I keep hearing There There by Tommy Orange described as important and eye-opening. I agree with those things. It’s also well written. But... I just never got fully invested or absorbed by the stories.

There There follows a large cast of Native American characters as their lives converge towards the Oakland Powwow, where you know an act of violence will unfold. The characters here are “urban Indians” and demonstrate that though they’ve been disenfranchised and repeatedly stolen from, they are not all the same and they are not a stereotype. The chapters all focus on one character, and kind of read like short stories. I had heard it could be hard to keep track of who was who because of this, so I paid extra attention and didn’t find it too difficult to remember and could just flip the pages back if I forgot something.

I’ve posted a lot about how I struggle with short stories, and feeling connected to or moved by them. I think that’s why I never fully felt invested in each character in this book, or overly concerned about their fate. The short story-esque style made this book less enjoyable for me - I honestly felt bored at times and just wanted to get to the next character, and I feel bad saying that.

The way the stories come together at the end is masterful, but I felt like I missed a big emotional impact because of the way the chapters jump around from person to person so quickly.

My favorite parts of the book were in Orange’s own voice in the prologue and interlude. He writes straightforwardly and unflinchingly about the history of Native Americans, from his perspective, and those parts were truly eye opening and compelling to me. I’d be inclined to read a nonfiction book of essays or something by him.

Overall, I wish I could say that I loved this one. Although it wasn’t my favorite, I do think it’s a well written book about people we don’t get to hear much about. I would encourage people to read it for themselves, at least for the history and different perspective it brings.