I was thrilled to get an ARC of Wandering Stars. Orange's debut There There is one of my favorite books of the last few years and one that I've pressed into the hands of others. Wandering Stars continues the story of Orville and his family while also providing the story of their forebears. I wanted to love this book, and in many ways, I did. Tommy Orange creates fully dimensional characters that we might imagine as friends or people in our community while giving us an inside peak that helps us further understand their actions and our own. Wandering Stars displays this magnificent ability. However, in my estimation, it falls slightly short of the literary genius that is There There. It wasn't as tightly wound. Perhaps, the author only wanted to give us an update on these unforgettable character's lives, like we may see in a "where are they now" feature, and for that, I was grateful to reencounter them. After all, if you shoot for the moon and miss, you will still land among the stars, which is where this book exists.

This was my first Tommy Orange book. While 'Wandering Stars' does pick up after 'There, There' I had no problem reading this as a standalone novel. This book was a honest reflection of the long-lasting effects of displacement, trauma, and addiction experienced through the lives of two Native American families.

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange is simply amazing!
The book is funny and sad and poignant and just so so so well done.
The style of writing and the pacing make for a quick read, and I devoured it in one day.
This novel is needed. It is important. It needs to be read.

Thank You NetGalley and Knopf for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I have been wanting to read this story after visiting the Sand Creek Massacre site. This story is a beautifully written piece of historical fiction. With the current political division and trying to rewrite history, this is an extremely important story to tell. We can’t forget the dark history of oppression and genocide that the indigenous people have suffered.

I would recommend reading There There first as it was a bit difficult to follow.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

This was a fascinating read about family, racism, native history and drug abuse/addiction. I learned a lot about cultural history and current drug issues. The majority of the story takes place in current day Oakland so it was also interesting reading about that place. There is quite a bit of YA content which I usually don’t enjoy but this was relevant. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This accessible multigenerational family story of members of the Cheyenne tribe is well written and intriguing. I appreciate the insight on the experience of indigenous peoples through discrimination and other hardships. However, the story lost me around the 50% mark. It’s likely that I just need a break to process and consider before moving on. For now, I’m setting it aside, and logging it under “to be finished” when the time is right. 3⭐️

What a fantastic follow up to Orange’s first book. To say the last book left off on a cliffhanger is an understatement, and while this sequel wasn’t the story I thought I’d be getting, I loved where it went. I won’t say much for spoilers sake, but there’s a lot to like here. There are past timelines to give more context to the current day situation, there’s beautiful, real, and raw writing, and there’s complex storylines. The journey that these characters take throughout this book was hard to read at times, but I so appreciated how layered things were, how deep we got with certain stories, and how it brought in a generational aspect. It was an honest portrayal of what many people go through, and it gave me a lot to think about.

Tommy Orange's words often stop me in my tracks. He is a master of evocative sentences, paragraphs, and pages. And for that, I loved his new release, Wandering Stars. Orange's books are word artistry. Plots, though, are more elusive in his writing. There is structure, but it is ephemeral and involves many intersecting people and events. His characters are some of the most genuine people I've encountered in literature. Broken but healing.

If you love words, if you are looking for a book where the words will take you deep into another's universe, you should give this book a read. Tommy Orange is probably not your author if you want a linear story with a clear-cut plot.

The first part of this book details the multigenerational past of Orvil's family (Orval was a shooting victim from There There). The second half of the book deals with Orvil and his extended family. It goes deep into drug abuse and other mental health crises - it is dark reading at times.

This would be a good pick for a book club with many discussion topics.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for a review.

Like The Godfather II, Orange’s second novel takes place both before and after the powwow shooting that came at the end of There There. I labored through the first third of the novel that traces Orvil Red Feather’s ancestry but was riveted by the remainder which focuses in on Orvila nd his family in the present day.

Starting with the 1865 Sand Creek massacre, the first section traces the many atrocities committed on the Cheyenne and Arapaho Star and Shield families. Written in a dense, often elliptical prose, with each character stepping forward to detail the barbarism with which they were treated: enforced enrollment into the brutal Carlisle Indian School, children taken by white families, and indentured servitude. This section ends with the Indian occupation of Alcatraz.

