grief, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Cancer, Colonisation, and Alcoholism

lvleggett's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

Wandering Stars picks up where There, There left off - in terms of characters and themes. But you can enjoy as a standalone book.

First, Orange takes us back a few generations to when things initially shifted for the family. A massacre of a Shawnee village sends Jude Star on the run. He and the generations that follow are wandering through the world, separated from who they once were and unsure how or if they can get back to it. 

As with There, There, the narrative takes on the POVs of the different characters. Wandering Stars is a more reflective book. Plenty of plot, centered on the newest generation of Stars in modern-day America, but with a strong internal dialogue that brings us deep into the experiences of these characters. This book explores how you figure out who you are in a world that has sought to eradicate your family, history and culture across hundreds of years. Yet you exist. We meet characters across the generations who are striving to hold onto what's been lost, to reclaim & rediscover, and to define the future for themselves. 

Orange writes young men especially with such precision and care. I can see many generations of readers connecting with their struggles and joys.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Racism, Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer and Death of parent

jamiejanae_6's review

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

lettuce_read's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Gun violence

shay43geek's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Cancer and Death of parent

readingwithkaitlyn's review

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

womanwill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

A multigenerational look at belonging, identity, and family through the lens of colonization, addiction, and generational trauma on the Indigenous communities in the U.S. Set mostly in modern-day Oakland, the land of the Ohlone tribe and a follow up to Orange's There There, his writing is as rich and all-encompassing as ever. I highlighted elite paragraphs of prose dripping with beauty and pain. 

I most loved being back with the characters, particularly Opal Bearshield as she fiercely loves her family and 3 grandkids: Orvil, Lony, and Loother Redfeather. As well as their true grandma and Opal's sister, Jacque Redfeather as she worked through alcoholism. This book, also, at parts spans centuries in their family line of Cheyenne ancestors: a family that survives the Sand Creek Massacre, boarding schools, alcoholism and addiction.

This is not a light read but it is well worth its emotional depth and a must read for anyone who wants to read about the harsh survival of "Native Americans".

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcoholism, War, Cancer, and Gun violence

Minor: Racial slurs and Mass/school shootings

morethanmylupus's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a beautiful but heavy book. I recommend you read Orange's There There first. Technically, these are stand-alone, but we meet some of the same people, and the events of There There fall within of this book's timeline. The family tree helps keep track of the generations, but it's easy to get lost as we jump from person to person, timeframe to timeframe.

Like in There There, this book's topics largely stem from the overarching generational trauma theme. But I found that in this book, there are fewer punches pulled. We see the massacres, the horrific schools like the Carlisle School, and later impacts like high levels of drug use and mental health needs. Yet despite all these heartbreaking elements, the writing is beautiful and moving. There's a sense of bearing witness to the traumas inflicted even as there is a sense of triumph and resilience that is completely independent of us as readers. 

As we continue to bear witness to the ongoing, long-reaching impact of colonialism both within the US and abroad, these stories are increasingly essential reminders of the way colonialist ideology has a very real impact on real people. 

 

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Alcoholism, Violence, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Suicide, Cancer, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Child death