Lyrical, hopeful, and heartbreaking, Orange’s Wandering Stars will keep reader’s attention throughout. Though at times difficult to follow, the family tree included at the beginning of the book is a must when it comes to understanding the generational trauma of this Native family.

Tommy Orange does it again. I was absolutely entranced with his cast of characters and their stories throughout his second novel. This is great writing and excellent storytelling. If you loved “There, There” you’ve gotta read this one, and if you haven’t read either - you’re missing out!

Immediately I was impressed with Tommy Orange's writing and was hooked. Reflective, a lot of symbolism, and emotional.

Spanning multi-generations following the Sandy Creek Massacre, the novel demonstrates how society has tried to erase the Native American Culture over time and how traditions are carried along.

Told from different character's perspectives, you might need a pen and notebook to keep track of them all. This novel is ambitious. I can't stop raving about it and I never read There, There, but I will be sure to read it soon.

This novel isn't for everyone and it can be a challenging read, but so worth it.

This book was really amazing how you tied.All these people together through this century. It starts out with the Sam Creek massacre. When the Ch.E. YA. N. E! We're being massacred by the united states Soldiers. The boys tried to run away but they were eventually captured and bought to the Fort. Star was put on a train going to florida. He was also sent to the boarding school called CAR l. ISL pin Pennsylvania by a man P r a t t. Who started the school. It was rough for them there because they were taking Wait there are native american customs. They were also dressed up a military uniforms. I was shocked to find out.They were actually at At washington a parade in their little military uniforms. Life was very hard for me. Star had a boy named Charles.You also went to that school but was very difficult for him and kept running away. He eventually made it way out to california but he had addiction to opiates. Opal was his girlfriend and she found a way to go to california as a helper in a white man's house. Things do not go well for them. And Charles eventually died, but opal had a little girl... She died giving birth to the little girl. The white people raise this little girl named v.I.C.I.Y. She was also had a very hard childhood. And was an alcoholic and like men. She had a local name Jacqueline.She named this girl after her friend who helped her a lot. They lived in oakland california for the different times. There's a lot of issues with drugs in this book which you can see why people turn to them. Jac q UI eat had a very hard upbringing as well.. She also had 3 little boys, but they did not live with her. But with her mother instead. She was addicted to drugs and alcohol as well. The grandmother tried really hard to raise these kids.But things distant seem to go very well. The oldest boy charles was shot and he became addicted to drugs and then met a friend Named s e a n. Sean's bobby made drugs in the basement because his wife died. Mike also was a drug dealer in this book as well. The 2 boys were not affected by this.Wanted to become more the native americans because they were tracing their history. It was a very interesting book. How things can go arise? When you break down the family, you can see the generation after generation in this book.

Thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for this advanced copy!

Wandering Stars is an incredible tale of the effects of generational trauma, even as identities are erased or morphed for the modern world. Orange once again welcomes us into his world by first introducing many people to the Sand Creek massacre and the effects of christian boarding schools on indigenous and native children. Fast forward and we see the challenges that native americans face in modern America, a country where they have been killed, moved, adopted, and are dealing with addiction issues. Orange's changes in point-of-view allow us into multiple minds as they deal with trauma and life, showing what happens when society disconnects people from their native land and culture. Orange's prose is wonderful and his pacing was great. I can't wait to read what comes next.

"Wandering Stars" is a captivating novel that explores the complexities of family, heritage, and the profound impact of addiction. Through a tapestry of perspectives spanning different generations, the author masterfully weaves a story that delves into the ways our roots can shape us, and the unwavering support that family can provide, even when it may not be felt.

The novel follows the journeys of several characters, each grappling with their own challenges and personal demons. The narrative shifts seamlessly between their voices, offering readers a multifaceted understanding of the characters' experiences and the consequences that addiction can have on loved ones.

At the heart of the story is the powerful bond of family, and the lengths they will go to support one another, even in the face of adversity. The author skillfully navigates the nuances of these relationships, capturing the delicate balance between unconditional love and the strain that addiction can place on familial ties.

Through its rich character development and poignant exploration of themes, "Wandering Stars" is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of embracing one's heritage. This captivating novel is a must-read for those seeking a deeply moving and thought-provoking literary experience.

Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars is a masterpiece, and should be required reading in this country. The book begins with the “wandering Stars” patriarch, a Southern Cheyenne survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, who was taken as a prisoner of war and jailed in the star-shaped prison-castle in St. Augustine, Florida. There, he and other Native prisoners had their hair cut, were given military uniforms and were ultimately forced to adopt Anglo names (becoming, in this case Jude Star).

Jude’s son Charles and other Native children suffer a similar fate by being forced to attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School where “their long hair was cut, their clothes were taken, and new names were handed out along with military uniforms,” in service of the slogan “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.”

Orange shows how addiction became a common way to cope with generational trauma caused by this war against the Native population, passed down through members of the Star family. Yet, even in diminished circumstances, the characters survive through art and creativity, as well as connecting with their Native heritage as passed down in oral and written form, and a reckoning with what has been taken from the Native people generally. This novel is beautifully written in fire. 5.0 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a complimentary advanced reader’s copy of this book.

this was excellent.

it had so much to say about america, about family, about addiction, about being native, about cultural identity, and it did it all in such beautiful language and so precisely.

there were parts of this where it lost me, and there was one perspective i don't think added more than it took away, but the last sentences of this brought tears to my eyes. striking.

Love, love Tommy Orange. I had no idea of the significance of his book titles before realizing that the lyrics from Portishead's Wandering Stars is also a reference to the bible verse, did a deep dive into that one. Unlike with Demon Copperhead I was somehow able to stick with these stories of fractured family and addiction that felt critical to hear, redemptive and hopeful.

This is a portrait of a family who experiences addiction throughout generations, and the way that they try to cope, still live their lives, and figure out what that means as a Native American in Oakland, CA.
After reading There, There, I was excited to come back into the world that Tommy Orange built in that book. Although this is a stand-alone, it is also nice to read familiar names. I found it fascinating to start generations back from the characters we already knew from There, There.
The characters that Orange gives us are broken, sad, traumatized, and struggle with addiction for a multitude of reasons but they also have some light in their lives. Each character has their own voice and we learn how much family means to each of them. I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading Orange again.

After reading There, There I thought I would never know peace. Finally, Tommy Orange gave us Wandering Stars.

What a beautiful, devastating, heartrending story of colonialism, addiction and recovery, family and community, grief, queerness, finding and knowing oneself. I am blown away by Orange's ability to move fluidly from one character to the next, each developing such a clear and vivid life and personality that I feel I know them personally.

This book brought me to tears in heartbreak, relief, joy, devastation, and hope. Read There, There, then read Wandering Stars. Then go hug somebody you love.

This is my first by Tommy Orange, and based on reviews from other readers, I do wish I had read There, There first, as it would likely have helped orient me within the family and the timeline. This is an unflinching look at the multigenerational trauma experienced by Indigenous families who survived European colonization and genocide. Wandering Stars picks up in the wake up the Sand Creek Massacre and then explores each following generation in episodic, character-driven chapters that jump between third, second and first-person. At about the halfway point, we jump ahead to 2018 and our story begins to circle two primary characters - both Indigenous high-school boys living in Oakland with their complicated families and nascent addictions to painkillers. There is a throughline in school trauma across generations - from the violent imprisonment and forced assimilation of boarding schools like Carlisle to today's schools rocked by gun violence and inequity.

This read was ultimately not for me. It didn't stand alone easily, and I felt I was missing too much of There, There to really understand these big character jumps (requesting this ARC when I hadn't read There, There is ENTIRELY on me - I truly thought this would stand alone). I also don't love overwrought prose - sentences that are routinely paragraph-length run-ons remind me why I don't read as much lit fiction anymore. These are my own preferences, though, and I would still say this is an important and propulsive read that will likely be appreciated by those who loved There, There.

This book is not comfortable to read. If you are not aware of how intentional the white colonists were in wiping out all Native Americans you will be after you read this.

The story takes place over generations, painting both an emotional and historical picture of how Native Americans have been marginalized and oppressed in the country. It's all done in the context of compelling story telling and beautiful prose.

Tommy Orange is a national treasure.

I didn’t realize this was connected to There There until I got about halfway in and recognized the characters and stories from that book.

This novel felt like two different books, first half in the past with a handful of characters, and then the second half in the present with a different generation.

While I really enjoyed the novel, similar to There There, I felt like there were SO many characters that sometimes it was hard to follow. The second half was easier because I knew those characters from the author’s first book and it felt like falling back into where the first book left off.

