Reviews with content warning for Mass/school shootings - Wandering Stars

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Damn, Tommy Orange just plain knows how to write sentences.

Wandering Stars isn’t as propulsive as There, There was, but don’t worry; it twists the knife. It begins with a look through the eyes of several generations of Orvil Redfeather’s ancestors, from the Sand Creek Massacre to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and up through present day. Then we join back up with Orvil and his family in the aftermath of the events of There, There.

I’ve seen people say they didn’t feel like this book pulled together as well as they’d hoped, but I don’t agree. I thought the two sections worked great in concert, and I think the way they highlighted the generational trauma forced upon Native Americans was really effective.

I recommend reading There, There first because it’s truly excellent and the characters here are dealing with its aftermath, so the emotional impact will be greater if you’ve read it. But it’s not 100% necessary. In fact, I read it a long time ago and remembered very few concrete details, but I still loved this one.

Also! The full-cast audiobook was fantastic. I started the first few chapters on audio only (successfully) and loved listening along as I read once I settled in with my print copy.

What’s next, Tommy? I’ll be there.

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savvylit's review

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dark emotional 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

4.5

Tommy Orange can write multiple points of view in a truly unparalleled manner. Beginning with a man who has gone mute after escaping the Sand Creek Massacre, each character's perspective is unique and wholly their own. Despite the years that lapse between vignettes, each character's presence carries from one descendant to the next in a way that illuminates the way that trauma is inherited.

As a fan of There There, I was delighted to not only get to know their ancestors but to have a chance to revisit Orvil, Opal, Jacquie, Lony, and Loother. When we return to the modern-day Readfeather family, each character is reckoning with the aftermath of the events of There There. The spectrum of emotion they each experience is both heartbreaking and palpable. Lony, the youngest member of the family, has a particularly devastating way of dealing with his trauma that feels so true to both his age and way of seeing the world.

If you're a fan of historical fiction and character studies, you can't miss Wandering Stars!

Thank you @netgalley and @aaknopf for the e-ARC of Wandering Stars in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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womanwill's review against another edition

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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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morethanmylupus's review against another edition

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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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ktdakotareads's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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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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