Wandering Stars is a prequel and sequel to There, There, which I read last year and felt a deep appreciation for the author's work and looking forward to reading more from him. In this one, I feel that Tommy Orange gets a lot more vulnerable, especially in the later half of the novel. Reading parts of Orvil, Lony and Opal's stories felt like reading parts of Orange's diary in a sense.

In Wandering Stars, we follow a family line from surviving the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 down to 2023/2024 Orvil Red Feather, his brothers and his grandmothers Opal and Jacquie, who feature in There, There. Throughout the novel, Orange plays around with his storytelling, with no direct dialogue until the 2nd part at 40% of the way through, for instance. The writing varies from short and punchy to long and sinuous, confused just as the characters are confused themselves. This makes the reading experience sometimes a little difficult, not in the style but rather in the pace, but nonetheless well considered.

From a historical perspective, this book is so rich and builds on the previous book in a clever way with the prequel + sequel format. I think all readers can learn much from his works and that this is important knowledge for all to share.

You don't have to have read There, There if you want to read this one, although I would definitely suggest you do. I would recommend Wandering Stars to all who enjoy the historical fiction genre, as well as literary fiction fans who might really enjoy what Orange does with his narration style. Tommy Orange is a skilled writer with a lot to say, and I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for more from him.

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars is a stunning and emotionally charged novel that once again showcases his unparalleled ability to tell the stories of Native American communities across generations. Following his brilliant debut in There There, Orange continues to explore the complexities of identity, history, and survival in this heart-rending saga, weaving a narrative that stretches across two centuries—from the horrors of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 to the struggles and triumphs of the early 21st century.

Like There There, Wandering Stars is a deeply introspective exploration of how the past, marked by violence and displacement, reverberates through the lives of future generations. The novel takes readers through the emotional landscapes of a Native American family, their pain, their resilience, and their relentless search for a sense of belonging in a world that has continually tried to erase them. Orange’s gift for blending personal struggles with historical trauma makes this book an indelible work of literature.

At its core, Wandering Stars is not just a story of survival but also a poignant exploration of tenderness, music, rage, and love. Orange’s characters are bound by the shared legacy of loss and displacement, but they also find ways to reconnect with their roots, their culture, and each other. Through these journeys, the novel becomes an exploration of what it means to find home, and how hope can emerge from even the most harrowing circumstances. As Kaveh Akbar so beautifully put it, Wandering Stars is the kind of book that “saves lives,” reminding readers of the enduring power of storytelling to heal and empower.

Orange’s writing is, as always, profound and lyrical. He has a rare gift for expressing both the quiet tenderness and the raw rage of his characters, creating moments of deep emotional resonance. His voice is a testament to the beauty and resilience of Native American communities, and Wandering Stars is a continuation of the necessary conversations he started with There There—conversations about trauma, survival, and the reclaiming of identity in a society that has long attempted to silence these voices.

Wandering Stars is not only a brilliant follow-up to There There but a vital and timely work that cements Tommy Orange as one of the most important voices in contemporary literature. With this novel, he captures the complexity of Native American life, offering both a history of survival and a future of hope. His characters search for meaning, connection, and healing, all while carrying the weight of a painful past. In doing so, Orange reminds us that the struggles of Native Americans are not just historical—they are present, urgent, and deserving of our attention and empathy.

With its exquisite storytelling, tender depictions of love and loss, and its exploration of the deep wounds that history has inflicted upon Native American communities, Wandering Stars is a novel that will stay with you long after the final page. It is a testament to the power of literature to bear witness to pain and triumph alike, and to show that even in the darkest moments, there is always room for hope and redemption. Tommy Orange has once again delivered a masterpiece that will resonate with readers across generations.

