A review by kimschouwenaar
There There by Tommy Orange

challenging emotional inspiring sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

Secrets lie through omission just like shame lies through secrecy.

This took me so long to actually get into. Started reading this for my world lit class last May, and kind of forgot about it until I saw it again in my currently reading list.

This book is written from multiple perspectives and in first-person, second-person and third-person narrative. I think the main problem I had when I started reading is the amount of characters; each chapter is from the perspective of a different character, and in the final 25 chapters — which are all very short — they all come together at the powwow.

But those final 25 chapters had me crying. Reading the book, you know what's coming, and yet you remain hopeful that there will be some kind of interference so the ending will change. It's absolutely heartbreaking. There There is not only a story about Native American history, but it's also a tale about surviving in a system that is built against you. Would definitely recommend to everyone, you just need to get through the first couple of chapters and familiarise yourself with all the characters. Hard to digest, but definitely worth your time.

We didn't have last names before they came. When they decided they needed to keep track of us, last names were given to us, just like the name Indian itself was given to us.
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