Reviews

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

kittykate99's review against another edition

4.0

After giving us a genealogical prequel to There, There, Orange picks up the stories of Opal, Orvil, Loother and Lony as they try to move past the event that ended the book There, There. He allows each family member to tell their story, all impacted by epigenetics, historical trauma and just the every day struggle to put one foot after the other.

aylachisholm's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful sad tense slow-paced

2.0

mhprince21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

ltheaker's review against another edition

4.0

Tommy Orange’s highly anticipated sophomore novel is a rich, captivating and unique family saga that follows the Bear Shield/Red Feather family across generations, trauma, and genocide. Much like There There, we get historical background, diary entry-style writings, and also traditional literary fiction with rich character development. This book is an important one, a traumatizing story of historical commentary but also about generational trauma. Throughout the 150+ years of backstory and timelines, the anecdotes about bloodlines and how our bones contain the stories of our ancestors resonate with readers. There were so many lines I bookmarked because I just wanted to read them again. This is not an easy read—emotionally nor intellectually, but it is an important one. I did not love it as much as There There; the writing isn’t as tight, the story disjointed at times, but I did understand its purpose.

ktbooksit's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

jsykes828's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

emilycheno's review against another edition

4.0

4.5 wandering stars

Tommy Orange held nothing back in his sophomore novel. Traumas and addictions are laid bare. America's erasure of Native Americans is boldy called out. And it's all done in poetic writing that latched onto me quite literally from page one and never let go. (Truly. The dedication page made me cry.)

WANDERING STARS is both prequel and sequel to THERE, THERE. Part one goes back generations and the reader learns about the massacres, colonization, institutionalization of Native peoples. Part two picks up where TT ended and we find out what happened after the powwow. Because of the more singular focus of WS, I was able to feel a deeper connection to the characters.

WANDERING STARS reminded me a lot of another favorite, HOMEGOING, as both delved deep into the Native American and African diasporas.

Highly recommend - this is definitely making my top books of the year list.

samhart8's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

kidlitmama's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

ginasiragusa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Amazing prequel/sequel to There There.