*3.5-4 stars*
I'm slightly conflicted with this sequel/prequel to Orange's debut novel 'There There'. Whilst it's not necessary to read 'There There' to read this book, I did so I can't help but compare them and unfortunately I wasn't as engaged in this one as the first novel. However, the writing style sometimes felt denser in this one, and I don't necessarily think I was in the right reading mood for such a book so my disappointment is partly on me. Also I think I preferred the character driven approach in 'There There' compared to the more story driven approach in 'Wandering Stars'

I did however like the overall layout of the book, and enjoyed the second part more and although I didn't like this one as much as 'There There', I can still acknowledge it was a pretty good book and Orange is definitely an author to look out for!

Side note: the dialogue sometimes came across a bit forced and unnatural

Thanks NetGalley for the eARC!!

I was looking forward to the sequel of there there. It was a good book, but unfortunatly not as good as the first one. This one felt a bit like two books in one and I don't know if that worked for me.

'Wandering Stars' offers a powerful account of one Native American family's experiences across six generations, moving from the aftermath of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 to the present day and exploring themes of survival and inherited trauma.

After a prologue which explores the racist ideology underpinning much of the treatment of Native American peoples ("Kill the Indian, Save the Man"), we are introduced to Jude Star who survives the massacre of Cheyenne people by the US Army but then finds himself imprisoned in Florida before joining the tribal police where he is tasked with stopping any Native American ceremonies and rituals that take place. We see the mistreatment of successive generations of of Native Americans, for instance through Jude's son Charles's time at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School run by the real-life historical figure of Richard Henry Pratt. Addiction is a common thread running through the Jude's family tree.

This is picked up in the second part of the novel, set in the present day and including characters featured in Orange's previous novel, There There, specifically Charles's great-great-great-grandson Orvil Red Feather who survived a mass shooting at a powwow. Orvil and his brothers Loother and Lony lost their mother to suicide caused by her drug addiction, and are brought up by their great-aunt Opal Viola Victoria Bear-Shield, and their grandmother Jacquie Red Feather, herself a recovering addict. All of these characters in different ways wrestle with what their Cheyenne identity means in 21st Century America and face their own struggles with trauma and addiction.

'Wandering Stars' is a polyphonic novel which moves between different perspectives, using a mixture of first, second and third person. Orange's prose is beautiful, and this is frequently a very moving novel, offering some profound observations about the experiences of Native American peoples, particularly the improbability of their survival ("all Indians alive past the year 1900 are kinds of miracles"), the toll that this survival against the odds has left ("No one will know if anyone is capable of making this place more than its accumulated pain"), and how merely survival in itself is not enough ("Simply lasting was great for a wall, for a fortress, but not for a person".)

I suspect I would have appreciated this novel even more if I had previously read There There. While it was still possible to follow the action without having to do so, at times it felt like an incomplete experience as the inciting incident for so much of this novel's drama had happened in a different book, and I wasn't convinced feel that all the strands of this novel fully cohered into a whole. However, reading the novel was still an engaging, illuminating and often deeply affecting experience. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

As with There, There, this was a tough read although, I think because I knew what to expect in terms of the author‘s style, I found it a little easier to read.

I preferred the first half of the book - the more recent sections (based in the aftermath of the Powwow in There, There) became rather repetitive. I had heard that one should re-read There, There first but I don't think that it was necessary to do so to appreciate this second, linked novel. I do, however, think that you need to have read the first book to understand the second part of the book, focused on Orvil and his brothers.

This will be borderline, I think, for my own personal Booker shortlist although I can see why the judges may shortlist it.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Tommy Orange’s sophomore novel serves as both a sequel and prequel to his acclaimed debut. It revisits Orvil, the teenager from There There who faced a violent incident at a powwow, and expands on his journey. The novel not only explores the aftermath of the shooting but also delves into Orvil’s ancestral roots, tracing his lineage back to the 1864 Sand Creek massacre.

Orange’s storytelling masterfully illuminates the impact of intergenerational trauma, offering a profound exploration of how historical events shape personal and collective consciousness. His characters remain as captivating and multi-dimensional as ever, revealing the emotional and psychological dimensions of history that traditional accounts often miss.

