There There- Love it

There There

By Tommy Orange

Kindle E-Reader

What a spectacular read! Right from the start, I'm warning y'all. This is a long post. So much to talk about with the book.  Reading the book felt like I was re-living my English class again. As I was re-reading I was recalling structure, plot, symbolism, climax, characters, and setting, point of view, etc. I left college some time ago. I love books I can break down and do critical thinking with.

He wrote the novel because he felt Urban Native Indians was left out in the Native Indian Canon.  He wanted different points of view. The author didn't keep it to one point of view, but several.  It has themes of isolation, identity issues, traditions, heritage, tribal vs. non-tribal, labeling, miscast, relocation of native Indians in the 1950s to the city

 The traditional has plenty to say.  In the Urban Native Indian experience, not much has been written. He has written a cross-section of Native Indian experiences in the urban setting of Oakland, Ca. . It is autobiographical as you read you will see bits of the author blended in.

 What it means to know your roots. What if your family doesn't want to share your traditions because of shame.   What does it mean to be Native?   What does it look like? Did you hear about Wounded Knee? Did you hear about Alcatraz? What I found so hard for us as Americans to talk about is the shameful history. But, we do have to talk about it. Why is it any other history of minorities can be spoken? But, not the Native American Indian. Why is that? You hear about anyone else. But, they are the hidden minority. 

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The poetic writing of living on a tribal reservation and relocating to the cities describes the Urban Native Indian, Urban Indians feel at home walking in the shadow of a downtown building, We came to know the downtown Oakland skyline better tha we did any sacred mountain range, the redwoods in the Oakland hills better than any other deep wild forest, We know the sound of the freeway better than we do rivers, the howl of the distant trains better than wolf howls, we know the smell of gas and freshly wet concrete and burned rubber better than we do the smell of cedar or sage or even fry bread- which isn't traditional, but nothing is original, everthing comes from something that came before, which was once nothing, We ride buses, trains, and cars across over, and under concrete plains. Being Indian has never been about returning to the land. The land is everywhere or nowhere.

The structure of the novel, the writing style, the characters, the plot, and the sentences were beautifully written. The only thing I could say is the language( the profanity) could have been less. I have never read a book uniquely written as There There. 

 The author put in a prologue and the interlude which I have never read before in a novel. It is actually written as an essay explaining the Native American Indian vs, The United States of America conflict for 300 years or more. to the present day.   If you don't plan on reading the novel. If nothing else read the prologue, and interlude.    

it is pretty powerful. It is gut-wrenching and pulls at your heartstrings.  We as Americans have read it before. But the way he re-writes it with his words is powerful and thought-provoking. At first, while reading... Now mind you I had to re-read a few chapters over and over again to finally get the hook.

I loved how the author used each chapter for each individual character.  Which I felt at first should have been written as short stories. But, now I realize why he wrote it that way. If you can believe this. There are twelve characters to keep straight. I used a cheat sheet to keep track. Even though I had it I still had a bit of trouble keeping them straight. Thank goodness it was each chapter for each individual character rather than many different characters in one chapter. Could you imagine more than one character in each chapter, that would have mind-blowing, lol😕.  The ending was climatic and converged to a powwow.

Many voices( characters) in the book converge to one voice as the climax is proceeding as one community. I just loved how the author was able to pull it off, wow!.  The real true writer how wrote one individual character and blended some of the characters and intertwined them into the big picture.

 The symbolisms and metaphors in the novel-The spider webs, and spider legs. What does it mean? Watch out for them in the story. It gives greater meaning and depth to the novel.

I cheated and watched and read a few virtual book talks with Tommy Orange. Perhaps that is why I am awestruck by the novel. I did more research while reading the book as well. I watched and listened to Native Indian music, watched a powwow, watched movies related to the book which I thought was more accurate.

 

Our book club discussed the book. They were not as awestruck as I. Perhaps its because they don't usually read books out of their comfort zone and didn't give the book a chance. Some of them said as they were reading. This happens in every culture, which is true. And something we already know. Watching movies, reading books, and newspapers. But, the author found a different way to write about it in fiction form. 

 

 The author, Tommy Orange is a bi-racial Urban Native Indian. His mother is white and his father is Native Indian. His father's tribe is Arapahoe, and Cheyanne from Oklahoma. . It is amazing, Tommy didn't read when he was growing up until later on. . He was promised a job at the University. But first he had to publish something. He was not expecting it to go further.  Instead, other writers in the program liked his work. They passed it on to their publicist's and was good timing. The rest of course was history. 

 There There received the Hemingway and Pen award. I recommend the book if you like character study, reading diverse literature, reading novels that are social justice in nature, and are willing to go out of your comfort zone. The book is perfect timing for the time we are in now. my recommendation is, CHECK IT OUT!