Tommy Orange's 2018 debut novel could hardly have any done better for him than it did. There There was a 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalist and the winner of that year's National Book Award. Not many first-time novelists can make that claim - but somehow, I just don't love this book.
Orange has said that he was inspired to write There There because urban Native American communities, like his own in Oakland, California, are largely invisible to the rest of the country, and he wanted to spread the stories of his people. He does that here by featuring twelve Native Americans - some are related, others grew up together, a few have not seen each other in decades - who all end up at the "Big Oakland Powwow" at the same time for what they hope will be an experience that changes their lives. As it turns out, they got that part right.
The best part of There There is the way that involving such a varied cast of characters allows Orange to explore how the Native American experience and history have impacted one generation of Natives after another. Some of the characters experienced the take-over of the old Alcatraz prison island and the protest that made news all over the world years earlier; one is trying desperately to cope with the effects of fetal alcohol poisoning; some are there to learn about a culture they themselves know very little about; another is there to find the father who has just been told that he even has a son; one or two are there to find long-lost loves; and some are there just to compete for cash prizes as dancers or drummers. But what they all have in common is the hope that the Big Oakland Powwow will be good for them.
What Orange says about his people and the urban lives they are (mostly not very successfully) living off the reservation is both eye-opening and sad. There There is the story of a people still struggling to cope with the aftermath of the American and Canadian governments' attempts to exterminate it from the face of the earth via slaughter or forced assimilation - whichever was easiest and most socially acceptable at the moment. Those efforts did not cease (if they ever really have ceased) until at least the 1960s, and the resulting despair and confusion is still very much part of Native American lives and culture today. Orange is right, it is important that their stories be heard and that they no longer have to be invisible to the rest of us.
But There There is, after all, a novel, and novels have endings - and Orange decided to end this one in a manner that doesn't work for me. I can't really explain why I feel that way without spoiling the novel for other readers. Just know that this is an important book that provides insight into the modern life experiences of a group of people few of us much think about anymore. Even if you dislike the way that There There ends as much as I do, there is a lot to take from this one.
 |
| Tommy Orange Wikipedia Photo |
It's too bad about the ending because it sounds like the stories he tells in this book are important ones that need to be told. Books like this about Native Americans and their past experiences can be so powerful and eye-opening...but also really sad. I might read this one, even knowing I probably won't like the ending.
ReplyDeleteI heard an interview of Tommy Orange just today from a British podcast (apparently he has a sequel finally coming out after six years), and he explained why he chose the ending he did. I already had kind of figured out why he did it, but it still doesn't work for me because it seems less realistic to me than the rest of the book. Seems like kind of an easy way out, really.
DeleteI agree with your review. I liked the various stories of the various characters and that they were going to this Powwow to empower themselves, but then I didn't like the ending. It took me by surprise in a not good way.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. I did have a bad feeling about the climax as it was being set up by Orange, but I never expected it would be quite that catastrophic.
DeleteNot for me I suspect but I enjoyed reading your review of what is clearly an important book.
ReplyDeleteTommy Orange is a very articulate man, Cath, and he has a lot to say about his people and their history. He's not prolific at all, with the sequel to There There just now coming out after almost six years. The sequel sounds more like a generational history of all the genocide Native Peoples in this country suffered (much as they did all over the world, I suppose). It fits firmly in the historical fiction genre, and I'm not as interested in it as I was this novel. I might still pick it up at some point, though.
DeleteThe ending now has me curious. I can't think offhand of a book that I have read recently that was ruined for me by the ending. But I have read books where halfway through the author decided to take the story in a very dark direction.. And I am not opposed to dark novels. I love the gothic and have read some really fine horror novels. But gratuitous cruelty in a novel is a turn off for me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. In this case, it's not so much that it is gratuitous, more like it's just overdone. I understand exactly what Orange was going for, and I did make the historical connection he wanted me as a reader to make, but but the ending just didn't seem all that "connected" to the tone and theme of the rest of the book to me.
DeleteI haven't read There, There yet, but it's on my list. Others have said it's a tough read, but I think it sounds like an important book. Will consider myself warned about the ending.
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, you might very well love the ending, so don't let me mislead you. It's all a matter of personal taste; I just found that particular ending to be a very jarring reading experience.
Delete