“Assimilation was one of the words they used for Indians becoming white in order to survive, in order that they might not be killed for being Indians.”

Wow, this book is intense and deep.

The story moves so quickly that the anxiousness and foreboding of the characters is passed to the reader. Once the forward starts, there is an intense ominous feeling that does not subside until the end. The writing moves quickly and then slows down for an interesting pacing.

The historical facts about how the Native American Indians were treated mixed with the stories of these characters is incredibly raw and honest.

It is kind of a mix between Killers of the Flower Moon and Homegoing.

So many amazing quotes, feelings and truths are woven into the story of this family.

I liked There There by Tommy Orange more, and I appreciated how some of those characters, and their experiences, transferred to this book. You don’t have to read them in order but I would start with There There.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC! I read THERE THERE when it came out a few years ago, and found it to be very powerful and enlightening. I was very excited to read WANDERING. STARS for a similar experience, but didn’t realize that it was a sequel of sorts, detailing the aftermath of the incident in Orange’s first novel. Though I enjoyed this sequel (and also prequel?), it didn’t hit its mark in quite the same way for me.

The first section details the lives of several generations of a family and their struggles as Native Americans. I found much of this section difficult to read, with odd sentence structure that made thoughts difficult to follow and interrupted the flow. Parts of this first section read like nonfiction, and there were events that seemed out of nowhere to me; I went back several times to see if I had missed something. However, all of this improves with Opal’s perspective, when the writing drastically changes for the better, and that improvement was continued in the second section, which focused on the three brothers (Orvil, Loother, and Lony, who I believe were all introduced in THERE THERE). This second section deals primarily with addiction — how a person becomes addicted, the lies they tell themselves, and the profound impact on the people around them. I found this section to be honest, powerful, and excellently done.

However, the third section lost me again. It was shorter than the other two, but read like an end-of-movie wrap-up (where are they now?), and didn’t fit the tone of the rest of the novel. It seemed very preachy and a little too saccharine for my liking, although I will absolutely admit that might just be my cynicism, as I’m approaching the anniversary of losing someone to addiction.

Overall, much of this novel is extremely well done, but the beginning and the end were weaker for me. Three stars.

I have waited years for another book to come from the mind of Tommy Orange, and that wait was well worth it with Wandering Stars. This book was incredible and will stay with you long after you close it.

When reading There, There I was immediately taken with so many of it's multitude of characters. I loved watching a story unfold through interconnected perspectives and when I finished I was left with so many thoughts as to how the characters got to where they were at the Big Oakland Pow Wow. Wandering Stars answers those questions and then some. It follows your favorite characters back in time to show how each of their ancestors impacted them present day. Seeing how their lives were in some ways determined all the way back to the Sand Creek Massacre was an eye opening view of how trauma is passed down and stored through generations. It was incredible to see how each character reacted, dealt with and worked with the trauma they'd been given and experienced.

This book follow more than just the stories of a few native people and how they navigate their world. It intricately shows how they were ripped from their lands and cultures and how they find ways to come home to their culture and their ancestors way of life. It's more than passing down names, it's passing down culture. How they come home physically and mentally. How they define being native and what it means for them.

This book maps out history, trauma and highlights how we deal with those things. The characters show immense strength and perseverance even though they didn't start life with privilege. It is eye opening, heartbreaking and awe-inspiring to see its characters develop and experience life with what they're dealt. Through massacre, abuse, removal from their land and culture, addiction and mental health crisis they all rise above their circumstances in individual ways.

One thing I love about Tommy Orange is that he gives you so much accurate information about native peoples and history. When I finish one of his books I immediately find myself googling and researching things I didn't know about previously. His books ignite a hunger to learn more and be better and that's commendable in an author.

A must read and a five star!

Thanks to Net Galley for allowing me the honor of reading this book. All opinions are my own.

