“Stories do more than comfort. They take you away and bring you back better made.”
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This is my favorite book of 2024, maybe of ever. It’s honest and speaks to your soul. It also speaks to addiction in a raw and visceral way. Death and life constantly intersect in this book. Orange writes lyrical prose that sweep across the page, and his masterful storytelling is simply unmatched. (Never marked so many quotes ❤️.)
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It’s 1864, and young Star is fleeing the Sand Creek massacre. He is captured and taken to Fort Marion prison castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity. Later, his son, Charles, is sent to Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a school dedicated to the erasure of Native culture, history, and identity. Charles falls in love with an Opal Viola, and their bloodline will lead up to the modern day characters in There There. Struggles with addiction and generational trauma reverberate down through the decades.
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This book pierced my soul and shook me to my core. Do not sleep on this one👏! Thank you to @aaknopf for the copies of this book.
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Wandering Stars - Tommy Orange
5/5⭐️
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“Maybe we’re all looking for our bottoms and tops in search of balance, where the loop feels just right, and like it’s not just rote, not just repetition, but a beautiful echo, one so entrancing we lose ourselves in it.”
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“I’d lived enough life, almost died enough times to know when a good thing came along, a thing you didn’t know could fill you right up, which only when it filled you let you know there’d been a hole in you before.”
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“The spitting was about the bitter taste of deeply knowing the fact of it.”
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“Past family members and the ancestors were constantly sending their blessings and curses down through time from that beyond before, that gave his present its particular bent, its dimness, its light, its scream, and its song, but also its sometimes dead silence.”
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“To be human was to struggle, and to be a good human was to struggle gracefully…”
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I struggled with Tommy Orange's sophomore novel. The first section of the book felt as if it needed more editing. Characters seemed to get into long soliloquies. In these instances I would've preferred to be shown the event happening vs a character reminiscing about an event that had already taken place. I found myself getting easily distracted and pulled away from the book. I wasn't in that state of reading where you don't want to put a book down. Because of that I can't give the book a strong rating.

while i'm sure its a very important book, it was much too serious for my mood at the time. i will try and pick it up if my mood fits it in the future

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC.

The first part of this book does not require having read There There but once you get to Orvil, you need the information from the prior novel.

The changing perspectives and shifting timelines left this confusing but very similar to There There. If you loved There There, you will love Wandering Stars. I struggle with the constantly changing perspectives, even though the are expertly woven together because the weaving comes together later in the novel and it is hard to keep track.

Overall, another excellent novel and something everyone should read.

Sometimes hard to read but beautifully written. This multi-generational story told from multiple POV's is stunning in its portrayal of what it's like to be a Native American. There is so much more to this story than the words written on every page that it's hard to put it down in a review. I recommend you read some of the other reviews to get a better idea of the synopsis of the story. My words here are just to convey how important books like this are and the need for them to be told.
I haven't read There, There yet and plan on doing so soon. While I understand there's a connection to the two stories I don't feel it's necessary to have read the previous book to fully enjoy this one.
I can't recommend this enlightening book highly enough.

I have not previously read this author but heard so much about him, so I decided to jump in with both feet. Thank you, Netgalley, for giving me the opportunity. This is absolutely beautifully written, of that there is no doubt. This also a pretty difficult read in both the subject matters (because, yes, it addresses several issues including addiction, suicidal ideation, and past history of all the horrific atrocities done to Native Americans) but because I felt like I might not be smart enough to understand all the underlying thoughts behind the words. I felt like Lony at his youngest had more depth of mind and spirit than I do in my 50s. While I may not get what the author was trying to get across, I understood enough to be moved by the poetry of the authors words.

"Stories do more than comfort. They take you away and bring you back better made."

This book is beautifully written, devastating, honest, and raw. Lyrical and even dreamlike at times, it weaves together threads from the stories of generations of a Cheyenne family into a tapestry that connects all of its successive members - to each other, to themselves, and to the larger picture. It's a story about generational trauma borne of massacres, residential schools, about surviving and coping, about addiction, about displacement and abandonment and belonging, disconnection and connection, and about the power of writing, of music, of ideas, as escape, as release, as threads to hold on by. The author artfully creates distinct voices with which he inhabits each of the many different characters, and brings each of them uniquely to life and allows us to really know them. This is a powerful and eloquent story about pain, and ultimately about love and healing. Difficult to read at times, and yet impossible to put down, this is a book that will stay with me long after its last page.

