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shay43geek's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Colonisation, Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Cancer and Death of parent
readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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'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.
Graphic: Drug use, Blood, Addiction, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Self harm
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Animal death
womanwill's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Addiction, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
Moderate: Alcoholism, War, Cancer, and Gun violence
Minor: Racial slurs and Mass/school shootings
morethanmylupus's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Racism, Alcoholism, Violence, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Suicide, Cancer, and Mass/school shootings
Minor: Child death
nordstina's review against another edition
4.25
Orvil, many generations removed from his relative Jude recovers physically from the bullet wound sustained at the Powwow. He finds comfort in reading how fellow survivors of mass shootings dealt with the aftermath. He also starts taking more of his prescribed painkillers than he should and makes friends with a fellow student who also takes painkillers after sustaining an accident. Orvil's brothers Loother and Lony are both dealing with difficulties in their family in unique ways. Lony wants to connect to Native practices and attempts to use folklore in a way to protect his family, especially Orvil whom he is very worried about.
This book is very much one of generational trauma and how individuals cope (or do not). We see early signs of drug use in earlier generations, family separation, mental health challenges, transracial adoption, and self-discovery. As in There There, different characters are approaching their relationship with their Native identities in different ways- some leaning into, some running away from. Orange is a fantastic writer, and he tamps into cultures that are not highlighted enough in literature. I found the first section of this book very fast-paced, and wish I could have spent more time with the earlier generations, while at times, some of the second section dragged. I really enjoyed some of the secondary characters, especially Lony, who says in a letter may we learn to forgive ourselves, so that we lose the weight, so that we may fly, not as birds but as people, get above the weight and carry on, for the next generations, so that we might keep living, stop doing all this dying. Well said, Lony.
Thank you to Knopf via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.
Graphic: Drug use and Self harm
tamtasticbooks's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.75
I loved this choice, showing the history and trauma built up and passed down over generations, and then how similar the current situations were. Addiction was a prominent theme, and death and everyone's constant proximity to it. Tommy Orange writes so well, it makes me heart hurt for these characters as if they were real people I know.
I probably would call this a follow-up rather than a sequel to There, There, and maybe that's because for some reason, even though I had long ago read the synopsis for this story, I forgot that it was going to end up dealing with characters from There, There. So when I got to the Part 2 of the book, I was BLOWN AWAY by the connection. That's on me and my poor memory, but I wouldn't have changed that experience.
Excellent story, interesting set-up, and beautifully written. Loved.
Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the e-ARC!
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Minor: Gun violence
mandaant1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
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.
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Minor: Cancer
shansometimes's review against another edition
- 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
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."
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Drug use
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
ktdakotareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Grief, Cancer, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Abandonment, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Racism, Addiction, and Blood
Minor: Mass/school shootings and Gun violence