A review by tamtasticbooks
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • 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

Wandering Stars starts with a man escaping the Sand Creek Massacre and follows his lineage down through addiction, trying to assimilate into a non-native society, and trauma. Each story is a little vignette into a piece of their lives and their choices. You can see them all strugggling to keep their culture a part of them, even as the world tries to tear it away. Halfway through the book, we move into the future, which continues the lineage and the trauma, but in a present, currently happening kind of way, rather than vignettes. 

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!
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