3.75 stars

Poetic, tender, queer, and sensitive.

This is a lyrically written coming-of-age story of young Daniel de la Luna traversing his first year at the fictional Cayuga University in Ithaca (a fictionalised version of Cornell, one imagines) and the summer that follows it in Chihuahua, Mexico, where one devastating piece of news triggers everything Daniel, as well as his family have kept buried.

The narrative device of Daniel writing the story as if he's telling it to his best friend, Sam (also his first love and sexual awakening) interspersed with diary entries of the uncle he was named after (who died at the age of 22) works well, and adds an immediately intimate touch, almost making us feel, at times, like an intruder.

What I thought could have been better: there were particularly rambling parts where I felt it could have been better edited -- Daniel is an overthinker and sometimes it was a lot to be in his mind. There were also parts where the narrative got excessively descriptive and the flow was bogged down. The plot points/main story beats felt a little contrived and too conveniently tidy, when taken against the larger picture.

This is a new writing voice I'm keen to read more of!

How we Named the Stars is a beautiful, heartbreaking love story about the coming of age of Daniel de La Luna. From the first chapter of the book, we know that Daniel's dear friend Samuel has died and the book is written as a letter to Samuel posthumously. The writing is exquisite and the charcater development is so realistic that you feel that you know and understand Daniel.

This book covers to many topics including race and class in academia, sexuality and relationships with family. I highly recommend this book although be prepared with a box of tissues. It is a beautiful read but not an easy read emotionally.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story about love and loss and grief and queerness and family hit so many beautiful notes. It's an exploration of growing into one's self amidst and despite and because of tragedy, and Ordorica does just that so well in his debut novel. It felt lyrical and prosaic throughout, so it is no surprise that Ordorica has a poetry background.

I adored the framework for this novel: both the month by month re-telling of Daniel and Sam's story and also the Tío Daniel letters and diary entries that begin each chapter. It helped really sink in the idea that Daniel was taking time to find his footing as a young man named after someone he knew so little about. It was really lovely to watch him uncovering the mystery of who this person was and bringing the memory of his uncle back to his family just as he was bringing his own self to them.

The characters felt rich and fleshed out, even the ones we only saw for a few moments or interactions. Daniel, Sam, Abuelo, Diego, Naomi, Bernie-Bernice, Luis: I knew them and what was important to them and how they interacted with the world. They were in community with Daniel in different ways, all important and necessary and so wonderful to read about.

There were some times when I felt like Daniel or other characters were speaking in a very "written" way as opposed to the way people naturally speak, but after a bit I realized that it really fit with the narrative. Whether intentionally done or not, it works with the story of Daniel remembering all of these instances; of course a person would paraphrase or re-write their memories as they go through them to document such as Daniel has here.

It's rare that a book will have me tearful but still hopeful, still smiling and excited to turn pages. Often a book about grief is hard to read and while there were certainly difficult parts to get through, there are similarly difficult parts of life. Having a story like this where our beloved main character makes it out on the other side is something really special.

Thank you to W. W. Norton & Company and Netgalley for access to an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Even though I just finished this book, I am already thinking about the next reread. There is such a wonderful mix of devastating, heartbreaking, and beautiful emotions that I feel as though I left a part of myself in this book.

HOW WE NAMED THE STARS by Andrés N. Ordorica tells the story of Daniel as he embarks on the new adventure of college with new friends, experiences, and his roommate Sam. Daniel is an extremely relatable character who struggles with feeling at home in college while dealing with a lot of struggles he’s internalized as a classic overthinker. He feels lost in all of the new experiences that college brings (a relatable experience for many of us) and is still trying to understand who he is in his queerness while navigating situations he’s never experienced before. His roommate Sam becomes an important person in his life. We follow Daniel throughout his first year away in college as he experiences wonderful beautiful things as well as incredible loss and grief.

What makes this book so unique, is while it is narrated in first person, the narrator, and main character Daniel is addressing Sam in a second person narration style using “you”. I haven’t come across many books utilizing second-person narration, so I was immediately drawn in. Ordorica weaves an incredible story with poetic prose and remarkable characters that I fell for instantly.

I don’t feel that my review truly captures just how magnificent the writing is here. Ordorica is simply amazing with his words, it is clear that he is an amazing poet because his words flow effortlessly off the page. His writing was so easy to follow but incredibly vivid and real. This story truly touched my soul.

As much as this story is about the beauty of first love and friendship there is also a heavy dose of grief, immense loss, and how we begin to heal. HOW WE NAMED THE STARS is an ode to love and honoring those who we have lost along with the ways we can move on while still keeping them in our thoughts. It’s worth it to talk about those we have lost and remember things about them in order to heal.

Daniel is a character I wanted to hug many times throughout this book. He goes through so much and has some important epiphanies that are relatable to all. Growing up is hard but there is also beauty in the difficulty, and for anyone who has struggled with confidence, anxiety, overthinking, or being unsure of yourself or who you are PLEASE READ THIS BOOK. Be ready to cry and fall in love with the characters and this book.


Thank you to Andrés N. Ordorica for writing this book. I’ll be sure to read more from him in the future. Also thanks to NetGalley and Tin House for this e-ARC!