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange is both a prequel and sequel to his brilliant debut novel There There. It continues the story of Orvil and his family in the aftermath of the closing events of There There. But this story is preceded by a multigenerational account of his ancestors, and so ties the wounds and trauma of Native experience to a much longer history of dispossession, oppression, incarceration and racism. The novel is also about how those wounds lead to addiction and everyday struggles for survival. But ultimately the novel is about family, about love, finding your way, and hope! The writing changes perspective at different points, from third-person to first-person narration, giving the reader an insider and more detached view in successive chapters. The writing seems deceptively simple, but is powerful, emotional and compelling.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an advance copy.

“Stories do more than comfort. They take you away and bring you back better made.” ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
“I do not know the ways of our people. I was too young when they took me, and then the school meant to make what I knew a sin. Everything I have left to share, to pass down to you will have to be good enough.” ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
From: 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴 by Tommy Orange⁣⁣
⁣⁣
I could have highlighted this entire book and would have loved to have a physical copy to own as a prized possession. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
It is full of beauty. Pain, sadness, addiction and the lasting, generational trauma of colonization is all there too and still Orange has made it hopeful and beautiful. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
I loved Orange’s stunning debut 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 and his clear voice and stellar prose was recognizable from the first paragraph. He writes about the lives of Native Americans in the present, but never disregards the reverberations of the centuries of genocide and colonization that shape their world today. In this book more literal than in his first book, by starting Wandering Stars during the horrifying Sand Creek massacre in the 19th century and following one man and his offspring through time until now. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Orange has a way of making his characters, of which there are a lot, come alive. He is able to describe addiction so realistically, but also the feelings and emotions in the aftermath of a shooting. How he portrays the internal motivation and supposedly well intentioned actions of Richard Henry Pratt (a historical figure, American military officer turned school superintendent of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School with the slogan “Kill the Indian, save the man”) is apt and disturbing. ⁣⁣
It all feels unbelievably true. ⁣⁣
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I loved this book and I highly recommend picking it up. ⁣⁣
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I want to thank @prhinternational and @netgalley for the advanced reader copy

The follow-up to 2018's critically acclaimed There There, Tommy Orange's Wandering Stars picks up where that novel left off and acts as both a sequel and prequel to its predecessor. It follows the Red Feather/Bear Shield family after the events at the powwow, while also filling in their backstory going back generations to the nineteenth century Native American genocide at the hands of the US government. However, it is not necessary to have read There There in order to follow the events of Wandering Stars; this novel functions well as a standalone read too.

This is a hard-hitting, unflinching look at the history of a people who have suffered violence, oppression, forced displacement and cultural erasure for as lomg as they have been in contact with white settlers, and Orange weaves the lives of a fictional family around real events in order to show the reader how the indigenous tribes of North America continue to suffer the effects of white supremacist policies dating back hundreds of years. The legacy of trauma is a theme which runs throughout, as we see how generations of the Star/Bear Shield/Red Feather suffer racism, social isolation, poverty and addiction; the addiction motif is particularly arresting, with each generation turning to whatever substance was available at the time to cope with their pain, whether physical or psychological. Over 100 years may have passed between Star fleeing the Sand Creek Massacre and Orvil being shot at the powwow, but the notion of manifest destiny is still reverberating through history, even as Native heritage is fetishised, appropriated and laughably considered by some to be an ideal trump card to play to gain advantage in the college application process and the world of work.

The pairing of real historical events with characters who could have experienced them gives the reader an insight into what happened far deeper and more impactful than any textbook: the American-Indian 'war'; the boarding schools Native youth were corralled into in order to force their assimilation into white society and thus eliminate the risk of future rebellions; the occupation of Alcatraz Island by the Indians of All Tribes coalition. Interestingly, Orange inserts the real historical figure Richard Henry Pratt, founder of the flagship boarding school Carlisle Indian Industrial School and coiner of the infamous slogan, 'Kill the Indian, save the man,' into the narrative, forcing him to look back and reflect on the harm his supposedly good intentions inflicted.

