Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

39 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

author2223's review

challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Addiction

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

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

pomoevareads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Author Tommy Orange of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people has written a prequel and sequel in one to his breakout novel, There There. Wandering Stars begins in 1864 at the Sand Creek Massacre and follows a character through several generations to the present day. Many of us know about the institutionalization of Indigenous Peoples in schools but Orange also shares in his story about a prison castle in Florida that was a seed for the future schools. He writes about intergenerational trauma, familial love and addiction. In the present day, we see how Orvil is doing after the events at the powwow in There There. 

Readers will find Wandering Stars an easier read in that it was easier to keep track of the characters. There is a lineage chart at the beginning of the book and we stay with a small group of characters at a time. 

I found myself deeply engaged throughout the novel and want an Opal in my life. My only reason for not giving this book five stars was for a possible dropped opportunity from one scene. A hint to those who have read it is what lies next to a typewriter many years ago. That said I have just learned that Orange is already signed to write his next book. I don’t know if it will be connected to these books but will read it nonetheless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Self harm, Addiction, and War

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, and Sexual assault

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

serena_storybook's review

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

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

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

emelynreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

I read There, There right before cracking Wandering Stars open. This book focuses heavily on addiction much more than There, There. You still get the author's amazing prose and unique style of writing inner dialogue. 

I'm not sure what the purpose of having one nonbinary character was when it's only brought up twice and not for development. This was a turn off. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Blood, Addiction, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal death