A review by mmccombs
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

There There was a book that got me back into reading, so you can imagine how excited I was to read Orange’s sophomore novel, Wandering Stars. As I expected, the writing was wonderful, crackling with life and humor and sorrow, distinct in voice and style. 

The first third, the more historical fiction aspect to this novel, was a full 5 stars from me. I loved how the characters connected (and chronologically! Thank you!) and how distinct their voices felt while keeping a familial thread throughout. The themes here of historical trauma and resilience, of surviving and passing down stories, were so clear and well crafted. It is very impressive that this is both a prequel and a sequel at once, but I mostly think it should have just been the former. While I did enjoy coming back to these characters, adding a sequel to what felt like a wholly complete novel is perhaps too much of a good thing, a wonderful story to return to but also treading a lot of the same ground we have already covered. It didn’t feel fresh, I was unfairly comparing it to the 1st novel, and I found the wrap up at the end (“where are they now??”) to be a bit neat.

On the whole, there is so much to love here and I leave this knowing Tommy Orange is an instant-buy author, hoping more people will find and love his work. The first part worked much more for me, but I can’t say no to a compelling character-driven novel!

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the eARC!
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