Wandering Stars is a beautifully written tale of generational trauma and cultural genocide spanning from the Sand Creek Massacre to modern day. Mixing historical and contemporary fiction while showing the trickledown effects of the horrors the Indigenous population has endured throughout history. It showcases the loss of cultural practices, language and identity many community members are still facing today. Wandering Stars had me reflecting on the pain of my ancestors and connecting to the characters of today as they navigate through a world that views their heritage as something of the past.

I absolutely loved There, There and Wandering Stars and whole-heartedly recommend this series.

Thank you so much to Knopf for the ARC.

As always, please protect your peace and check TW prior to reading. 🖤

We meet Jude Star as he's remembering the events and aftermath of the Sand Creek massacre of 1864. Violently separated from his family, he winds up at a prison "castle" in Florida under the cruel watch of (a very real) Richard Henry Pratt, who went on to start the Carlisle Indian School and epitomized the white man's goal of Indian assimilation, "to control people better, to extend adolescence and create more complacent citizens using models they used to domesticate animals". There's a lot of trauma, along with a lot of resilience, and connection through the generations.

"Walking around Lake Merritt you see all kinds of people in Oakland, the hipster, the homeless, the homeless hipster, the mixtape mixed-race CD-pushing rapper , the serious runners and the casual runners, the joggers, the stoners, the casual blunt smokers, the power walkers, the slow walkers that talk endlessly, the stroller pushers, and then just so many young people with blankets on the grass. It didn’t used to be like this around the lake, people always walked it, but now it is a kind of scene, with food trucks in tow."

Ultimately we end up in Oakland, after the powwow from There There. I love the world building, the authenticity. We care about the characters, their decisions, their fate. Their inner turmoil, outer struggles (with each other, racism, injustice, you name it). Wandering Stars is a prequel and a sequel and revisiting the characters alongside the stories of their ancestors (there's a helpful family tree at the beginning) and depictions of systemic cultural erasure (of customs, rituals and language while families were separated) was a strong framing that resonated. If Orange continues adding to this story I'm here for it.

My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC.

Tommy Orange's fantastic novel about Native communities in There There is continued in his new novel Wandering Stars. While you do not have to read the first book to enjoy this one, it does provide context to characters' actions (disclaimer that I had read it, but had been years, and so I read a summary to re-familiarize myself with the characters). Wandering Stars hinges on the shooting that takes place in There There, with the first section of this book being about earlier Native ancestors, while the second section focuses on events post-shooting. He provided a helpful family tree at the beginning of the book to align how individuals were related. Jude Star lives through the 1864 San Creek Massacre, and is eventually put on a train to Florida to be jailed, and he meets the overseer Pratt who believes he can "reform" the Natives. Jude leans into religion and a particular Bible verse resonates with him- Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Pratt's vision is unfortunately carried through to Jude's son Charles who attends Pratt's Carlisle Industrial School for Indians.

Orvil, many generations removed from his relative Jude recovers physically from the bullet wound sustained at the Powwow. He finds comfort in reading how fellow survivors of mass shootings dealt with the aftermath. He also starts taking more of his prescribed painkillers than he should and makes friends with a fellow student who also takes painkillers after sustaining an accident. Orvil's brothers Loother and Lony are both dealing with difficulties in their family in unique ways. Lony wants to connect to Native practices and attempts to use folklore in a way to protect his family, especially Orvil whom he is very worried about.

This book is very much one of generational trauma and how individuals cope (or do not). We see early signs of drug use in earlier generations, family separation, mental health challenges, transracial adoption, and self-discovery. As in There There, different characters are approaching their relationship with their Native identities in different ways- some leaning into, some running away from. Orange is a fantastic writer, and he tamps into cultures that are not highlighted enough in literature. I found the first section of this book very fast-paced, and wish I could have spent more time with the earlier generations, while at times, some of the second section dragged. I really enjoyed some of the secondary characters, especially Lony, who says in a letter- may we learn to forgive ourselves, so that we lose the weight, so that we may fly, not as birds but as people, get above the weight and carry on, for the next generations, so that we might keep living, stop doing all this dying. Well said, Lony.