While I liked that aspect, I wish this book would have been entirely the first set of characters. I think the understanding is to get the history of this family, and to see how the events impacted each future generation, but with all the characters and different stories, it importance of the first half was a little lost. I felt like I’d finished a different novel than I’d started.

I think if you loved There There, you’ll love this one. The style of writing is the same, and you revisit characters from that book and their story continues, and you get more of a backstory on their history.

Content Warnings: Addiction, Drug Abuse, Self Harm, Suicide Attempt

Thank you @netgalley and @aaknopf for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Reading challenge category - Booklist Queen 2023: Dual timelines

In the extended prologue, we meet Jude Star, a survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864. Throughout the rest of the novel, the reader embarks on an odyssey through the lives of multiple generations of Star's relatives and other characters whose lives intersect in poignant ways. In an unexpected turn, we revisit characters from Orange's first work, "There, There."

Tommy Orange is skilled in his character development as he creates rich, well-rounded characters who have unique stories and voices. He navigates Native American heritage and assimilation with diverse experiences and authenticity.

While I enjoyed "There, There" more, this was a great read. Thanks to #NetGalley for the arc ebook.

The deliberate stripping of Native American identity and culture is not that kind of situation discussed in Martin Puchner’s illuminating book about the heterogeneity of culture—the notion that given cultures are not freshly sprouted and unadulterated stock. Rather, culture as we use the term is a mixed bag of borrowing or imposing culture systems through invasion and colonization or simply the normal blending that results from mass migrations and resettlements.

In this story, the cultural stripping is not being done by a foreign power. It is not a thing of centuries past in some distant and mysterious world. Rather, it is an instance of one group of Americans—who it might be noted hold the entire stock of hard and soft power—deciding its culture is superior to that of another American group. The story that unfolds in this book is about generational trauma and the challenge of thriving as forced adoptees of a transplant culture. It is about today’s world and should serve as a reminder that it is naïve and dangerous to force one’s view of the world on another’s agency.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

i liked this second work by orange a lot! i didnt expect this to pull in the historical element so much, it varied in time periods a lot more then i anticipated and more then his debut did. customers seem to be really responding to the shelf talker i made for these and selling consistently!

Let me first point out that you will not breeze through Tommy Orange’s books. His storytelling is beautiful, but the topics he covers are difficult: colonization, erasure, forced assimilation, generational trauma, racism, and the resulting consequences of fractured identity, addiction, and mental health struggles.

There, There ends with the Red Feather family. Wandering Stars picks up that story and starts from the beginning of the Bear Shield/Red Feather bloodline and works forward. Then, Wandering Stars moves past the aftermath at the conclusion of There, There, and into the future for the Red Feather family. Each book reads as a stand-alone novel, but I recommend reading them in order to experience Tommy Orange’s complete heartbreaking yet hopeful storytelling.

His writing explains the neglected, lost, or forgotten (pick whatever word you prefer but ultimately erased) history in American history books. But unlike any history book, his masterful storytelling makes you feel actually how heavy and heartbreaking this history is. So Impactful! Metaphors, analogies, and, at times, mockery (these points I found really humorous) fill the pages of this brilliant literary piece that should be required reading for high school and college students. I will forever read ANYTHING the Tommy Orange writes!!

I was a little lost at first, mostly because I was reading on a tablet and couldn't refer to the family tree as I normally would. I liked when I recognized the characters from There, There and enjoyed the end of the story. He is such a talented writer.

When a sequel to There, There was announced I was thrilled. There, There ended on a huge cliffhanger and I had no idea if there would be any closure. This is a difficult book to review. The writing is excellent, and I would expect nothing less from the great Tommy Orange. The book follows the Red Feather family back to Jude Star, a Cheyenne man who survived both the massacre of his people and years in prison, which would become the first residential school. I enjoyed the first part o the book the most which details the lives of the Star/Redfeather ancestors. Orange doesn't go into great detail about life in the prison and residential schools, but the impact on Jude and others is clear. The trauma of being unmoored from your culture continues with the current Redfeathers: Opal, Jackie, Orvill, Loother and Lony. The current section is even more difficult to read because you care about these characters so much, but there doesn't seem to be much hope for the future. The epilogue offers some solace.