There There

A Novel

De: Tommy Orange

Narrado por: Darrell Dennis, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Alma Cuervo, Kyla Garcia

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.

A contemporary classic, this “astonishing literary debut” (Margaret Atwood, bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale) “places Native American voices front and center” (NPR/Fresh Air).

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

Among them is Jacquie Red Feather, newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind. Dene Oxendene, pulling his life together after his uncle’s death and working at the powwow to honor his memory. Fourteen-year-old Orvil, coming to perform traditional dance for the very first time. They converge and collide on one fateful day at the Big Oakland Powwow and together this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism

A book with “so much jangling energy and brings so much news from a distinct corner of American life that it’s a revelation” (The New York Times). It is fierce, funny, suspenseful, and impossible to put down--full of poetry and rage, exploding onto the page with urgency and force. There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable.

Don't miss Tommy Orange's new book, Wandering Stars!

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.

Ultimately Good but Tough to Follow

I had a very tough time with the non-linear structure of this book. I think this is a particularly difficult book to appreciate on audio. I almost quit after Part one, when all of the characters were introduced but not much happened to move the plot along. Then, whenever a character came back into a chapter, or as the links between the characters were revealed, I had to go back and revisit what I already knew about each one. This would have been easier to do, obviously, in a book. I finally listened to about 6 chapters again. When it all comes together in part 4, it is satisfying. The story and characters were rich and well written, and I ended up caring about them, but it overall was a frustrating experience for me. And the ending is a little ambiguous. I wish I could have given it 3.5 stars

Read rather than listen if you can

First, there are so many characters in this book. It’s hard to remember who each are when you’re not looking st their names. I don’t know why Audible doesn’t name the chapters on here with the character names — that’s how it’s written in the boo. Secondly, these were not the best readers. Just really didn’t pull you in. I think this book is better read rather than listened to if that is an option for you.

Writes to my soul

Loved this book so much. The story (stories) speak to my soul. The stories of my home, friends, family, my city, my people are held in this book. It’s emotional, but real, and we need these stories. It nourishes to know the struggles that bind us can be made into art, into beautiful stories as difficult as they may be.

Utterly Breathtaking!

That sounds cliché, but I cannot for the life of me come close to expressing it any other way: Tommy Orange's debut novel literally made me breathless. I still haven't found that breath. There, There hits you with cataclysmic force, pummels you back, drives you deep into the ground, then reaches down and pulls you back out, bones and tears and all. These are stories—hearts and hopes, loves and losses, dreams and fears, resolutions and regrets—that speak to a profound history, to a nation and a community deeply saddened, heavily burdened, and immensely beautiful. I could not stop listening from the moment I pressed play. I sat motionless, breathless, my heart breaking and reassembling for these characters. Each voice is authentic, each story is real. This novel is important, for so many reasons I cannot describe, and for so many more reasons than any review can or ever could. This novel will be talked about for generations to come. It is an acknowledgement and a reckoning; it is a memorial and a testament. I am completely humbled and broken and in awe. I've read hundreds of books in the last few years alone. Stories are my lifeblood. They are my greatest teacher and friend. This story—these stories—will stay with me forever and long after.