I'm thankful to the author, the publisher, and to Netgalley for providing me with a free advance reader copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I would like to acknowledge that I read this book on the traditional lands of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ and Wahpekute people, and to pay my respects to them and to their descendants.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

One of the best books I have ever read. An outstanding follow-up to There There. Tommy Orange needs to win an award for this book. If he doesn't, I will be VERY surprised and disappointed. With this book, he has solidified himself as one of the best writers out there currently.

Wandering Stars starts by following Jude Star, who survives the Sand Creek Massacre. It then goes on to follow each of his descendants and tells their stories, up until the present day where we catch up with Orvil Red Feather, who is recovering from his gunshot wound after the shooting the occurred in There There. This book deals heavily with addiction and alcoholism in an incredibly nuanced way that highlights the generational trauma that causes its unfortunate prevalence in Native communities. I implore everyone to read this book. While the difficult subject matter is hard to read, it is a beautiful work of literature.

Somehow I picked this book up completely unaware that it’s the sequel to “There There”. I didn’t realize until I got to Part Two, appropriately named “ The Aftermath” because it takes place immediately after the tragic events of “There There”.

Tommy Orange’s writing is lyrical; the syntax and flow is very engaging. There is heartbreak, addiction, generational trauma and also growth and hope. I wish the ending went a little past its conclusion but I’m mostly satisfied.

Thank you to NetGalley for my review copy.

4 ⭐️

Wandering Stars is the follow up to Tommy Orange’s debut novel There, There. This story follows the descendeeants of a family throughout history to the present day. It reminded me of Homegoing by Yasmin Gyasi in the best way. The way Tommy Orange writes has me feeling immediately invested in his characters, feeling the heartbreak and joy that comes with their stories. I am looking forward to his next work.

This book felt very disjointed and was a disappointing prequel/sequel to There There. The first 1/3 of the book told the stories of Orvil Red Feather from There There's ancestors, we get to see a snippet of each of their lives in each chapter, and the chapters move between different characters and generations over time, similar to Homegoing. I thought the first 1/3 was excellent.

The rest of the book jumps to the Red Feather/Bear Shield family in the present day after the events of the Pow Wow in There There. The chapters alternate between different members of the family. The style of this part of the book is so different from the first 1/3 that it could've been a separate book. It focuses mostly on the characters and family's struggles with addiction and drug use, heavy trigger warning for those topics and suicide. The narrative felt directionless which is maybe reflecting the characters' lives, but I just didn't quite understand where the author was trying to go with it all. It felt like the writing needed to be tightened up.

Mixed feelings about this book overall.

What a devastatingly tragic tale and yet such a powerful one. I had never read anything by Tommy Orange but had this on my radar due to the subject area. Orange opens with the Sand Creek Massacre. We see the generational toil on the Cheyenne people through the story of Star and his descendants. I knew very little of this event the institutional places and the policies that followed and am saddened that we are not teaching more about this history in American schools. By telling the story of Star and the generations that follow, Orange is able to portray the very real effects that the government has had on native peoples, many of which still continue today. There is lost history and culture. We see a family that can't seem to climb out of their addictions and pain. My heart hurt for the characters in this book and yet I was glad for having been able to read about them. The writing is poignant and powerful. I recommend this novel to any American looking to learn more about what it is to be an outsider in your own homeland. It made me angry and more aware. The way he writes about the power of family and love captured me. There is sadness here but there is also so much hope in this novel I highly encourage you to pick this one up.

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange is a poetic saga that traces one family back to its original tragedy. It explores how Native Americans and their descendants survive and maintain their traditions through generations even as society and the American government attempt to whitewash and assimilate them. Wandering Stars also follows two boys as they grapple with injury and addiction, and shows how families survive through trauma and separation.

I gave Wandering Stars a four-star rating because I enjoyed it and would recommend it to a friend, but I probably wouldn't read it again.

Summary:
Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle,where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines.

