Reviews - Wandering Stars | The StoryGraph

3.44k reviews for:

Wandering Stars

Tommy Orange

4.02 AVERAGE

mckenzielowe's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

_klh_'s review against another edition

4.25

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

wendilin622's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

auntieshelly1964's review against another edition

3.0

The description sounded so good, but the reality of it just didn't live up....for me anyway.

Oh well.

benridgers's review against another edition

2.75

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

This book felt like a collection of stories with the underlying themes of addiction and trauma. I found the different narratives to be quite hit or miss. I liked the family that the 2nd half of the book follows. Some of the narratives just seem to be never ending introspection which was a slog to get through. Overall an okay book. Got me to think about the lives of native Americans which isn’t really something i’ve put much thought into.

lorak's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

serinas's review against another edition

4.75

dark slow-paced

I read There There earlier this year in Norwegian, and have wanted to read Wandering Stars since then. The Norwegian translation just came out (June 10th), so I decided to read Wandering Stars in Norwegian! Wandering Stars work as a prequel to There There as well as a sequel - it takes place in 1924 and 2018.

Wandering Stars kind of builds on the story and characters in There There, even though the writing style and plot are very different. In Wandering Stars we meet Jude Star in 1924, and then follows his descendants through different chapters - his son Charles, and then his granddaughter Victoria Bear Shield, and more. We also get POVs from the Pratt family. After the big event in the end of There There (I won't spoil), we don't really know what happened with every character - but in Wandering Stars we meet Orvil and his siblings again.

I'm honestly really impressed. I loved There There, but Wandering Stars was even better. Wandering Stars was way more tragic, and was more focused on the trauma and addiction native americans experience (in the past and today). It was also a harder read, with very heavy themes that will definitely be triggering to some people.

I rated it 4.75 stars. The beginning was a little slow, but otherwise I loved Wandering Stars. It works great as a stand-alone, but could also work as a great extension to There There if you've read it. I would definitely recommend it, and will likely read more from Tommy Orange in the future!

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