There There by Tommy Orange

"Pick it up because you notice its distinctive yellow spine, its red and yellow cover. Notice that it was one of New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year (c 2018), a Pulitzer Finalist, and recipient or finalist for many other awards. Consider this from Margaret Atwood: “An astonishing literary debut,” written on the cover and the comment inside “...a comic vision haunted by profound sadness” from Louise Erdrich. If you’re into such things — reviews, awards, then by all means, sure, buy it for that.
I bought it because I remembered being intrigued by the book review on NPR and because I found the trade paperback on sale on an endcap at Powell’s amazing book emporium while vacationing in Portland. (Don’t worry, Shelly, I’ll be buying more copies!)
However, if you’re inspired to, just read it. If you’ve ever read a book that pulled your heart and soul with longing and made you cry by page 20, let this one do that to you. It’s a book that marches steadily to what you’re pretty sure might be tragedy (because that seems to be the fate of these characters), and yet is suffused with hope.
(What’s on page 20? This: "[She] makes me read her Indian stuff that I don’t always get. I like it, though, because when I do get it, I get it way down at that place where it hurts but feels better because you feel it, something you couldn’t feel before reading it, that makes you feel less alone, and like it’s not gonna hurt as much anymore.” From that character, a person many would write off, which he absolutely understands and lives every day, this is heartbreaking.)
“There There” with a comma in between is a comfort. “There is no there there” is a quote filled with memory and longing, if you read it in the context it was written. What is your “there,” I mean… where is your “there,” do you have one? Do you get to keep your there as your own, are you in control of that?
"There There" the novel will change you, from the first page of the Prologue to the final word of the Acknowledgements. My sincere hope is that you will read the Prologue and open your heart and your brain to a people’s shared history that influences every part of the lives they live, and then read the stories of these 12 characters, each making their way to the Big Oakland Powwow. Twelve is a large cast for a book under 300 pages. Initially, I wondered — do I take notes? But author Tommy Orange crafts each character so clearly, that each time they reappeared, I was reminded who was who and, more importantly, what was their longing, their purpose. It felt overwhelming, at times, in the most heart-full-of-blood way, to have these longings shared so baldly. I sat on the end of the bed next to Jacquie Red Feather, newly sober, contemplating the minibar in her hotel room. I walked with my new friend to give them courage to speak to the man they’d just learned was their father. I mourned the loss of so many, so many. I mourned the brevity of the sentence that stated a character had lost 15 family members to drugs or alcohol or associated violence. How can there be hope? Emily Dickenson wrote, “Hope is a thing with feathers.” Feathers are incredibly important to indigenous peoples’ traditions, to their way of life. And so is hope."
-Ann G.