
Member Reviews

I’m definitely gonna reread this when it officially releases. It’s more paced out than it’s predecessor, and the writing is still strong. I like how it moves around in time, but maintains the same universe. It’s a worthy sequel, but There There will always hold a solid place in my heart.

This novel was a wonderful follow up to "There There." It treated generations of characters going through the most traumatic of circumstances with compassion and resilience. The ending felt earned with endurance and relief.

Tommy Orange returns with a heartbreaking but powerful family saga that ranges from the Sand Creek Massacre, to the Carlisle School, through the lives of the ancestors of Lony, Loother, and Orville Red Feather, and on through the aftermath of the tragedy that ends his award-winning debut "There There". Fans of Jesmyn Ward, Yaa Gyasi or Louise Erdrich should take note.

Wandering Stars picks up where There There left us, only generations back; it begins with a massacre. This story begins with the Bear Shield, Star and Red Feather families following the Sand Creek Massacre.
Tommy Orange lays out the family tree and events in a compelling road map that answers the question, “How did we get here?” That roadmap takes us from that massacre to Carlisle Indian Industrial School, to indentured servitude, illegal adoption, generational trauma, substance abuse and families trying to hold themselves together. Glimpses into the darkest parts of American history and the horrible things people do to each other. This novel is part history lesson, part current affairs and part family saga, all wrapped in a beautifully written package,
The Orvil that we came to worry about in There There becomes one of the central characters in Wandering Stars as he recovers from the shooting and then recovers from the aftermath of the shooting. I felt for him, wanted to shake him, was so angry at him and then so hopeful for him.
I love Opal Bear Shield, her quiet matter-of-factness, her big, quiet heart. Her character is the supporting role that every novel needs; she is the rock-solid center of a family that is struggling to know who they are, yet it is her character that allows the other storylines to blossom.
This isn't a happily ever after story, but it does end with these beautifully imperfect characters moving forward.
Although some of the characters from this novel first appear There There, this work can be read as a stand-alone. Perfect for a book club read as it covers a variety of topics including history, generational trauma, current affairs and family life.
Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this Advance Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

What a novel! What a story!
Go back in time via the The Pulitzer Prize-finalist author There There. in his new story. Using historical tragedies such as the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Orange tells the story of many via three generations of the Stars family.
This is a wondrous work that you will not forget.
Every character is sharply real and as you root for them every tragedy is heartbreaking.Still, this novel is filled with hope and family love even as each generation battles the demons of addiction. How Orange is able to include so much history without diluting the events is a miracle of writing. Read this book and truly live with a family for generations.
#Knopf #Pantheon #Vintage #Anchor #KnopfPantheonVintage,andAnchor #tommyorange #wanderingstars #knopf

There, There was a book that seemed to come out of nowhere. It told the tale of a disparate group of people and their convergence on the Oakland Powwow, and the disastrous effects of that convergence. Wandering Stars, a continuation more than a sequel, carries the story of some of these characters to more of a conclusion.
This is a vivid tale of an underserved segment of Americans, and it's struggle to survive amid the general apathy of the population at large. The story becomes more hopeful than the original, as these strong people come into there own. Some plotlines are resolved, but not all, which is the way life is.

It's hard to overstate how excited I was for this book; There There has been one of my favorites ever since I read it, and I've been checking for news of its sequel for so long now. When I found out I could read it on Netgalley it was the highlight of my week.
That said, this didn't disappoint at all. I will admit it took me a bit to get into it, given how different the first third or so is from There There. But I trusted Tommy Orange and his process, and I found the entirety of the book engaging, even if it took me longer to read the beginning.
I read the last two thirds of this book all in one day, and basically couldn't put it down. I love the way it balances hard depressing real-world shit with love and hope for the future. The characters here go through so much, and at times it can be really hard to read, but I don't think it should have been written any other way. It's a great sequel and I'd recommend it to anyone.
Thank you to Knopf and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Orange's second novel is a stunning achievement, depicting over a century's worth of atrocities against the indigenous people of America while also being a multigenerational family story full of richly drawn, fascinating characters.

Highly anticipated after There There, this book definitely hits the spot! At times it is an emotional read but one that is needed. I love Orange’s skill to bring Native issues to the forefront through fantastic fiction. The writing and pace of the good is good. Part 1 almost felt like a different book from 2/3 but overall I enjoyed it. It did provided the familial trauma issues that occur throughout society! Such a great book!
I received a free advanced copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by this author and a very different kind of book for me. I feel that maybe if I had read the first one, I might have enjoyed it more. It was a difficult read but I made it and will probably read the first book and re-read this one. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

Emotions laid bare following generational trauma inflicted on Native peoples is how I felt at the conclusion of this amazing book. The author doesn’t shy away from brutal descriptions of addiction and its toll on families. His writing is poetic, insightful, and raw. I love his writing style and the love/heart he pours into this story.
Thanks to NetGalley and Alfred A Knopf Publishing for the ARC to read and review.

Even though I was underwhelmed by There, There, I know much of the world was enamored with it and Tommy Orange, so I was excited to give Wandering Stars a read. I liked reading about the experiences of Native Americans, as it's a culture I'm less familiar with, but the story itself was challenging for me. A lot of Wandering Stars reads like short stories (which are generally not my jam) - a large map of characters that are all connected, but not in a fluid, sequential way. I had a hard time following the different plots and connections and couldn't find the thread that wove them all together. A lot of the writing is beautiful. The stories are painful and poignant. There is a lot of good, but as a whole, the book wasn't cohesive enough for me. If you loved There, There, you should probably pick this one up despite my lackluster review. Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
'And in the year 1924, Indian citizenship will have been granted, even though they will mean to dissolve the tribes by giving citizenship, dissolve being another word for disappearance, a kind of chemical word for a gradual death of tribes and Indians, a clinical killing, designed by psychopaths calling themselves politicians.'

