From the Bookshelf of Diversity in All Forms!…

There There

Tommy Orange

Start date: October 1, 2019

Finish date: October 30, 2019

Discussion: Monthly Bonus Reads

Why we're reading this: October Bonus Read- Indigenous Resistance´s Day.

There There by Tommy Orange
[close] October Bonus Read- Indigenous Resistance´s Day.

There There by Tommy Orange

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What Members Thought

Sep 25, 2020 Melania 🍒 rated it liked it

3.5|5

- Book Riots 2020 Read Harder Challenge -24. Read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author -

18 likes · Like · see review

Jan 09, 2020 Mariah Roze rated it really liked it

Shelves: diversity-in-all-forms-book-club

I read this book for the Diversity in All Forms book club. If you would like to join the discussion here is the link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

"We all came to the powwow for different reasons. The messy, dangling threads of our lives got pulled into a braid--tied to the back of everything we'd been doing all along to get us here. There will be death and playing dead, there will be screams and unbearable silences, forever-silences, and a kind of time-travel, at the moment the gunsh ...more

16 likes · Like · see review

Jan 21, 2022 Jan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audible-books, authors-of-color, contemporary, fiction, literary-fiction, american, indigenous

This debut novel by Tommy Orange is a masterpiece!!!!!

The novel introduces us to First Nation people living in Oakland, California. It begins with a prologue describing the brutality they suffered at the hands of white soldiers and settlers, "People who take and take and take and take."

"Getting us to cities was supposed to be the final, necessary step in our assimilation, absorption, erasure, the completion of a five-hundred-year-old genocidal campaign. But the city made us new, and we made it o This debut novel by Tommy Orange is a masterpiece!!!!!

The novel introduces us to First Nation people living in Oakland, California. It begins with a prologue describing the brutality they suffered at the hands of white soldiers and settlers, "People who take and take and take and take."

"Getting us to cities was supposed to be the final, necessary step in our assimilation, absorption, erasure, the completion of a five-hundred-year-old genocidal campaign. But the city made us new, and we made it ours. We didn’t get lost amid the sprawl of tall buildings, the stream of anonymous masses, the ceaseless din of traffic. We found one another, started up Indian Centers, brought out our families and powwows, our dances, our songs, our beadwork."

We are introduced to eleven main characters who each have chapters specifically devoted to them and their stories. These characters, often unwittingly, are interconnected by occupation, blood, or simply by chance. They each have insecurities about their identities as First Nation people, many are suffering from alcoholism, poverty, family tragedy and disfunctionality. For example, Jacquie Red Feather struggles with alcoholism:

"Jacquie kneeled in front of the minifridge. In her head she heard her mom say, “The spider's web is a home and a trap.” And even though she never really knew what her mom meant by it, she’d been making it make sense over the years, giving it more meaning than her mom probably ever intended. In this case Jacquie was the spider, and the minifridge was the web. Home was to drink. To drink was the trap. Or something like that. The point was Do not open the fridge. And she didn’t."

The power of storytelling is a strong theme in the book which draws from deep cultural roots. As our characters struggle with balancing their personal identities and their cultural ones, the power of storytelling comes into play.

These are voices I have not heard before--probably because I wasn't listening. The book has taught me that no matter our tribe, clan or cultural identify, we need to lift each another up regardless of our personal connections to each other. The American people can certainly learn a great deal from this book, regardless of their cultural identity.

My favorite character was Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield. I could relate to her as a little child in 1970 when her mother brought Opal and her sister Jacquie to protest at Alcatraz (which actually happened, by the way.) She clung to her toy bear Two Shoes. I had a stuffed dog named Lady that I clung to. I loved her also as a great aunt/grandmother.

I know these characters will carry with me for a long time, and I will continue to discover connections and meaning from them. This is a great book! Give it a read!! ...more

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Aug 13, 2020 Michaela rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: native-americans

Liked the beginning, but afterwards it got slow and ended diappointingly and not according to the Native American approach.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 05, 2020 Nanci rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, audio

I am a big outlier for this book! I love learning about different cultures and particularly Natives. I have read many books on their culture both historical fiction and non-fiction. I was so looking forward to reading this by an author new to me that had mostly 4 and 5 star reviews. It was really a let down for me.
I listened to the audio version, which was well-done. The biggest issue for me was the cursing. I know the author was trying to be authentic to the characters in the book, but it was ...more

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