Thank you to Knopf via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

If you loved reading There, There, you will love this follow-up novel.

This book asks the question: what does it mean to be the children and grandchildren of massacre? The story goes through a stay in a prison castle and then an Indian School where cultural extermination is carried out by forcibly removing any expression of Native identity. Brutality continues when the next generation is born and sent to the same boarding school. By following the descendants of massacre, we are brought across timelines and perspectives following three generations of Southern Cheyenne people. This family connects to the characters from There, There and expands on the past, present, and future. I found the family tree outlined in the beginning of the book helpful to keep track of the characters. This is a powerful depiction of how colonization and generational trauma has long lasting effects on so many people. This is a story of struggle, survival, addiction, endurance, injustice, and healing. Please refer to content warnings prior to reading as this book does explore heavy topics.

I enjoyed reading this book because the characters are complex and multifaceted. I would recommend this to anyone interested in reading a great literary work that explores identity in a meaningful way.

CW: addiction, sexual assault (off-page), self-harm, cancer, suicide, suicidal ideation, death

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

“Wandering Stars” serves as both a prequel and a sequel to Tommy Orange’s Pulitzer finalist debut, “There There” as it chronicles the Native American Bear Shield-Red Feather family. This historical fiction tale begins in 1864 with the Sand Creek Massacre in which more than 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people were killed by the U.S. Army in Colorado. A Cheyenne boy flees and teams up with another young survivor until starvation causes them to turn themselves in at Fort Reno where 33 prisoners of war were shipped to Fort Marion Prison Castle in Florida to pay for the crimes committed by Southern Cheyennes against the Army. While incarcerated, the boys, now called Jude Star and Victor Shield, attend school and church and train to be military men “dressed as the very kind of men some of us had seen wipe our people out.” On a train ride back to Oklahoma, Jude sees piles of buffalo bones, each buffalo slaughtered signaling “an Indian gone.” Jude laments that he did not want to “see any more of the old world so dead before it was gone.”

Jude marries Hannah, a white orphan raised by Cherokees. Their son, Charles Star, is sent to the Carlisle school to become assimilated “in order that he might not be killed for being Indian.” Charles Star and Opal Viola Bear Shield, Victor Shield’s daughter, inherit the trauma passed on by their fathers and Charles Star, who had dreams of becoming a writer, robs general stores and is ultimately undone by his addiction to laudanum. Their daughter, Victoria Bear Shield, is raised by white alcoholics where she “will grow up an unpaid servant, a faithful daughter to faithless drunks. . . .” Victoria Bear Shield will have two daughter, one of which will raise Jude’s great, great, great grandsons, including Orvil Red Feather, a teenager in 2018 recovering from being shot during the Oakland Coliseum powwow and contending with an addiction to pain killers as he tries to undo a past which is tied to the present. As Orvil states, “I wanted to feel connected to being Native, and to being Cheyenne, but I didn’t quit know how.”

Orange has created a searing portrait of the generational impact of institutional and systematic trauma and oppression brought about by America’s anti-human program of assimilation. Orange’s novel is a remarkable achievement, chronicling over a century’s worth of atrocities against the indigenous people in a multi-generational story with richly drawn and fascinating characters. The writing is lyrical and Orange traces the violence and confusion of Jude Star’s life through generations with a powerful but subtle hand. Despite decades of murder, poverty, and addiction, and despite the efforts of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School founder Richard Henry Pratt to send “the vanishing race off into final captivity before disappearing into history forever,” essential traces of Native heritage endure in this powerful indictment of America’s misguided efforts. Thank you Knopf and Net Galley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this important and powerful novel that will stay with me long after I close the cover.

4 stars. Tommy Orange is always worth reading. His perspective and his style are both very special. Having devoured both books, I can safely say I'd read anything he writes.

