Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Wandering Stars

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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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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mandaant1's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is about generations of trauma starting from natives forced into boarding schools. It describes how that trauma affected them which began their addictions. Every generation was built on past and present traumas.

They were losing their identities on how to be a native and what is a native. They were being adopted into white homes and did not know where they came from. Some were half white/half native and did not know what to identify as. I believe this to be a true struggle.

The last generation was affected the most by the opium epidemic. Orvil being shot at the pow wow (Read There, There for the back story).

Everyone in this story was going through their own trauma and were trying to cope with it on their own.

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kellkie's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative 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

4.0

Wandering Stars returns to the characters first introduced in There There, going back in time to the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 and following the family into present-day Oakland as they struggle through the ongoing consequences of native erasure and genocide. The story is split into two parts: Before and Aftermath. I found the transition between the two parts a bit muddled, feeling that Part One was rushed at the end. I could easily see Wandering Stars split into two separate books. Although Orange's newest novel doesn't always follow a linear path, he brings the story together through multiple points of view, zooming in on the intimate thoughts and details of each character's personal story, and through recurring themes that show up intergenerationally.

This is a powerful and brutally honest narrative, bringing into clear focus atrocities such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, led by American Army captain Richard Pratt, who ran the school with the belief that one must “Kill the Indian to save the man." I found myself appalled at how much native history we were never taught in school. The abuse of adults and children (who were forcibly removed from their homes) at these institutions had disastrous consequences for thousands of families, and much of Wandering Stars shares this reality through Orange's portrayal of the Red Feather family.

Wandering Stars is evocatively written and I was fully immersed, hopeful on every page that Orvil and his brothers would find some healing and learn to lean on each other through the many difficulties they face. Orvil's youngest brother best articulates the painful process of healing between family members when he writes, "Healing is holy and if you have the chance to not have to carry something alone, with people you love, it should be honored, the opportunity, it should be honored, and you all got selfish about it, you got scared it was gonna be bigger than our love and then it was." Reading Wandering Stars is a journey through the worst of humanity while holding onto hope that healing is still possible, and I am so thankful I had the opportunity to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the eARC.

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shansometimes's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

I was excited to hear that Tommy Orange was releasing a new book in 2024 after reading his debut novel, THERE, THERE, in 2019. I enjoyed THERE, THERE but wasn't wowed. I thought WANDERING STARS was a much more cohesive book; the characters weren't exactly developed in a lot of detail, but their personalities were somehow still clear to me, and their inner monologues, emotional pain, etc., felt sincere.

WANDERING STARS follows multiple generations of a family navigating their Native American heritage and identity, individual and generational traumas, and addiction. Opal, one of the grandmothers, tries desperately to keep her family stable and together through it all as the poverty and addictions of the generations before her continue to follow the family. It can get a little difficult to follow all of the POVs—some in first-person and others in third—but the story is beautifully written, heartbreaking at parts, and an important historical analysis tackling the impact of boarding schools, colonization, and more on Native American bloodlines.

*This review is based on a digital ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

"I thought maybe there was some looped aspect to people partying at the lake, then ending up at the rehab at the lake, then relapsing and partying again on the lake like some hell in paradise or paradise in hell. That's what addiction had always felt like, like the best little thing you'd forget on the worst day possible, or the worst big thing on a day in a life you thought kept getting better because you kept getting high."

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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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