Since I heard years ago that Tommy Orange was writing a sequel to There There, I’ve eagerly awaited this book. It was what I expected in that Orange’s prose is absolutely gleaming, it returns to some of the same characters, and thinks about the city of Oakland. It also wasn’t what I expected in its broader geographical and historical scope and its slower speed, but both of those things made me love this novel more. Orange doesn’t try to replicate There There—he extends it.

After a prologue as stirring as There There’s, the first section, “Before,” opens in 1864 and ends in the early twentieth century. Orange writes from the perspective of several different characters, who survive the Sand Creek Massacre, imprisonment at Fort Marion, and the Carlisle Indian School. It becomes clear that these are largely the ancestors of the Bear Shield-Red Feather family who featured prominently in There There (We also get the perspective of Richard Henry Pratt, mastermind of the boarding school system). While I was reading this first section, I decided I would continue reading during work hours—Orange’s insights about schooling, settler colonialism, and identity formation were just too relevant to my work.

We see these characters fall in love, explore spirituality, meditate on Native identity, and think about what they would like to pass down. Yet violence and genocide complicate inheritance. It’s unsettling to realize that, as readers, we have access to aspects of the family’s history that their contemporary descendants do not. This history lives implicitly in Orange’s contemporary characters, though. The remainder of the book focuses on the three Red Feather brothers, especially Orvil, in the aftermath of the powwow shooting and into the pandemic.

Various themes run throughout history. Most prominent may be addiction, which plagues both historical and contemporary characters. Orvil’s addiction introduces a new contemporary character who maybe doesn’t quite work, but I admired what Orange was working for. The residential school system has ended, but school is still the site of fraught encounters. Their grandmothers’ time on Alcatraz reappears at various points, and readers who’ve recently spent time with There There will notice a lot of complementary details.

Throughout the book, there is a recurring question of what it means to represent your tribe, or all of Native America, or to be a “real Indian,” a phrase that appears often. Orange probes the tension of his Native Oakland characters not actually being indigenous to Oakland. Inheritance and recovery—of history, and from addictions—can be complicated and imperfect, Orange shows, but his characters never stop trying. What a novel. What a writer.

This was stunning and so emotive and one of the best collections I’ve ever read. Tommy has such a gift! There There was so powerful but this was another level. I loved it.

Tommy Orange is phenomenal. He paints a canvas of two stories that are deeply moving on their own, and distinct and powerful when woven together. I cannot recommend this more highly. A must-read.

I haven’t read There There, so was interested to find out if this book would make sense without that background. For the most part, it did. I did get lost sometimes, but I don’t think that was an issue of not having more context – it was just a kind of hard to follow book, given that it’s following 7 generations and the POV moves between characters. I was grateful to learn about the history of indigenous people. It’s a hard read, but worth it.

In Wandering Stars, Tommy Orange enlarges the scope of There, There to other generations before and after. It enriches the story of the difficult and traumatic history that Native Americans have faced for centuries in the United States. The novel starts with the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 and continues through the present day. It weaves together the stories of many different characters who struggle with the repercussions of colonialism, forced assimilation, and intergenerational trauma. It's a sometimes challenging but always emotionally affecting story for the patient reader..

Often, I prefer to go into books completely blind, and in this case I saw "Tommy Orange" and requested this from NetGalley basically sight unseen (or, at least, if I did skim the publisher's plot synopsis, I had no memory of it by the time I read the book). Not that I particularly liked his debut <i>There There</i>, but I did acknowledge the craft and understood him to be an author to follow. The problem with that is, I thereby was unaware that (aside from a series of opening chapters walking us generation-by-generation from the Sand Creek Massacre to the modern day) this is a <i>direct follow-up</i> to <i>There There</i>, checking in on its characters through the subsequent years. Consequently my appreciation for the historically-minded chapters fizzled out once we hit the modern day; I don't remember much of <i>There There</i>, and have no lingering attachment to its characters, and didn't particularly care about their continuing stories (much of which is spent on an addiction-and-recovery plot arc of the kind I have zero patience with these days). It boiled down to a book that I appreciated for the perspective, but not the plot and story itself, which is a pretty thin limb to sit on. I do acknowledge that many people will hold it in higher regard.

This book is hard to think about as a whole, because going from chapter you're getting different characters and time periods. The beginning is unrecognizable from the end. The writing is admirable and the characters are classic. Definitely worth a read.

Someone else said it best: Beautifully written, difficult to read. Through long winding run-on sentences, time jumps across multiple generations and characters, I had a tough time finding my place and keeping up. The language is beautiful. The story important and should not be forgotten. Unfortunately, the style in which the story is told makes this a DNF for me at 38%.

Thank you @prhaudio for the #gifted audiobook and @netgalley for the ebook!

This book is nothing short of a masterpiece written by one of the most powerful and compelling authors of our times, in my opinion.

