Wandering Stars

A Novel

By: Tommy Orange

Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett, MacLeod Andrews, Alma Cuervo, Curtis Michael Holland, Calvin Joyal, Phil Ava, Emmanuel Chumaceiro, Christian Young, Charley Flyte

Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • The Pulitzer Prize-finalist and author of the breakout bestseller There There ("Pure soaring beauty."The New York Times Book Review) delivers a masterful follow-up to his already classic first novel. Extending his constellation of narratives into the past and future, Tommy Orange traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of a family in a story that is by turns shattering and wondrous.

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR FOR 2024 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR

"For the sake of knowing, of understanding, Wandering Stars blew my heart into a thousand pieces and put it all back together again. This is a masterwork that will not be forgotten, a masterwork that will forever be part of you.” —Morgan Talty, bestselling author of Night of the Living Rez

Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines.

In a novel that is by turns shattering and wondrous, Tommy Orange has conjured the ancestors of the family listeners first fell in love with in There There—warriors, drunks, outlaws, addicts—asking what it means to be the children and grandchildren of massacre. Wandering Stars is a novel about epigenetic and generational trauma that has the force and vision of a modern epic, an exceptionally powerful new book from one of the most exciting writers at work today and soaring confirmation of Tommy Orange’s monumental gifts.

©2024 Tommy Orange (P)2024 Random House Audio

Beautiful

This book was like reading poetry to me. Sometimes I didn’t understand it but the words and thoughts stayed with me and wandered through me just like our stars.

Another winner

Tommy Orange knows how to craft a story. Great characters with historical events woven into the story. I enjoyed it very much.

Beautiful writing and performance of realistic native family saga

I loved this book and the story it tells of inter generational trauma in a native family in an unsparing but loving way giving the most in depth voice to the youngest generations. Each reader in this audible version did an excellent job and added depth to the story. Also from the little I have personally seen/ experienced of loved ones struggling for sobriety over time I felt that part of the narrative was compassionate and realistic (but didn’t overwhelm other important aspects of the story including each generations connection to their native identity. .

Importance of home

I loved this book…read it and listened to it. Listening to it was a
deeply emotional and enlightening experience, both personally and in a broader universal way.

The life of Opal. How she took on someone else's responsibilities and had a hard life because of it.

My only dislike was the chapter blending the beginning story to There, There. It felt a bit forced.

Universal in it’s reach

I think anyone open to listening feels the message is book is trying to present. The very beginning brought up many primordial memories I’ve had from childhood. A must read for numerous reasons and will present to the reader what they need to hear.

Honest Feelings

The portrayal of life stories depicting how each person got to where they were seemed well thought out. The boys appear to slowly succumb to addiction. All of the United States belonged to indigenous peoples. Actually, all of the world belonged to someone else first.

Swirl

The swirling streams of consciousness felt akin to my own, if I had the talent to put them into words others could comprehend.
Thank you, Tommy, for providing another opportunity for others to expand their understanding of the history of the people of Oakland and our shared existence.

Truth

the story was heartbreaking and told of generational pain that's carried through. it's amazing our life choices and how they have an impact not only on ourselves but on our children and grandchildren. what the native people experienced and the pain they had to go through, it's nothing short of genocide. no matter how many tears I shed I don't think we will ever understand the pain. the readers did a beautiful job of conveying the hurt and pain and misery and ache. it was a truly unique story of generations and how our pain gets brought down to others and how each person tries to survive. I highly recommend

The Pain of living, especially as a Native in this country.

This book describes so much that I know nothing about. I appreciate that. It seems like two books but I think the author wants us to understand how much of the past is in our present.
Beautiful writing too.