Some of the sentences in Wandering Stars are just as heartstopping as the prose I was so taken with in There There, but the storylines don’t feel as clear in the historical sections. The writing gets much more effective when the setting returns to the present day. It was very evident that Orange wished to explore the effect of Indian schools and generational trauma as it relates to race and colonialism, which is a fantastic topic, but the flow felt more jumbled than his previous effort. The characterization is absolutely fantastic.

At the end of Tommy Orange’s first novel, There There, Orvil Red Feather was shot. Wandering Stars provides Orvil’s family history, going back to his great-great-great grandfather, Jude Star. It follows the struggles of each ensuing generation until it gets to the story of Orvil and his brothers, Loother and Lony.

While only 336 pages long, the novel often feels longer. The first part of the novel moves at an even pace as it gives the history of each generation (starting with Jude Star) and its legacy to subsequent generations. However, once it gets to Orvil’s story, the novel seems to lose focus as it jumps back and forth among the members of Orvil’s family.

Orange’s dedication reads, “For everyone surviving and not surviving this thing called and not called addiction.” Wandering Stars tells how each generation of the Star/Bear Shield family suffers from different forms of addiction.

Amidst this fictional tale, Tommy Orange shows the legacy of colonialism, its continuing impact on the Indigenous peoples of America, and the problems they face in ascertaining cultural identity after centuries of attempts to obliterate that identity. Wandering Stars is a difficult and unsettling read that is very important in helping to understand the hardships and suffering that Native Americans have faced over the centuries.

A multi-generational saga that following the descendants of a Native American family through several decades. The story begins with the Sand Creek Massacre and then proceeds through several years featuring the Carlisle Indian School, the Alcatraz Prison take over and all the way to the Covid 19 pandemic. The author has portrayed in a poignant manner the characters' struggle to reclaim and preserve their identity, legacy and heritage. The author has deftly woven Native Indian history and trivia with a host of contemporary issues like generational trauma, addiction and the opioid crisis. The story is told from multiple points of view of the various characters across several generations. Be warned that the book is more a character study rather than plot-based and would be better appreciated with this in mind.

The book is a prequel as well as a sequel to Orange's earlier acclaimed novel There There. It is not absolutely necessary to read There There before reading this one, however it does help to provide better context. While I loved There There and the way in which the interconnected storied seamlessly intertwined, this one felt more contrived and left me with mixed feelings. I loved the first part (the prequel). The sequel reminded me of Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead and I thought that took away the focus from the Native Indian story to the opiod crisis.

Thank you Net Galley and Knopf Publishing for the ARC.

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for this advanced reader’s copy. I really liked Tommy Orange’s 2019 book There There, so I when I heard he was writing another book bringing his cultural perspective to his distinctive writing, I knew I would have to read it. This book is all that and more. Deep themes of what it means to have Native heritage depending on your DNA, background, or where you grow up, woven with what it means to be family. This book also explores the relationship with drugs throughout and the intergenerational damage that has been inflicted on indigenous peoples. Difficult and often painful story to read, but Orange is a master storyteller.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC!
Initially when I heard that Tommy Orange was writing a sequel to "There, There", I was reluctant to read it because I think the ambiguity of the ending is part of what makes the book reverberate as strongly as it does. I got over that, and I am glad that I did because "Wandering Stars" is the sequel that I didn't know I needed.
Time jumps can be hard to pull off in fiction, especially when an author is dealing in a time that predates their life by decades as well as their contemporary moment. Orange, however, it not bound by temporal constraints. Orange honors the past and pinpoints the way his characters are shaped by what happened before and thus complicates the idea of legacy and how his characters not only remember, but also continue to carry the memory of what has been forgotten.
After all of the commercial and critical success of "There, There", I had my doubts about a sequel because I think the media has a habit of hyping up follow-up works to the point of extravagance that sets the piece up for failure. This doesn't happen in "Wandering Stars", and Orange instead seems to write HIS book about HIS characters that don't seem to be shaped by predictions about what the disembodied and nebulous "public desires and expectations" may be. Orange is brilliant, and I am so excited to continue to watch his cannon develop.