Just like its predecessor, There, There, this book is no light read and will at times, make you very uncomfortable of our American history, as it should. Where it differs from the first book, however, is that this book flows throughout like a stream of consciousness even though it’s divided into chapters. The timeline spans multiple generations beginning with the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre leading up to the evils of our modern society which includes gun violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, mental health issues and how institutionalized colonialism compound the effects of the aforementioned evils on Native American populations so much more.

Reading There, There is not required to read Wandering Stars but the family genealogy will make more sense if you follow the order of both books, especially since there are a lot of characters to keep up with. For this reason, I highly recommend the audiobook that has a stellar, full cast of characters and will tremendously help in keeping everything streamlined in the reader’s mind.

I stated this in my review for There, There that it was a must-read book and I’m echoing the same sentiments for this book as well.

I was thrilled to be approved for this arc, thanks to NetGalley, and Tommy Orange is now an auto buy for me. Wandering Stars is Orange's second novel, following his amazing debut There There. The Wandering Stars narrative traces generations of one particular family beginning in 1864 following the Sand Creek Massacre and the subsequent forceful re-education of Native people. We follow Jude Star, a mute who already has no voice, that is taken to the Carlisle school in Florida to essentially eradicate his entire sense of identity. The Carlisle school exists to teach Native Americans how to be white and Christian and to forget their culture entirely.
Orange then touches upon each subsequent generation and the horrors that each go through, including poverty, despair, and addiction, until we get to the present where we take up the narrative of the Red Feather family after the shooting that takes place in There There.
We are re-introduced to Opal and Jacquie and the three grandsons, Orvil, Loother, and Lony. Orvil, while recovering from being shot becomes obsessed with internet searches of other mass shootings and finds that he enjoys the feeling he gets from his painkillers. Lony, the youngest, deals with the trauma of almost losing his brother by cutting himself and performing what he thinks are blood sacrifices. Opal is barely keeping herself together as well as the family.
It's a heartbreaking view of each member of this family as they try to survive generations of indignities and injustices, as they each in their own way search for their sense of identity,
community and healing. I highly recommend reading this beautifully written, important work of fiction.

The writing, the character development in this, it's so good. This is completely immersive, and the reader gets such a great sense of the experience of each of these characters over generations. 
*
This is connected to There There, it tells the story of how the characters got to that point over generations, and also what happens next. But it is not necessary to have read that book in advance (and in fact I read that several years ago and didn't realize until now that there was a connection) 
*
This is definitely character driven. It is slow, and while some sections were really compelling other parts I felt less connected to. I think this might have been better served as two novels, since the first part and second part were so different. But it's still definitely worth checking out!

Thank you for the opportunity to read a review copy. Unfortunately, the story wasn't a good fit for me. I had trouble following the plot and characters and decided to DNF at 20%. Reading other reviews, I am clearly an outlier, so this must be a case of "it's not you, it's me."

Both a prequel and a sequel to There There, Tommy Orange has once again taken my breathe away with Wandering Stars. We start with Jude Star, a man that survived the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School to take away everything he ever was. Orange then moves us around in time, taking us through generations, including the aftermath of the shooting at the powwow in There There.

Orange reminds us of Jude 1:13 “They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.” He explores this through intergenerational trauma as a consequence of genocide and forced assimilation with language so beautiful and searing.

The build up towards impending doom isn’t here like it was in There There, and I’ve seen some readers not like this. In my opinion, doom isn’t building here, it’s sort of omnipresent. I do think the reader will benefit from having read There There, but it’s not mandatory. Highly recommend checking this when it publishes February 27th. Thank you @aaknopf for this copy!

Take a breath and sit a while.

This one requires pause and reflection.

Wandering Stars will not be for everyone. But the irony of it all is that it should readily be. Tommy Orange's writing style is one of deep-seeded emotions pouring out like a bursting dam almost unstoppable in its telling. How do you give justice to the wrongs inflicted upon a people for hundreds and hundreds of years? It's just not that simple.

Tommy Orange begins with the drawings of Howling Wolf who crafts his art into the visuals of a bird's view soaring from the heights of a continuous blue sky. It is the only way to envision the vastness of this story. One sees all the connectives laid out across the land intermingling with continuous loss and unspeakable acts. And how do you heal from that?

Wandering Stars begins with the massacres at Sand Creek with the depleting numbers of Native Americans, the theft of land, and the annihilation of the buffalo along the way. Tommy Orange continues his story into 2018 following the Star family into wayward movements, addiction, and loss of self-identity. It is the seeping and staining elements of loss destined to visit upon those from generation to generation.

Orange exhibits the impact of the Carlisle Indian School established in 1879 "immersing the Indians in our civilization". Richard Henry Pratt was more jailer than educator. These boarding schools were made up of many tribes, but the students belonged to none. It was the forcing of English followed with beatings. It was the blasting away of a sense of belonging and, even worse, the sense of self.

