T H E R E T H E R E

// There There // Tommy Orange // Book Review 🍂//

“They took everything and ground it down to dust as fine as gunpowder, they fired their guns into the air in victory and the strays flew out into the nothingness of histories written wrong and meant to be forgotten. Stray bullets and consequences are landing on our unsuspecting bodies even now.”

There There, tells the story of twelve (yes twelve) characters who are all introduced and have their own part to play. Set in Oakland, it centers around the Big Oakland Pow Wow, all drawn there for their own reasons, stories and emotions. What happens there will change them all.

It’s taken me a few days to digest my thoughts.

So can I just say...THAT prologue and interlude. I’ve never read such powerful writing, such an emotional punch to the face in 9 pages that left me reeling. I’ll admit I didn’t know most of the history of American Indians,the brutality they received from Europeans is mainly glossed over. Painted in a different light. It’s not taught widely in detail in the UK, and that’s such a crying shame.

In the book, it is still an underlying theme today, of cultural identity, of family and is told in a multigenerational perspective. It is a complex book, heavy and unfinished at the end. But that’s why it should be read, it isn’t the truth if you water it down. The ending, although it wasn’t my favourite, was exactly as it should be. An unfinished story, waiting for the next chapter.

Tommy Orange is a voice that should be read and heard.