In a novel that is by turns shattering and wondrous, Tommy Orange has conjured the ancestors of the family readers first fell in love with in There There—warriors, drunks, outlaws, addicts—asking what it means to bethe children and grandchildren of massacre. Wandering Stars is a novel about epigenetic and generational trauma that has the force and vision of a modern epic, an exceptionally powerful new book from one of the most exciting writers at work today and soaring confirmation of Tommy Orange’s monumental gifts

Thoughts: Another fantastic book by Tommy Orange. While this is technically a stand alone, I would recommend that you read There, There.

For me, this book started stronger than it finished. However, it was still solid - I will continue to think about this one as I still do with There, There - Tommy Orange's last book.

Easily one of the most amazing books I have ever read. Tommy Orange wrote a masterpiece that shows the way generational trauma impacts a family over the course of over one hundred years. Addiction and alcoholism play a huge part in the dealing with trauma. I truly love these characters and learned so much from this book.

I really want to like Tommy Orange given how much praise he receives. And I love seeing own voices authors flourishing. But I just don’t think he’s for me. I am at the 21% point in this one and each time I read it, I have to force myself to pick it back up. So, I can’t quite believe it, but I’m going to bail out. I’m so glad his books work for so many (I didn’t much like There There), but sadly I’m the wrong reader for him.

What Opal, Jackie, Orvil, Loother, and Lony survive takes struggle. Richard Henry Pratt, the founder of the Carlisle School for Indians, offers platitudes about Christianity and being "in the struggle" for becoming whole. In his words, he means the indigenous becoming Christian Americans. So it is ironic that this villain incidentally puts his finger on the right note. This family that has suffered and suffered are in the struggle. But the struggle is to become a family. To cling to each other. To forgive one's self and all the mistakes of the family members that came before.
The struggle is to also make sense of what it means to be Cheyenne when language, customs, and stories are all foreign to this Oakland family.
Victoria Bear Shield will break your heart. She doesn't get to tell her story. Her story is told in second person, to her. Try as she might to research her story, too much loss keeps her alienated from her truth. With Victoria, the reader learns how thoroughly and violently one is ripped apart from one's culture.
This book is so beautifully crafted, and I need more time to process all that it offers. I know I will come back to this review and write more, and I know I will go back to the book and read it again.

4 Stars
This book was very difficult for me to read. I struggle with books that have a lot of substance abuse and sadness. That being said even though it was difficult for me, I understand how valuable it is to read and learn about what native Americans have gone through over generations. So of course it was not a book to be "enjoyed" but a book to be absorbed. It was deep and so well written.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf publicity for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I read Tommy Orange's, "There There" 4 years ago (pandemic read) and I still think about it.  Just after I read it, I attended a zoom talk with Orange and he *hinted* to a possible sequel and since that day, FOUR YEARS AGO, I have been waiting patiently.  As soon as I knew it was coming I put in my preorder (with my local independent bookstore ) and again, waited patiently.  
Tommy Orange's writing is special in that it tells stories about people who feel so real.  I'm not sure if he bases his characters on real-life people that he has come into contact with or if it's just his writing gift, but he is skilled.  The dialogue always reads as an actual conversation and I love how he adds small details (like pointing with lips) that are both illustrative in context but also so personal and detailed.  
This book is no less gut wrenching than his first.  There are plenty of things that hurt to read but are so damn necessary for us to read.  Without stories like Orange's and other Indigenous writers those details and moments in history are covered up and forcefully forgotten.  Orange doesn't sway away from these moments but puts them in your face and makes you confront them.  
I don't want to give too much away about this book because reading it and watching it unfold before you is part of the magic.  I do suggest you read the first book, "There There", first because it does pick up right after that cliffhanger of an ending but "Wandering Stars" does give enough context that you could figure out what happened. I will caution you though that a lot of character development takes place in "There There," and that development is furthered in "Wandering Stars" so if you can, read it second.
If you haven't read any Indigenous literature, I won't tell you that you HAVE TO, but you are missing out on some amazing writing at the forefront of current fiction and writing in general.  I highly recommend Tommy Orange as a place to start because his writing is easy to read and feels like it could be your neighborhood or just down the street.