lmreboy 's review for:

There There by Tommy Orange

4.0

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Is it possible to like and respect a book but not love it? Thats what happened here for me. The story, about urban Native American people living in Oakland CA, employs an unusual structure wherein 12 characters rotate narration of their story - all leading up to attendance or involvement with the Big Oakland Powwow. Rotating narration isn't new, but 12 characters doing so in a relatively short novel is pushing it to keep readers engaged with each of the characters, I think. And that's what happened to me. As a reader, I was watching what the author was doing. Impressed but not engrossed. I'll read his future stuff though because I think Orange has a new and unique voice that is partially but not completely due to his place in modern American society as a native person facing the complexities of (poor and marginalized) urban life.