The remainder of the novel is looser and less opaque. The chapters loop between Orvil and his brothers, Loother and Lony, and their grandmother, Jacqui, and great aunt, Opal, moving fluidly between first and third person narration, and starting at the point of Orvil recovering from being shot at the Oakland powwow. Defining trauma as “a bad thing doesn’t stop happening to you just because it stops happening to you,” the family is shown dealing with the damages of the more distant past as well as their immediate suffering. The outcome for the boys is addiction, dropping out of school, and leaving the family behind.

The final section, Futures, is more optimistic and hopeful. By creating a bulwark against the past Jacqui and Opal offer an alternative to the patterns of (self) destruction and give the boys an opportunity to start afresh.

This feels like a necessary novel if not one that I actually enjoyed that much. Tbh, books that are described as “lyrical” are not usually my thing but I’m glad I read this and I found, in writing this review, that I actually got quite a lot more from it than it felt like at the time.

Thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Wandering Stars returns to the characters first introduced in There There, going back in time to the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 and following the family into present-day Oakland as they struggle through the ongoing consequences of native erasure and genocide. The story is split into two parts: Before and Aftermath. I found the transition between the two parts a bit muddled, feeling that Part One was rushed at the end. I could easily see Wandering Stars split into two separate books. Although Orange's newest novel doesn't always follow a linear path, he brings the story together through multiple points of view, zooming in on the intimate thoughts and details of each character's personal story, and through recurring themes that show up intergenerationally.

This is a powerful and brutally honest narrative, bringing into clear focus atrocities such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, led by American Army captain Richard Pratt, who ran the school with the belief that one must “Kill the Indian to save the man." I found myself appalled at how much native history we were never taught in school. The abuse of adults and children (who were forcibly removed from their homes) at these institutions had disastrous consequences for thousands of families, and much of Wandering Stars shares this reality through Orange's portrayal of the Red Feather family.

Wandering Stars is evocatively written and I was fully immersed, hopeful on every page that Orvil and his brothers would find some healing and learn to lean on each other through the many difficulties they face. Orvil's youngest brother best articulates the painful process of healing between family members when he writes, "Healing is holy and if you have the chance to not have to carry something alone, with people you love, it should be honored, the opportunity, it should be honored, and you all got selfish about it, you got scared it was gonna be bigger than our love and then it was." Reading Wandering Stars is a journey through the worst of humanity while holding onto hope that healing is still possible, and I am so thankful I had the opportunity to read it.

Tommy Orange did it again, wrote another masterpiece. Living most of my life in the Bay Area, I find his books a fresh perspective to the area. It makes me mad that as a society we are taught very little about the various native cultures and their uniqueness and similarities of different tribes. It like his other work, is most eye opening.

I read There, There last year with one of my book club and really enjoyed it, so I was thrilled to be approved for this ARC. I really enjoy Tommy Orange’s writing style and characters, both of which opinions were reaffirmed by Wandering Stars. This is not an easy book to read. It tackles tough topics and realities, and is largely character driven.

Wandering Stars follows the many generations of the Red Feather family, especially as they seek to understand their relationship to their Cheyenne heritage and each struggles with various levels of addiction. I really enjoyed how each of the narratives in Wandering Stars connected to the Red Feather family, which made it a little easier to connect to each of the characters, knowing how they were all intertwined. However, I found that the novel was maybe a bit too focused on the characters - I kept waiting for something to happen, but since it largely focused on their lives and their struggles, it just felt like it was constantly building without there being a real climax to the story. However, I think many will enjoy this aspect - it just was not what I was expected, especially after reading There, There.

Overall, I think this is an important book and think many will enjoy Orange’s style.

3.5/5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

In a followup to his wonderful debut novel, There There, Tommy Orange covers some of the bloody and cruel treatment of Native Americans through the history of branches of two families, the Stars and the Bear Shields, beginning with the Sand Creek Massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army on November 29, 1864.

In Part Two, the story catches up to the current day with Orvil Red Feather and his family who were the main characters of There There. Jude Star, Orvil's great-great-something-grandfather, survived the Sand Creek Massacre, and his son, Charles, survived boarding schools designed to 'assimilate' Native kids into white culture. Orvil's two grandmothers, Jacquie Red Feather and Opal Bear Shield, raised Orvil and his brothers after their mother died from an overdose.

