Wandering Stars is both a prequel and sequel to Tommy Orange's "There, There" but it also works on its own. I think you could probably read the books in any order. Orange has a beautiful writing style. The multi generational story can be difficult to follow if you're not paying attention to the various characters but it tells a story of identity and family and addition in a very memorable way.

Thank you to Knopf Publishing and Netgalley for the electronic copy.

Another beautiful novel by Tommy Orange. I enjoyed this family drama through trauma, love, and confusion. The journey through life is complicated and heartbreaking.

This one was really difficult for me to get into, It was compelling overall, but had moments that pulled me out of the story and it took me a long time to finish as I kept leaving and then coming back to it.

I will tackle this one again when I'm in a different head space.

So many cultures have been wronged by man's inability to understand, to educate, and to not desire more and more.

The story is told in two time periods, one of which occurs in 1864 in Colorado, and the other in Oakland in 2018.

The 1864 segment delves into the Sand Creek Massacre where only one person survived, who is then sent to prison where he (Star) is forced to learn English and follow Christianity. Later, an institution founded by Richard Henry Pratt becomes Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where the Indian culture is banned and eradicated. Many years later, Star son, Charles is sent to the school where he is mistreated by a former guard of his father. Finding friendship with a fellow student, Opal Viola, they share hope for their future.

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield in the time period of 2018 struggles to keep her family united, but when her nephew, Orvil is shot and becomes addicted to pain meds and investigating school shootings, life falls apart. Orvil's brother is dealing with PTSD, cutting himself as he tries to connect to his Cheyenne heritage. Opal is also searching for a cure for her family's ills and starts experimenting with peyote and Ceremony.

Sadness and pathos follow in this book hand in hand, as we, the reader are bought to the realization that we are the ones who are killing what could be.

The one drawback was the lack of how the story came together and following who was who that was telling the story. I did think the second half was more together than the first however, and worth the time I read this sad tale.

Thank you to Tommy Orange, Knopf, and Net Galley for a copy of this moving tale.

This one was hard to get through. Trauma told in a stilted, detached narrating voice seems to be trendy nowadays, but it makes it hard to connect to the characters for me. Would be a more moving book otherwise.

Lyrical, hopeful, and heartbreaking, Orange’s Wandering Stars will keep reader’s attention throughout. Though at times difficult to follow, the family tree included at the beginning of the book is a must when it comes to understanding the generational trauma of this Native family.

Tommy Orange does it again. I was absolutely entranced with his cast of characters and their stories throughout his second novel. This is great writing and excellent storytelling. If you loved “There, There” you’ve gotta read this one, and if you haven’t read either - you’re missing out!

Immediately I was impressed with Tommy Orange's writing and was hooked. Reflective, a lot of symbolism, and emotional.

Spanning multi-generations following the Sandy Creek Massacre, the novel demonstrates how society has tried to erase the Native American Culture over time and how traditions are carried along.

Told from different character's perspectives, you might need a pen and notebook to keep track of them all. This novel is ambitious. I can't stop raving about it and I never read There, There, but I will be sure to read it soon.

This novel isn't for everyone and it can be a challenging read, but so worth it.