Tommy Orange writes with such ease but impactful. The story starts with the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian School through many generations. This story is very different than his first novel, but so great. It's about generational trauma and trying to figure out what it means to be the child or children of of people who were in a massacre, imprisoned and sent to horrible schools. How do you heal this past wounds? Or how do you just survive.

Wandering Stars starts with a man escaping the Sand Creek Massacre and follows his lineage down through addiction, trying to assimilate into a non-native society, and trauma. Each story is a little vignette into a piece of their lives and their choices. You can see them all strugggling to keep their culture a part of them, even as the world tries to tear it away. Halfway through the book, we move into the future, which continues the lineage and the trauma, but in a present, currently happening kind of way, rather than vignettes.

I loved this choice, showing the history and trauma built up and passed down over generations, and then how similar the current situations were. Addiction was a prominent theme, and death and everyone's constant proximity to it. Tommy Orange writes so well, it makes me heart hurt for these characters as if they were real people I know.

I probably would call this a follow-up rather than a sequel to There, There, and maybe that's because for some reason, even though I had long ago read the synopsis for this story, I forgot that it was going to end up dealing with characters from There, There. So when I got to the Part 2 of the book, I was BLOWN AWAY by the connection. That's on me and my poor memory, but I wouldn't have changed that experience.

Excellent story, interesting set-up, and beautifully written. Loved.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the e-ARC!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A family saga about the descendants of indigenous native Americans taken from their homes to indoctrinate them into white society. The past and present come together in situations that mimic ancestral pain.

Beautiful and lyrical writing from Tommy Orange. Wandering Stars follows multiple timelines of Native Americans who have experienced haunting traumas. This, along with Orange's first book "There, There" should be required reading, I believe. Would recommend!

"Wandering Stars" by Tommy Orange is a multigenerational saga that delves into the story of a Cheyenne family grappling with many forms of trauma, institutional violence, addiction, and the erasure of Native history. Through a series of interconnected narratives, the novel explores the complexities of family ties and the enduring impact of historical trauma on Native communities. While the book is incredibly impactful and sheds light on important history, some readers may find it challenging to emotionally connect with the characters due to its format, which reads more like a collection of short stories from various perspectives. Despite this, "Wandering Stars" is a beautifully written, powerful and moving portrayal of resilience in the face of adversity and I would thoroughly recommend it.

A few years ago, I read There, There, the author's amazing debut about 12 Native Americans struggling with their identities and their journeys to the Oakland powwow. It was a book that opened up my eyes to the modern-day plight of Native Americans. In Wandering Stars he revisits these characters and their predecessors, offering a little history as well as the aftermath of the powwow. You don't have to have read There, There to read this one but it would help provide context. Even though I knew the backstory, I found the first half of this book a little hard to follow. I was fascinated and heartbroken by the telling of the attempts to colonize the native people and children. The story shifts to the present, following the ancestors as they cope with modern day pressures. The author's prose is just beautiful and he does a good job of providing history lessons in the format of a novel.

This is a generational story of a Native American Family. A story of trauma, pain but also of the beautiful resilience dealing with the consequences and impact to people due to tragic history. It is written beautifully and honestly, telling the stories of this family and their pain, losses, struggles but also of their love, strength and connections to each other. Tommy Orange is masterful in his writing, with a style that is poetic and lyrical, which is truly a gift as a reader. Although it is a difficult read, I felt connected to the characters and their stories, along with knowing that this book is a work of art. This book, the stories of this family is a needed read by all of us to understand the history and experiences of the Native American people. I had not read the author's previous book, There There but after finishing reading this, I am looking forward to experiencing another beautifully written and important piece of American Literature.
Thank you #NetGalley and #Knopf for the opportunity to read this.