There There

A Novel

By: Tommy Orange

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

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

Too sad for me right now

Had to stop halfway through. It's a brilliant book and perfectly narrated but I need less bleak lit right now.

Took a while to get going

tragically true. though the story took a while to start, the ending was a true peak.

Ending feels contrived

I feel like the author has watched too many video games, and maybe forgot to count — I’ll avoid saying more to avoid giving things away — but as a result, the ending just doesn’t work for me. It also feels unresolved/unfinished, like he got tired of writing. Up until then, I thought the book was great, with insights into a different culture and a story that was taking shape and moving along.

almost a five star book

I would have given it five stars but so much was left unresolved. I know that isn't mandatory, but I still wanted it and it's my review.

Great stories

The ending was frustrating, but I loved how all of these stories weaved together. This book made me reflect on a lot of things in my own life, I savored every chapter.

Overrated

Not sure why the many rave reviews. Nor did I think it added anything new to my understanding of a very dark legacy of this country’s sad history of mistreatment of and prejudice against those without 100% Anglo Saxon blood in their veins.

There There

So many important stories delivered so well, so thoughtfully, by author and performers alike. A gorgeous rendering of an urgently needed and achingly strong novel.

Compelling and vivid

This book is phenomenal. I lived the multiple perspectives and the strong voice. I will be looking at anything else thus author creates, as well as listening to this one again soon!

Powerful Vivid Writing

It's a book with flaws. But what book doesn't. I wish we could have gotten to know the characters better. But the parts we did get to know are so well written. What is it like to grow up as a Native American in a 2018 urban environment? I wish the book had ended differently but that is the author's story.
The narration with different voices is excellent. The story is a bit choppy but the writing is just so good, so many well done detail that I have left this book wanting MORE! I was truly sorry when it ended. Not long enough.

Great story

Very well written and enlightening. Sometimes emotional but worth it. I highly recommend this book to everyone.