This book was really amazing how you tied.All these people together through this century. It starts out with the Sam Creek massacre. When the Ch.E. YA. N. E! We're being massacred by the united states Soldiers. The boys tried to run away but they were eventually captured and bought to the Fort. Star was put on a train going to florida. He was also sent to the boarding school called CAR l. ISL pin Pennsylvania by a man P r a t t. Who started the school. It was rough for them there because they were taking Wait there are native american customs. They were also dressed up a military uniforms. I was shocked to find out.They were actually at At washington a parade in their little military uniforms. Life was very hard for me. Star had a boy named Charles.You also went to that school but was very difficult for him and kept running away. He eventually made it way out to california but he had addiction to opiates. Opal was his girlfriend and she found a way to go to california as a helper in a white man's house. Things do not go well for them. And Charles eventually died, but opal had a little girl... She died giving birth to the little girl. The white people raise this little girl named v.I.C.I.Y. She was also had a very hard childhood. And was an alcoholic and like men. She had a local name Jacqueline.She named this girl after her friend who helped her a lot. They lived in oakland california for the different times. There's a lot of issues with drugs in this book which you can see why people turn to them. Jac q UI eat had a very hard upbringing as well.. She also had 3 little boys, but they did not live with her. But with her mother instead. She was addicted to drugs and alcohol as well. The grandmother tried really hard to raise these kids.But things distant seem to go very well. The oldest boy charles was shot and he became addicted to drugs and then met a friend Named s e a n. Sean's bobby made drugs in the basement because his wife died. Mike also was a drug dealer in this book as well. The 2 boys were not affected by this.Wanted to become more the native americans because they were tracing their history. It was a very interesting book. How things can go arise? When you break down the family, you can see the generation after generation in this book.

Thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for this advanced copy!

Wandering Stars is an incredible tale of the effects of generational trauma, even as identities are erased or morphed for the modern world. Orange once again welcomes us into his world by first introducing many people to the Sand Creek massacre and the effects of christian boarding schools on indigenous and native children. Fast forward and we see the challenges that native americans face in modern America, a country where they have been killed, moved, adopted, and are dealing with addiction issues. Orange's changes in point-of-view allow us into multiple minds as they deal with trauma and life, showing what happens when society disconnects people from their native land and culture. Orange's prose is wonderful and his pacing was great. I can't wait to read what comes next.

Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars is a masterpiece, and should be required reading in this country. The book begins with the “wandering Stars” patriarch, a Southern Cheyenne survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, who was taken as a prisoner of war and jailed in the star-shaped prison-castle in St. Augustine, Florida. There, he and other Native prisoners had their hair cut, were given military uniforms and were ultimately forced to adopt Anglo names (becoming, in this case Jude Star).

Jude’s son Charles and other Native children suffer a similar fate by being forced to attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School where “their long hair was cut, their clothes were taken, and new names were handed out along with military uniforms,” in service of the slogan “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.”

Orange shows how addiction became a common way to cope with generational trauma caused by this war against the Native population, passed down through members of the Star family. Yet, even in diminished circumstances, the characters survive through art and creativity, as well as connecting with their Native heritage as passed down in oral and written form, and a reckoning with what has been taken from the Native people generally. This novel is beautifully written in fire. 5.0 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a complimentary advanced reader’s copy of this book.

this was excellent.

it had so much to say about america, about family, about addiction, about being native, about cultural identity, and it did it all in such beautiful language and so precisely.

there were parts of this where it lost me, and there was one perspective i don't think added more than it took away, but the last sentences of this brought tears to my eyes. striking.

Love, love Tommy Orange. I had no idea of the significance of his book titles before realizing that the lyrics from Portishead's Wandering Stars is also a reference to the bible verse, did a deep dive into that one. Unlike with Demon Copperhead I was somehow able to stick with these stories of fractured family and addiction that felt critical to hear, redemptive and hopeful.

This is a portrait of a family who experiences addiction throughout generations, and the way that they try to cope, still live their lives, and figure out what that means as a Native American in Oakland, CA.
After reading There, There, I was excited to come back into the world that Tommy Orange built in that book. Although this is a stand-alone, it is also nice to read familiar names. I found it fascinating to start generations back from the characters we already knew from There, There.
The characters that Orange gives us are broken, sad, traumatized, and struggle with addiction for a multitude of reasons but they also have some light in their lives. Each character has their own voice and we learn how much family means to each of them. I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading Orange again.

After reading There, There I thought I would never know peace. Finally, Tommy Orange gave us Wandering Stars.

What a beautiful, devastating, heartrending story of colonialism, addiction and recovery, family and community, grief, queerness, finding and knowing oneself. I am blown away by Orange's ability to move fluidly from one character to the next, each developing such a clear and vivid life and personality that I feel I know them personally.

