There There by Tommy Orange

There There is Tommy Orange's debut novel. Every chapter in this novel is told from the point of view of a multi-generational group of American Indians that culminates in an event at a powwow. It's an interesting look at the world of American Indians, far removed from the stereotypical look at poverty on reservations, focusing on the world of the urban American Indian.  It's poetic, historical, gripping, and really hard to read. With each new character, there was some sort of Big Issue that came up (sexual assault, domestic violence, suicide, drugs, alcoholism, tribal status/identity, etc.) that is a problem in all types of communities, but among American Indians in particular, that could be tied back to the original genocide of Native communities. The novel's strength is not in its plot, which was convoluted and confusing at the very end, but how the author managed to tie these very real, very contemporary issues to historic injustices through the lens of daily lives of urban dwellers. 

There are passages, particularly in the prologue and the interlude, that I think I might use as an assignment in my race and ethnic politics class.  You know how the website Genius annotates lyrics from songs?  I think it would be a fun project for my students to have to annotate some paragraphs of this novel. Maybe at the end of a unit on American Indians, they could put together all they've learned about the history and policy and make a poster of annotations to really demonstrate their cumulative learning.

So, in general, I wouldn't say this is an easy read, but it was interesting and very well done.  Thumbs up from me.