There There by Tommy Orange
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a beautiful and energetic book. Many of the American Indian works I read and use in the classroom are set on or around reservations, many of which are largely rural in character. Some take place in urban settings. One of the best of those urban narratives is Tommy Orange’s There There, a novel that takes place in Oakland, California. It’s told in many voices, and many of the storytellers are intricately connected, although most of these connections are unknown. For example, without really spoiling anything, at one point in the novel, a half brother and sister — who don’t know they’re half brother and sister — stand talking with an older man and woman, who together are the parents of the young woman and don’t know it. The old man is also the father of the young man (I think at least the young man suspects this to be true). . . .
I think I might offer a graduate course in American Indian literature in Spring 2019. Orange’s novel will definitely be on the reading list.