There There

A Novel

By: Tommy Orange

Narrated by: Darrell Dennis, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Alma Ceurvo, Kyla Garcia

Length: 8 hrs

Publisher's Summary

One of the 10 Best Books of the Year - The New York Times Book Review

Winner of the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

One of the best books of the year: The Washington Post, NPR, Time, O, The Oprah Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, GQ, The Dallas Morning News, Buzzfeed, BookPage, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews.

New York Times Best Seller

Tommy Orange's "groundbreaking, extraordinary" (The New York Times) There There is the "brilliant, propulsive" (People Magazine) story of 12 unforgettable characters, Urban Indians living in Oakland, California, who converge and collide on one fateful day. It's "the year's most galvanizing debut novel" (Entertainment Weekly).

As we learn the reasons that each person is attending the Big Oakland Powwow - some generous, some fearful, some joyful, some violent - momentum builds toward a shocking yet inevitable conclusion that changes everything. Jacquie Red Feather is newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind in shame. Dene Oxendene is pulling his life back together after his uncle's death and has come to work at the powwow to honor his uncle's memory. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield has come to watch her nephew Orvil, who has taught himself traditional Indian dance through YouTube videos and will perform in public for the very first time. There will be glorious communion, and a spectacle of sacred tradition and pageantry. And there will be sacrifice, and heroism, and loss. 

There There is a wondrous and shattering portrait of an America few of us have ever seen. It's "masterful...white-hot...devastating" (The Washington Post) at the same time as it is fierce, funny, suspenseful, thoroughly modern, and impossible to pause. Here is a voice we have never heard - a voice full of poetry and rage, exploding onto the page with urgency and force. Tommy Orange has written a stunning novel that grapples with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and profound spirituality, and with a plague of addiction, abuse, and suicide. This is the book that everyone is talking about right now, and it's destined to be a classic.

©2018 Tommy Orange (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"Masterful. White-hot. A devastating debut novel." (Ron Charles, The Washington Post)

"A gripping deep dive into urban indigenous community in California: an astonishing literary debut!" (Margaret Atwood, via Twitter)

"Visceral... A chronicle of domestic violence, alcoholism, addiction, and pain, the book reveals the perseverance and spirit of the characters... Unflinching candor... Highly recommended." (Library Journal)

Some powerful characters; abrupt, unfinished end

Tommy Orange's debut novel is strongest when the interior voices of its main characters lead us through the challenges of addiction, poverty and identity filtered through generations of Native American oppression and rich - but fragmented and incomplete - cultural and spiritual heritage. The urban Oakland boy whose Great Aunt does not share Indian culture with him, but who dances the sacred dances as a toddler and prepares for his first pow-wow in secret, watching You Tube. The only-a-few-days sober woman who came of age on Alcatraz during the native occupation and is looking for the daughter she gave up for adoption. The internet-addicted young man whose way out of his dark bedroom is in planning the Big Oakland Pow-Wow.

Orange's language is quite beautiful in many places, full of lyric and often mystical. He shows the reader the world of big-city urban Indians, an undertold American perspective. Some of the characters - in particular those connected to two main women in the book - are beautifully drawn.

Orange is less successful with the plotting of a crime to be committed at the Big Oakland Pow-Wow. In my view, the characters connected to the crime were less successfully articulated and often confused me as a reader. The real climax of this book happens at the pow-wow when many family members are reunited, not when the crime is committed. In focusing too much on the crime, I felt Orange left key details of the pow-wow under developed.

The ending is abrupt and unsatisfying, with many plot lines unresolved. The book felt unfinished.

Based on the lyricism and much of the character development, I would read another book by Tommy Orange.

A gorgeous, white-hot debut

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie once gave a TED talk called “The Danger of the Single Story,” outlining the negative effects of reducing complex people and histories to the same narrow, well-worn narrative. I’m convinced that her heart will swell, like mine, at the arrival of Tommy Orange’s incendiary first novel. Written—and narrated—from the perspectives of many characters, whose lives intersect in unexpected and technically impressive ways, the connected stories pay profound attention to the individual experiences of urban Native Americans. And yet for all its depth of purpose and history, it’s absolutely un-put-downable. Visionary, mind-bendingly virtuosic, and racing to a searing finish, There Thereis a work of sacred intensity. I’m still reeling.

Highly recommend.

As an urban Native American woman, this book has touched me deep within my heart. Books that are written about Natives usually have a pretty stereotypical plot about our people on reservations, and don’t delve into the experiences of urban Indians and how our relationship with our culture and traditions is different. I’m so overjoyed that the author is Native, because I’m sick of seeing white men or white woman writing books about our experiences.

I loved this book and just finished it, but plan on re listening to it immediately. We still exist; don’t forget that.

Amazing!

There There is a wonderful work of fiction that represents very real experiences in urban indigenous communities. Tommy Orange does an amazing job in his storytelling, creating characters who are so complex that they could each stand alone in a book of their own. I highly recommend this book.

Amazing!

This is an incredible story. it is sensorial and heavy and heart breaking and triumphant and very, very human. It is a story of the past brilliantly woven into today and gives hope for a future. The narration is a gift and makes the story shine with even greater authenticity than reading the book. I highly recommend it and believe it may be one of the best audible stories I have ever experienced.

confusing to listen to as audiobook

the story was fairly interesting and great writing, but very hard to follow with so many characters and different narration styles.

Stunning

The word, "stunning", is often used to denote, "good looking" person/art/attire. But here it means for me this shocking reality of the cruelty we humans can and do inflict on each other. First couple of chapters, my breath is withheld with the very early history lesson explained in the book; my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, ultimately shattered. Then, each character, of which there are many, hammers the reader with the inequalities and injustices that exist for all indigenous people, tho specifically native americans here. I'm reluctant to used even that term to identify. This is a harsh story of painful realities in my country and it's incredibly well written. This is not news for me but I grew up comfortable and white in a stable family, so I make it a point to peel back the layers with books like this one. It's powerful. It's provocative. It made me cry. The narrators were very good. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in relearning some American history and making sure they can see truth exposed.

I’m Invested in their lives now… What happens next?

I’m invested in their lives now! I want to know what happens next.
I like things to be tied up and neat, but I know that life isn’t like that.
So this book, like life… Like native American lives… Is not neat, it’s not tidy, and we don’t know where it’s going to go next.
I hope this is made into a movie.

Wonderfully compelling characters

It takes a while for the plot to come together. The stories of the individual characters keep you engaged until the pieces come together .

Heads Vs Tails

The book is a toss up. I think this would have best been read by reading and not listening to. The start and middle felt disjointed but that might be because I couldn't see the chapters names, the names of all the different characters to refer to. There were alot of characters.

I am glad I didn't quit when half way through like I wanted to. The last quarter of the book is where the characters started to come together and where everything in the begging started to make sense. I liked the work up to the final end and how everyone came together at the one event. Nice job there.

This book has potential. Maybe if you start listening. Write down the names of the characters and their bylines. It will help when you get further on in the book.

I do love the reflection on Native American Indians and their history.