This book brought me to tears in heartbreak, relief, joy, devastation, and hope. Read There, There, then read Wandering Stars. Then go hug somebody you love.

This is my first by Tommy Orange, and based on reviews from other readers, I do wish I had read There, There first, as it would likely have helped orient me within the family and the timeline. This is an unflinching look at the multigenerational trauma experienced by Indigenous families who survived European colonization and genocide. Wandering Stars picks up in the wake up the Sand Creek Massacre and then explores each following generation in episodic, character-driven chapters that jump between third, second and first-person. At about the halfway point, we jump ahead to 2018 and our story begins to circle two primary characters - both Indigenous high-school boys living in Oakland with their complicated families and nascent addictions to painkillers. There is a throughline in school trauma across generations - from the violent imprisonment and forced assimilation of boarding schools like Carlisle to today's schools rocked by gun violence and inequity.

This read was ultimately not for me. It didn't stand alone easily, and I felt I was missing too much of There, There to really understand these big character jumps (requesting this ARC when I hadn't read There, There is ENTIRELY on me - I truly thought this would stand alone). I also don't love overwrought prose - sentences that are routinely paragraph-length run-ons remind me why I don't read as much lit fiction anymore. These are my own preferences, though, and I would still say this is an important and propulsive read that will likely be appreciated by those who loved There, There.

This book is not comfortable to read. If you are not aware of how intentional the white colonists were in wiping out all Native Americans you will be after you read this.

The story takes place over generations, painting both an emotional and historical picture of how Native Americans have been marginalized and oppressed in the country. It's all done in the context of compelling story telling and beautiful prose.

Tommy Orange is a national treasure.

I didn’t realize this was connected to There There until I got about halfway in and recognized the characters and stories from that book.

This novel felt like two different books, first half in the past with a handful of characters, and then the second half in the present with a different generation.

While I really enjoyed the novel, similar to There There, I felt like there were SO many characters that sometimes it was hard to follow. The second half was easier because I knew those characters from the author’s first book and it felt like falling back into where the first book left off.

While I liked that aspect, I wish this book would have been entirely the first set of characters. I think the understanding is to get the history of this family, and to see how the events impacted each future generation, but with all the characters and different stories, it importance of the first half was a little lost. I felt like I’d finished a different novel than I’d started.

I think if you loved There There, you’ll love this one. The style of writing is the same, and you revisit characters from that book and their story continues, and you get more of a backstory on their history.

Content Warnings: Addiction, Drug Abuse, Self Harm, Suicide Attempt

Thank you @netgalley and @aaknopf for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Reading challenge category - Booklist Queen 2023: Dual timelines

In the extended prologue, we meet Jude Star, a survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864. Throughout the rest of the novel, the reader embarks on an odyssey through the lives of multiple generations of Star's relatives and other characters whose lives intersect in poignant ways. In an unexpected turn, we revisit characters from Orange's first work, "There, There."

Tommy Orange is skilled in his character development as he creates rich, well-rounded characters who have unique stories and voices. He navigates Native American heritage and assimilation with diverse experiences and authenticity.

While I enjoyed "There, There" more, this was a great read. Thanks to #NetGalley for the arc ebook.

The deliberate stripping of Native American identity and culture is not that kind of situation discussed in Martin Puchner’s illuminating book about the heterogeneity of culture—the notion that given cultures are not freshly sprouted and unadulterated stock. Rather, culture as we use the term is a mixed bag of borrowing or imposing culture systems through invasion and colonization or simply the normal blending that results from mass migrations and resettlements.

In this story, the cultural stripping is not being done by a foreign power. It is not a thing of centuries past in some distant and mysterious world. Rather, it is an instance of one group of Americans—who it might be noted hold the entire stock of hard and soft power—deciding its culture is superior to that of another American group. The story that unfolds in this book is about generational trauma and the challenge of thriving as forced adoptees of a transplant culture. It is about today’s world and should serve as a reminder that it is naïve and dangerous to force one’s view of the world on another’s agency.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for providing this eARC.