The writing of this author is beautiful. There are few people who are able to craft words that convey such depth of feeling and emotion. I do wish I had known this was a sequel however I enjoyed it all the same. As a native Oklahoman I am well aware of the history of Indigenous people but this book makes you deeply feel the ache of a lifetime of pain and unrest.

Five years ago, after reading Tommy Orange's There There, I had the pleasure of meeting him at a reading. This was before his book became a "thing," an award winner, a Pulitzer finalist, a huge best seller. The place was packed. He had a deer-in-the-headlights quality to him, amazed that more than the dozen or so indigenous readers he'd expected would find his book important enough to spend time with. In subsequent interviews, he has gained confidence and poise, acquired a richness of purpose that shines through in this, his sophomore follow-up. Tracing the family first presented in There There, Wandering Stars begins with a massacre, continues with lives of survivors that and brings to light the colonizing atrocities perpetuated on the Cheyenne by the U.S. government. Orange's research is impeccable. The balance of the book returns to Oakland, following the events described in the previous one, and the descendants of those earlier Cheyenne are trying to cope with the fallout. Central to the story are the recovery efforts of Ortiz and his aunt Opal's working to keep her family together despite the infiltration of opioids into their lives as well as the PTSD being experienced by Ortiz's younger brother. Operating from several different viewpoints, sometimes even employing the first person, giving this a more introspective quality, Orange's beautiful prose highlights what is truly a wonderful masterwork.

Thanks to #NetGalley, Knopf, and Tommy Orange for making this advance review copy available.
I’ll admit it took me a few chapters to warm up to this story, but once I did, I did not want to put it down. The writing is beautiful and frequently moving. I appreciate how Orange varied tone and diction to convey the voices of different characters; I think only two characters were initially written in first person, and the way that changed in the later chapters to convey openness was skillfully done.
Maybe it’s weird to call a novel honest, but that’s how #Wandering Stars felt to me. Recommended.

Reading about a heritage that has been trampled on, extinguished and destroyed and to try to resurrect it in your soul, your person, is the story that Tommy Orange citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. creates for us. The stories of violence against Native American and the addiction that followed are well known but to watch this family deal with it shows incredible perseverance with a strong dose of love. And they continued ‘to believe something good could come of it’. This was a hella good book. Thank you #NetGalley and #knopf for providing me with this copy of #WanderingStars.
A solid 4.5

I wish I could shake Tommy Orange's hand. He knows the power of fiction and pushes and shoves the genre in harrowing, educating, conflicting ways. Even when I struggled to put all the characters into time (due to my own focus issues, not the writing), I held into the narrative and gasping for breath. The last chapter was a serious unforeseen gut punch in the best way possible. Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for an early read in exchange for an honest review.

I had to think about this one for an entire day before I could sort my feelings out about it. It’s a complicated story and reading it felt a bit disconnected like it was two separate stories that were forced together without much transition. But I think I have decided that was Orange’s point, to bring together an indigenous families past and present in all its disjointed and harsh trauma, and to witness the loss of their history, cultural significance, their person.
Wandering Stars is the continuation of the characters in Oranges first book There, There. It is the story of the Star and Red Feather families of Oakland California and their family’s Cheyenne ancestors generational trauma starting with the Sandcreek massacre and Carlisle Indian industrial school leading up to the situational trauma and aftermath of the Oakland PowWow shooting in There, There. Orange’s brilliant writing makes you feel the depth of discomfort that this family is experiencing in their situational and generational trauma. His writing expertly showcases how past and present trauma can destroy and disconnect indigenous Americans from their History, Language and Culture. If you would like an in depth conversation about how colonialism has affected Indigenous Americans then pick this book for your 2024 bookclub selections. There are endless topics to ponder and discuss but It won’t be published until the end of February so please put this on your TBR list asap!
Thank you Netgalley and Alfred A. Knopf for the chance to read and review this advance readers copy of Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange.

I didn't read There, There so I think that led to some confusion in reading this book. I didn't realize they were connected. It took me a while to get used to the switching to new stories/new characters throughout the book. It's almost like a collection of short stories with the characters being related. I enjoyed the stories, and now will have to go back and read There, There so I can understand some of the book better.

When I requested Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars, I was unaware of his Pultizer Prize-finalist novel THERE THERE. As I read Wandering Stars, I didn’t feel left out by not having experienced THERE THERE prior. This sequel traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of an Indigenous family.
The novel begins in Colorado with a young survivor of the massacre by the name of Star. He is forced to learn English and practice Christianity at an industrial school dedicated to the erasure of Native history, culture and identity.
Then Orange moves on to the next generation… Star’s son, Charles. Charles is tortured by a prison guard. After he meets Opal Viola, they envision a future away from the violence that follows their bloodlines.
Moving to the future in 2018, we meet Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield who is barely holding her family together after a shooting that nearly took the life of her nephew Orvil. Here, they deal with opioid addiction, gun violence, depression, racism, self-harm, PTSD and loneliness.
This is a heartbreaking and devastating historical story. The writing is compelling yet shocking. Other reviewers recommend reading THERE THERE first to get the best experience from both books.
I highly recommend for readers of historical fiction. You will either be reminded or learn much about this sad time in our history.