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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
"I thought I was dying. And it was okay. It was good. I wouldn't disappear. I would spread wide and across the land. Rise up like a cloud and drift home. I was a still bird beneath all my names. Beneath the names for everything I was there. Home inside the bones of everything that ever resembled home to me. A core being and a beating heart. The booming drum. A song belonging to no one."
I love Tommy Orange's writing so much. Simply a must-read.
His writing is simple and subtle, yet incredibly moving and powerful.
The interconnectedness, the characters, the metaphors, the images, the feelings. Heartbreakingly beautiful.
The bit about Mitski made me scream lol.
The chapter where Opal talks to her newborn child before dying blew me away.
I love Tommy Orange's writing so much. Simply a must-read.
His writing is simple and subtle, yet incredibly moving and powerful.
The interconnectedness, the characters, the metaphors, the images, the feelings. Heartbreakingly beautiful.
The bit about Mitski made me scream lol.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicide
Minor: Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Such a beautiful, sweeping novel that asks us how we wander alongside our histories and our ancestors. Do we, can we, should we define ourselves by those who came before us? Being half white and half third-generation Hispanic, I felt seen by Orange’s depiction of those searching for identity amidst a disjointed blend of cultural and generational divides. His prose expresses truth, but with a profound sense of tenderness and care for people, family, and community.
(Side note: I bought a signed first edition that also happens to have a misprint, which to me feels pretty cool/one-of-a-kind!)
(Side note: I bought a signed first edition that also happens to have a misprint, which to me feels pretty cool/one-of-a-kind!)
Tommy Orange never misses. While I was hoping for more details on Jude's story, I really appreciated the stories of his descendants, especially with it picking back up from "There, There" (the ending of that really stuck with me; while "Wandering Stars" isn't a quintessential happy story, it was a better ending for the characters IMO).
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Another brilliant piece from Tommy Orange. The way he weaves different points of view (not just multiple characters but also moving from third to first person), past and present, and stream of consciousness impressionism with enough concrete detail to build a tangible world is really astounding. On one or two occasions a sentence's structure was so loose I couldn't figure out how to interpret it and it took me out of the narrative for a moment, but these are minute blips in an otherwise very successful novel. I guess technically you don't have to read There There before reading Wandering Stars, but I would highly recommend it; I'd also recommend reviewing a summary of There There if it's been a while since you read it--just for a refresher on the characters, as both books have large casts.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
informative
inspiring
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:
Yes
This book explores the loss of identity and history that defines the Native American experience, and then the attempt to reclaim these things, piecing the past back together. And likewise explores the way addiction becomes a thread through generations, and is so hard to shake. And how this is a bi-product of displacement, abuse, and genocide. I've never read a book like this that so richly illustrates the experience of the first people that were in the country I inhabit, and compels me to think - more than I ever have - that I inherit or possess land and privilege that was stolen from someone else.
On a literary level, Tommy Orange explores many different voices of the one Stone family, as each chapter shifts between characters, between first person and third person - as though to give voice, and then to take it away.
On a literary level, Tommy Orange explores many different voices of the one Stone family, as each chapter shifts between characters, between first person and third person - as though to give voice, and then to take it away.
dark
emotional
hopeful
Plot or Character Driven:
Character