Book Review: There There by Tommy Orange

Here was another book which my mom recommended to me during my most recent visit to upstate New York. It was one of a couple, but I picked this book because it was thin and seemed like it might be read quickly. That helps when you are going through a reading swoon as I was at the time, and this book helped me get out of that. The other reason that I opted for this book first was that it was about contemporary Native American culture, which is something which you generally do not hear about much. So it felt like it could be an education in that regard.

Before I go any farther, however, let me give the usual warnings to stop reading if you intend to read this book, because there will be spoilers ahead.

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT

Okay, so by now if you are still reading this, I have to imagine that you either are familiar with this story already, or perhaps you do not mind the spoilers. Please just don't say that you were not given advanced warning. 

This was the first book published by Tommy Orange. It was highly regarded and received considerable praise. After reading it, there really is no mystery why this is the case. It is powerful, intelligent, thought-provoking, and the characters and situations feel real. There are times when you feel that you can relate to some characters, and times when you feel horrified by the characters and their actions. Through it all, the suspense builds. An excellent novel, truly.

When I first started reading it - having deliberately avoided any kind of reviews or pretty much anything, so that I could get a fresh experience without any kind of expectations or foreknowledge - I assumed that this was a collection of more or less unassociated short stories. There are a bunch of characters, but they seem unrelated, with noting to do with one another. It seems like all that they have in common is Native American heritage.

However, that changes as you read on. Suddenly, you remember this or that character from earlier in the book. And you begin to see that, however much they seemed to be separate from one another, they are actually headed towards one final event, and one conclusion. What this book seems to be about, at least at first, gets challenged quite a bit by the end.

It is a book which explores so many of the issues facing the Native American community in the modern United States. The crushing poverty which almost every character is forced to endure bleeds through on almost every page. There are numerous people who never knew their parents, and many actively are searching for them. There is violence and substance abuse and crises with numerous characters feeling an absence of any real identity. This is especially true with a seeming disconnect from their own past, feeling like they are imposters, that their connection to Native culture and heritage is tenuous at best. 

Yet, we also glimpse some hopes and dreams. Glimpses of attempts at empowerment on a community basis, such as the brief takeover of Alcatraz Island, a brief chapter in history which I had heard of before, but was admittedly unfamiliar with. There are people in desperate situations who, nevertheless, are trying to find something from life to get meaning or even to give meaning to others.

All of it culminates with a huge powwow in Oakland, California. However, it turns tragic after a planned robbery turns into what looks and feels more like a random mass shooting. Tommy Orange manages to describe these experiences through the eyes of the characters with heart wrenching effect. In fact, this book ends on a highly emotional and an atypical unknown ending. We never do find out whether some of the shooting victims actually survive or not which, in and of itself, makes this unconventional ending feel like it adds somehow to the uncertainty evident throughout this book.

As mentioned already, this was an excellent read.

Highly recommended!