Their family history is a story of addiction in its many forms. As Orvil says, their family was 'weakened by the effects of history, colonization and historical trauma...not strong enough to pass down the traditions or language successfully.' With the violent destruction of their tribes, these people became 'wandering stars.' Quite a powerful story, if a bit sad and depressing.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

The story of a Native American family spanning from Colorado in 1864 to present day Oakland, CA. Heavy themes of addiction, trauma, displacement and how those things impact future generations. A tough, but beautiful written and extremely informative read.

A multi-generational story of a Native American family. I was fascinated by the first half of the book and learned some things I knew nothing about. Once the book took place in the 21st century I was not as invested and had some trouble keeping characters straight. Still an interesting read from a talented author.

I found Wandering Stars to be beautifully written but at times hard to follow and connect to the characters. Tommy Orange is a masterful storyteller and takes the reader on a journey like no other. Wandering Stars is a prequel and sequel of sort to There There. The first half of the novel intrigued me more with its historical fiction aspect. The second half, with its focus more on contemporary life, felt more meandering in thought, and I lost a bit of connection to the characters. Those interested in the complexities of Native American heritage and impact of generational trauma will find Wandering Stars a powerful and exploratory narrative.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars for writing style and content
⭐️⭐️ 2 stars for enjoyment and characters
Overall, ⭐️⭐️⭐️ a 3 star book for me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

This was a great book with an interesting story line and fun/exciting characters. The story keep you wanting more and was a quick read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC!

"Wandering Stars" is an apt title for Tommy Orange’s sprawling, often meandering second book, a triumph of polyvocality.

Books with multiple narrators often struggle to justify the device, but Orange uses it to evoke oral storytelling in a powerful way. Every sentence feels fully inhabited. Every voice feels completely distinct. It also exemplifies the way he treats his characters with dignity and compassion, allowing them to naturally follow any preoccupations or digressions that fit with their personalities.

The writing style lends itself to the kind of familial myth-making that we all naturally do, and some sections are abstracted to the point of weightlessness, which I can see being frustrating to a certain kind of reader. There are entire chapters where readers must surrender to the narrator and float through their story. It’s a uniquely empathetic approach because Orange requires us to set aside our presuppositions if we are going to engage.

Similarly, this is a compassionate book in the way it explores trauma without the voyeurism often associated with books “about trauma,” as Orange refuses to make it the defining characteristic of his characters’ lives. We read about some pretty bleak situations, including recursive struggles with substance misuse, but we never see didactic simplifications. Instead, there’s a palpable sense that these characters are in an emotional pressure cooker, and they are all seeking some form of cathartic release.

I will say—I did not realize this was a direct follow-up to "There There," a book which I have not read, and I’m not sure whether that impacted my reading experience. The modern sections feel a little slack compared to the book’s historical opening, and maybe that’s because they are building out storytelling that began in the prior book, or maybe it’s because Orange is resisting the impulse to turn his characters into object lessons. I’m guessing it’s a mix of both, as a character notes at one point that everyone thinks Native American are in the past. This is a book concerned with erasure—that even now, our cultural lexicon is largely limited to the violent iconography of “Cowboys and Indians.”

Real, modern lives are a little aimless. It makes sense that modern storytelling would feel a little aimless at points too.

By the end of the book, I had slightly conflicted feelings. On the one hand, I feel it overstays its welcome, with the final third not quite coming together. On the other hand, however, I immediately wanted to go read "There There," and I also hoped that these characters would appear in a third and fourth book. There’s a unique ambition behind "Wandering Stars," and I think it may continue to be clarified with even more space to wander.

This is a difficult book, no getting around it. There is a very strong thread of addiction throughout the generations of this family, along with trauma, grief, and family dynamics. Beautiful writing, realistic, lovable, complicated characters. I didn't realize the connection to 'There There' until I got to that section of the book, and it was a nice surprise.

This book was not an easy read, but it was an engrossing one. Tommy Orange has woven multiple stories, multiple characters, multiple generations into a harrowing tale of theft of life and land, strength of character and loyalty, and the torment of addiction. Because of the clarity and beauty of the writing, I felt a tiny step closer to understanding the generational trauma inflicted on the indigenous peoples of this country, and marveled at the strength of Orange's characters as they dealt with it, and with the heartbreak the modern world brings with it. A haunting tale brought into the stark light through the characters of Opal and her family. It will stay with me for a very long time.