by Tommy Orange
"For the sake of knowing, of understanding, Wandering Stars blew my heart into a thousand pieces and put it all back together again. This is a masterwork that will not be forgotten, a masterwork that will forever be part of you.” —Morgan Talty, bestselling author of Night of the Living Rez
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.
"For the sake of knowing, of understanding, Wandering Stars blew my heart into a thousand pieces and put it all back together again. This is a masterwork that will not be forgotten, a masterwork that will forever be part of you.” —Morgan Talty, bestselling author of Night of the Living Rez
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.
Reviews-
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Starred review from December 18, 2023
Orange follows up his PEN/Hemingway-winning There There with a stirring portrait of the fractured but resilient Bear Shield-Red Feather family in the wake of the Oakland powwow shooting that closed out the previous book. The sequel is wider in scope, beginning with stories of the family’s ancestors before catching up to the present. Those ancestors include Jude Star, who barely survives the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre in what is now Colorado as a youth and is sent to a prison in St. Augustine, Fla., where he’s forced to learn English and read the Bible. Jude later works as a farmhand in Oklahoma and raises his son Charles, who is sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. As a young man in the early 1900s, Charles drifts into San Francisco, where he becomes addicted to morphine while contending with the trauma of forced assimilation and unspecified abuse at Carlisle (“There is something deeper down, doing its dark work on him some further forgotten thing, but what is it? His life is about knowing it is there but not ever wanting to see it”). In the present, high school freshman Orvil Red Feather recovers at home in Oakland after being struck by a stray bullet during the powwow. Like Charles, he becomes addicted to opiates and struggles to connect with his cultural identity after his grandmother neglects to share details about their Cheyenne heritage. With incandescent prose and precise insights, Orange mines the gaps in his characters’ memories and finds meaning in the stories of their lives. This devastating narrative confirms Orange’s essential place in the canon of Native American literature. Agent: Nicole Aragi, Aragi, Inc. -
This audiobook reveals that Orange is among the most insightful novelists writing today and a poet of pain. Among this segmented novel's stellar performances, Charley Flyte's reading of Victoria Bear Shield's dramatic monologue to her unborn daughter is a tour de force--a haunting performance with an expressive tone and intimate voice. Alma Cuervo portrays Jacquie Red Feather and Victoria--the unborn infant, now a grandmother--with candor, compassion, and a thoughtful pace. Shaun Taylor-Corbett performs some of the narration--in particular, the cri de coeur for Indian rights--and is especially convincing as the wounded Orvil Red Feather. Calvin Joyal captures Lony, the innocent seeker. Set in Oakland, Orange's immersive novel is a compelling look at the experience of urban Indians--a powerful listening experience. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
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Starred review from May 1, 2024
Orange's second novel orbits the landscape from his unflinching debut, There There, mining Orvil Red Feather's lineage, beginning with his great-great-great-grandfather Jude Star, who narrowly escapes the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre and is later imprisoned in Florida. The trauma inherited from these earliest relatives--notably, the bitter legacy of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School--reverberates throughout Orvil's unsettled life, which strains under the weight of addiction and grief. An ensemble of 10 talented narrators join their voices in an alternating chorus as they read the characters' memories, experiences, and thoughts. Standout performances include MacLeod Andrews as Carlisle School founder Richard Henry Pratt, whose weathered voice reveals deep-seated racism masquerading as benevolence. Blackfeet narrator Shaun Taylor-Corbett's depiction of Orvil is layered, capturing his descent into worsening addiction and also his cautious path toward recovery. Oglala Lakota/Mohawk narrator Charley Flyte provides a steady, sorrowful monologue directed toward her unborn daughter, and Blackfeet/Cherokee narrator Curtis Michael Holland brings out the prickly momentum in Sean Price's search for belonging. VERDICT A devastating account of forced assimilation, the search for cultural identity, and the ravages of addiction, told through the shifting perspectives of Orange's layered, wounded characters. An essential purchase.--Sarah Hashimoto
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
