Tommy Orange’s debut novel, There There, begins with a quote by Gertrude Stein that mirrors its title: “there is no there there.”Stein’s quote comes from her 1937 autobiography where she’s referencing the disappearance of Oakland, her childhood home, which is also Orange’s hometown. The quote suggests that while the town still exists, is still a place to which one might come home, it is fundamentally changed—any homecoming is accompanied by a sense of absence. something lost.
There There both begins and ends with the same specter of reunion and loss: the concluding scene takes place at a pow wow at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, an event that’s supposed to be a gathering to honor Native community and culture but ends instead in tragedy, with some characters dead and others whose fates remain unknown. Readers who found themselves wondering what happened after the final pages of There There will be pleased to learn that Wandering Stars, Orange’s second novel, continues the narrative There There began, although it initially takes readers back before bringing them forward again.
The novel begins with an exposition on the U.S. government’s varied attempts to eradicate Native people, absorb their lands, and assimilate their children, before taking an incisive look at the Native boarding schools like Carlisle, where Native children were shaped and reshaped into “citizens” which necessitated that they leave their Nativeness behind. As the horrifying parlance goes, “you killed the Indian to save the man.” After the recounting in broad strokes how Native people, land, and identity were colonized by the U.S. government, Orange hones in on the descendants of Jude Star, the survivor of the 1864 Sand Creek massacre, and follows them for nearly two centuries before returning to the tense, tragic events of the pow wow. Orange’s moving narrative answers questions about what happened to the beloved characters from There There but also offers explores the inherent contradictions of how Native communities—especially those that resist lingering stereotypes—identify, survive, and are understood in the twenty-first century.
Wandering Stars is a novel that raises questions about genocidal violence and the trauma it passes on, colonialism and its legacies, the realities of addiction, what it means to be Native in this country. Part of what makes this novel so masterful is that it does not attempt to give us simple answers to any of these questions; instead this novel tries to answer those questions in complex, unexpected and brilliantly conveyed ways. I’m excited to discuss this powerful story with you over the next few weeks. And we will be in conversation with Tommy on March 21st at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST.
What a perfectly timed post. I just finished "There There" last night. (I'm still tender.) On to Wandering Stars...
Check the book link at top of the page below when you can.
https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/