The Aftermath takes us to 2018 with the more modern Star family stemming from the earlier Jude Star, forced into silence, and Charles Star, "wasted like so much fallen fruit". We'll visit the strength of Opal Viola and then Victoria Bear Shield who worked in a jean factory to support her family. And we'll sit alongside those who chose to anesthetize themselves through whatever means to make the pain go away.......only to sadly rise to meet it the very next day.

Tommy Orange's Wandering Stars validates as to why his previous novel, There There, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Orange has a superb sense of story because he has absolutely lived it.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Alfred A. Knof (Penguin Random House) and to the talented Tommy Orange for the opportunity.

Wandering Stars is a wonderful novel!

I remember being blown away by There There after having read a review copy that me store received. When I found out about Wandering Stars it was a no brainer. I was so looking forward to reading this book.

Wandering Stars was written in two parts. The first half of the book was a family history of the Star and Redfeather family for approximately 200 hundred years. This narrative was extremely interesting and fast paced. I would liken it to family story novels such as The Thorn Birds or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. In addition, the historical events depicted were fascinating to read about.

The second half of the book was a little more difficult to follow. The narrative switched points of view unexpectedly, which did make readability of the current family members difficult to follow.

It was really nice to read a book on the Native American experience.

This review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. Huge thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for my review copy.

This is so beautifully written and a story that will stay with readers for a very long time. It is my first read by this author and I will definitely be reading more.

A partial sequel to There There, Tommy Orange's Wandering Stars follows the experience of the Bear Shield and Red Feather families as they are traumatized by the oppression and attempted genocide of the indigenous peoples of the United States.

The narrative begins with the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864. The narrator, Jude Star, survives but remains mute for years. After being captured, Star is sent to St. Augustine, Florida where he learns English. After being freed and working wherever he can as a farmhand, Star settles in Oklahoma. He finds his voice after drinking alcohol and recovers from his addiction through religious faith and love. His son Charles, is sent to Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania where he is forced to be American.

Some of the major themes of the book, are the traumas of lost community, ways of knowing and family and the struggles of survival or emotional recovery in the face of escapist addictions. After the first section, we follow the two families from the 1920s to the 1960s occupation of Alcatraz.

The narrative then picks up where There There left off, centered on Orvil Red Feather's recovery from the ending of the powwow and his family as they try to continue to live in where they are often not assumed to exist.

While the cast is smaller, their voices are stronger. We see events from the perspective of the oppressors, such as Richard Henry Pratt (superintendent of the Carlisle School), but mostly the voices of Native American survivors as they live their lives, sometimes aware of the vacuum of their losses other times trying to rebuild knowledge and practices nearly lost.

Recommended for readers of American History or contemporary writing.

The Gist: Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange is a story that explores the difficult and traumatic history that Native Americans have faced for centuries in the United States. The novel starts with the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 and continues through the present day. It weaves together the stories of many different characters who struggle with the repercussions of colonialism, forced assimilation, and intergenerational trauma.

Things I loved:
- This story handled topics that are difficult, but important to read about. Tommy Orange's writing is beautiful and engaging
- This is an important piece of literature that helped me understand and empathize with people who have endured, and continue to endure, these struggles and hardships

Things I Didn't Love:
- The multiple POV's were great, but made the storylines a little difficult to follow at times

This is very different from the types of novels I typically read, but I am so glad I decided to give it a try! It's a story that will stick with me for years to come.

This should have been two distinct books. When the story starts back in the early 1900s, I wanted more. I wanted the type of character development we got both in <i>There There</i> and later in this book. I recognize they were provided as a reference for the generational trauma the current characters are facing, but I still wanted more of them. When we do get the present, we find the three brothers Loother, Lony, and Orvil all dealing with Orvil's shooting in different ways. This is where the author is strongest. He shows us how each one has deeply internalized the situation in their own unique way, impacted by past and present forces. And while the catalyzing event took place in <i>There There</i> it isn't necessary to have read it to understand everything this book is offering. (But I do strongly recommend reading it too!) These characters will continue to remain with me.

I've been looking forward to reading this book since I read There, There, so there were some big expectations here, and Tommy Orange did not disappoint. In what is a mix of before and after the events of There, There we learn much more about Orvil Red Feather's family.

The book starts with the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 and Jude Star. It follows how his life and the lives of his family all the way until we get to Orvil after the Powwow at the end of There, There. We see trauma after trauma, from the Massacre, to a prison camp, to the eradication of Cheyenne culture in the boarding schools, and drug and alcohol addiction as a form of self medication for depression and PTSD.

First off, this is far from a light read as you can tell from the previous paragraph. I did like that we got more insight into the Star/Bear Shield/Red Feather families. There's a family tree in the front and I suggest that you bookmark that page so you can refer back to it. I really enjoy Orange's writing style and how he got us into the mind of each character as they struggle to survive amidst a myriad of wrongs committed against them, while also letting us see their hopes and desires, their search for identity and where they belong in the world. You don't necessarily have to read There, There before reading this, but I would suggest it. I will be eagerly waiting for what Tommy Orange writes next!

My thanks to Knopf, author Tommy Orange, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.