There There

There There by Tommy Orange     294 pages

From Goodreads:

There There is a relentlessly paced multigenerational story about violence and recovery, memory and identity, and the beauty and despair woven into the history of a nation and its people. It tells the story of twelve characters, each of whom have private reasons for traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow. Jacquie Red Feather is newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind in shame. Dene Oxendene is pulling his life back together after his uncle’s death and has come to work at the powwow to honor his uncle’s memory. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield has come to watch her nephew Orvil, who has taught himself traditional Indian dance through YouTube videos and has come to the powwow to dance in public for the very first time. There will be glorious communion, and a spectacle of sacred tradition and pageantry. And there will be sacrifice, and heroism, and unspeakable loss.

My Review:

I didn't really know what I was getting into when I started this book, but wow it sure took me places. Things I liked: the dichotomy that Orange explores about being Native, being mixed race, of having ancestors who owned this land and some who took that land away. I loved the different ways he explored this topic through the lens of so many people with such different backgrounds. I also loved how all these characters struggled with the feeling of "acting Indian" because it feels like a trope now, just one more thing that White culture has taken away. This struggle is then met with Orange's discussions on how Indians have evolved, that they can be Urban and still Native. Things I didn't like: the multiple view points. I know I said I liked seeing all the different perspectives, but I also don't like reading so many perspectives. It's hard for me to keep them all straight, and since only a small amount of time is given to each person, it made it harder for me to remember the intricacies of each character. I also had a hard time getting into the way the story organically grew out of nothing and then ended right at the climax. It was a strange build to a story, one that I could see the outline of, but it also didn't really help keep me invested. I didn't like how sudden the ending was and I'm still trying to wrap my head around what it all meant, which in a way is a good thing, because that means the story has stuck with me, but in a way it's bad because I don't feel I'm likely to get any answers. I would recommend this story because it's a hard-hitting one from a Native voice and it demands to be heard. It's sad and it's hopeful and it'll make you sit up and pay attention. Orange has a commanding voice in this book and I think it really reached me. So dig into it if you can.