The earlier parts of the story are certainly compelling and moving, but I found the narrators harder to connect with because- for the most part - they are recollecting events at a distance of many years and recalling how they felt rather than experiencing what happened in real time and showing their in the moment reactions. This more detached style made it harder for me to buy into the characters as they felt quite transient in the larger story. In contrast, the more recent storylines feel more intimate, complete with bleak, visceral descriptions of addiction, and the characters feel more knowable.

Wandering Stars has many inextricably linked themes - legacy and inheritance; betrayal; identity and disconnection - but a more subtle thread that runs throughout is about the importance of stories being told in their own voices. Orange, an enrolled member of both Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma, uses his characters' experiences to make a point about the importance of his own work, and that of other indigenous writers. Multiple characters struggle find literature and film which they can identify with, while Jude's muteness is a powerful metaphor for the fact that the white men who tried to erase his people are still in charge of the narrative.

A beautifully written, profound story. I look forward to reading more of Orange's work. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

DNF at 56%

I didn't dislike this book, but it just didn't capture me at all, to the point where reading it felt like a chore. I enjoyed the first part, focussing on the aftermath of the Sand Creek Massacre and the Fort Marion Prison Castle, but I quickly got lost when the story started jumping through decades and generations. The way the story is told, while great at relaying emotions, requires concentration to follow and slowed down my reading pace. I feel like I would have really liked to experience the whole story, and maybe I will pick it up again in some time, but for now I will shelf Wandering Stars.

4★
“He’d first seen laudanum advertised all different kinds of ways. As an elixir. A soothing syrup. Once he saw it called the poor child’s doctor. Another time it was advertised for teething babies.”

And so begins this story of opiates. The dedication reads:
“For anyone surviving and not surviving
this thing called and not called addiction”

Important, difficult, interesting, confusing. This is what crossed my mind as I was reading. Addiction really wasn’t one, although I realise the author is speaking of the repercussions of colonialism, which kept Indians, especially children, in controlled institutions where their customs and languages were forbidden. I learned none of this at school.

“Charles Star’s memories come and go as they please. They are a broken mirror, through which he only ever sees himself in pieces. He doesn’t know that it is true of everyone, of memory itself
. . .
He has forgotten that he has forgotten things on purpose. This is how he has hidden them away from himself. He suspects there must be something worse beneath the worst of what he knows happened to him at the school, the haircuts and the scrubbings and the marches, the beatings and starvation and confinement, the countless methods of shaming him for continuing to be an Indian despite their tireless efforts at educating and Christianizing and civilizing him.”

Nor was I taught about this.

“These kinds of events were called battles, then later— sometimes—massacres, in America’s longest war. More years at war with Indians than as a nation. Three hundred and thirteen. After all the killing and removing, scattering and rounding up of Indian people to put them on reservations, and after the buffalo population was reduced from about thirty million to a few hundred in the wild, the thinking being “’very buffalo dead is an Indian gone,’ there came another campaign-style slogan directed at the Indian problem: ‘Kill the Indian, Save the Man.’”

I think that conquerors in ancient times captured and enslaved whatever survivors there were after the last battle. As society has progressed (I use the word loosely), those who move in and take over someone else’s land, plant a flag, declare it a ‘new’ country, tend to ‘allow’ the original inhabitants to do domestic and farm work until they are ready to be assimilated into the new society (once they have learned their place, of course). Kill the Indian and save the man.

Today, not just in America but around the world, First Nations Peoples are attempting to reclaim their cultures and languages with pride. In spite of Charlie Star’s ‘broken mirror memories’, some traditions are indeed being passed down, like the dances and songs and the powwow, where performers and participants wear the regalia particular to their tribe.

Some of this was explained in the Pulitze Prize-winning first book, There There, but the family dynamics, both historically and present-day, are shown in more detail here. It is heartbreaking to watch those lost children, who are now grandparents, trying to save their own grandchildren from drugs.

It is no wonder that people turn to anything to numb the pain. What began with ceremonial peyote becomes dope, opioids, and the concoction the young people here called Blanx, because the ingredients changed according to what the supplier could get for them to mix up and sell. Life in California is not a beach for them. It sucks. Big time.

Many sections are narrated in the second person, which I found confusing. There is a good family tree in the front of the book that I referred to frequently. As with many families, people are named after each other, so I’d forget which generation was which.

“Your full name will be Victoria. Your real mother will give you that name, will have said that to your white parents as they helped her through labor, while also helping themselves to you, your mother’s child, just as soon as the wet and life in her eyes was gone.

They will keep the name Victoria for you, but only ever call you Vicky. That they keep anything that came from your mother will be a kind of miracle, as all Indians alive past the year 1900 are kinds of miracles.
. . .
You will never know that the name Victoria also comes by way of your grandfather, Victor Bear Shield.”

It’s in the latter part of the book that the story proceeds in a more usual narrative form, following a family of characters, friends and tribal members. We get to know more about Orville Red Feather, his siblings and aunt-grandmother.

I admired the writing and the story, but I can’t honestly say I enjoyed it. I don’t mean because of the message. I loved There There and was sorry it came to such an abrupt ending. I have no excuse for getting lost and losing the thread.

I’m giving the stars for the importance of the story and the writing, while still allowing for the fact that I felt like I was missing something.

Thanks to #NetGalley and Random House UK for a copy of #WanderingStars for review.

Impressive story of a native American family and their individual struggles with displacement, addiction and pain towards survival and hope. The second and third part were even more captivating than the first part, and I can't stop thinking about Orvil and Lonny. Well-written, important and highly recommended!
Thank you Random House UK and Netgalley for the ARC.

Orange's sophomore novel is both a sequel and a prequel to his debut: We re-encounter Orvil, the teenager who was trying to find his cultural identity and got shot at the powwow at the end of There There, as well as his family members. Not only do we learn what happened after the shooting incident, no, Orange traces Orvil's lineage back to the 1864 Sand Creek massacre, thus turning this into a story about how inter-generational trauma manifests. Per usual, Orange's characters are so captivating and deep that he manages to convey what mere history books cannot depict: How history feels, how it unfolds inside a person's consciousness and how it works on the subconsciousness.

"Wandering Stars" is a book about survival and its cost, and the repeated attempts of individuals to both connect to their heritage and flee a circle of (attempted) destruction as well as self-destruction. Orvil's ancestor Bird survives the massacre against the Cheyenne and Arapaho (Orange is also a member of this tribe) only to be imprisoned in Florida where he shall be "re-educated" (so stripped of his culture), a destiny his son Charles relives a generation later in the infamous Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Other ancestors lose their parents and are raised by white people, addiction to drugs and alcohol are recurring themes, as well as discrimination and exploitation, but also various forms of resistance, most notably the occupation of Alcatraz.

Back in the present, Orvil develops an opioid addiction after his hospital stay and befriends another struggling teenager with indigenous roots, while his beloved great-aunt Opal falls severely ill. Not only does Orange write some of the best, most honest passages on why people abuse drugs that I've ever read, he also illuminates how the resistance lives on in the young characters, often without them even realizing it: Orvil, his friend Sean, and his brother Lony all ponder how to find ways to live their cultural identity, they want to know what it means to be Native, despite the fact that much of their culture was not passed down by their elders, despite settler society wanting them to shed their heritage, despite the suffering the familial trauma has caused them. They are convinced that there is beauty and community to be found in who they are, and the generations are connected by their love for music and dancing and the will to uphold and create rituals.

The title of the novel refers to a song by Portishead, which alludes to the Bible verse Jude 1:13 about false prophets (Bird takes the name Jude Star and studies the Bible in his Florida prison cell). And there is also another connection the text makes: That to Le Clézio's novel Étoile errante which tells the story of Jewish and Palestinian refugees in and after WW II.

And now I want this year's prize judges to give Orange some love. In fact, lots of it.

Wandering Stars
by Tommy Orange

In his follow up to There, There, Tommy Orange brings us a new story which includes some of the characters we met already, Jacqui Red Feather, Orvil, Loother and Lony, Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield and some new ones, or rather older ones, their ancestors beginning with Jude Star, a survivor of the Sand Creek massacre of 1875.

Through the voices of Jude Star and his descendents we get to hear about the brutal reality of life and the generational trauma of First Nation people, from the dispossession of their land, the stamping out of their culture and the attempted erasure of their very existence.

I found this much more character driven than There, There, relying less on the impending-doom mood, and more on the despair of never really being able to escape the "othering", socially or economically. It highlights the diversity and nuances within the native community, but also the perversity of cultural appropriation.

It's the story of survival, but not of thriving. It is stark and morose reading but it is important reading, as is any voice that is trying to reclaim a narrative that has been overwritten by those who have stolen history.

Publication date: 21st March 2024
Thanks to #NetGalley and #Vintage for the ARC

Tommy Orange's latest work is as compelling as his previous one. i did struggle with the tone, which sometimes seemed more that of a nonfiction book.

When I finished There There last year, amidst the chaos of the ending, I was so happy to see that we would be catching up with those characters in Orange’s forthcoming novel, Wandering Stars.

I guess this is a prequel & a sequel? We follow several generations of the same family starting with the Sand Creek Massacre of 1865. The generational treatment of this one family alone, starting with an escape from this massacre, is truly horrendous. Made even more harrowing when we catch up with the family in the present day as they are recovering after a shooting.

The writing is so vivid that the places & people feel so real & realised. However this is very bleak. The relationships from There There have changed and there is, understandably, no longer a lightness.

This can be read as a standalone however reading There There first definitely makes for a much richer experience.

Tommy Orange's latest book had been in the spotlight for a while and did not disappoint. With his unique writing style, he sheds light on the struggles of "urban Indians" and brings insight into what it is like to be one. As a tribe member, I was delighted to read his latest work. The book does take a different approach, but it is needed to help understand the second half. It's crucial to comprehend the struggles that Native Americans have faced throughout history, and this book does a fantastic job of highlighting them. Tommy Orange is a must-buy author because of his ability to provide insight into what it means to be a Native today. I'm looking forward to his next book, as this one confirms why he's such a highly regarded author. Don't miss out on this masterpiece that delves deep into the heart of Native American life. Tommy Orange is a brilliant author because of his ability to provide a deep understanding of what it means to be a Native today.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Well, this took me a while to finish. Wandering Stars is not necessarily long, but it is a dense book. Its subject matter is quite difficult to read at times, chronicling the atrocities that the Native American people had to survive and endure, plus the trauma that was passed down from generation to generation. Taking us from the Sand Creek massacre to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, from the opioid crisis to the Covid pandemic, this is a decades-spanning story comprised of shorter often individual stories.

I will say that, for me, Wandering Stars can be divided into two parts: a 5-star Historical family saga, and a 2.5-star Contemporary tale. The dissonance between the two was quite jarring for me, and I wish some of the experimental, almost short-story-like quality of the first part had been kept throughout the rest of the book. The second half fell a bit flat for me, but perhaps I would've enjoyed it more had I read There There since it was a sequel to that book.

Taking into account Tommy Orange's irresistible writing and the fantastic essay at the start of the book, it just wouldn't feel right if I didn't round up my overall rating.

Lost and wandering......................

When an individual suffers a trauma which leads to PTSD that individual needs the help and support of his community to heal. So what happens when it's a generational trauma, who is going to the be there to offer help and support for the healing? Because the whole generation is traumatised and the trauma is not a single occasion but a repeated trauma across generations and everybody hurts.

So although it is hard, very hard to read, the cycles of trauma and it's effects being devastating, it is a must read. Because it does show why there are these lost people, people torn from their land, from their communities, from their families, lost in a loop of hurt and more hurt and why they can't seem to bounce back.