Started reading this today! I think this book will have me meditate on my own heritage with being a bit bewildered by my Mom’s Filipino culture since I’ve just been born and raised here in the States. Excited to see how U.S. history is unraveled in the story from Orange’s perspective and how he isn’t shy to illuminate colonization. Great review Alex!
Awesome, I hope that you enjoy this one! It'll be interesting to hear if you end up relating to any of Orange's ideas here. But either way, this makes for a wonderful summer read :)
This one had been on my radar for a while. I got the book when it first came out, but have just not gotten around to reading it. I loved it. Tommy and I are both C&A of Oklahoma. Additionally, we both grew up away from the tribe in a city, connecting only later with our tribe. There are some things throughout the book that seems catered to non-indigenous folks and then you flip the next page and all of a sudden, Tommy is writing to me again. I loved how that was managed. Anyway, just some quick thoughts! Thank you for the review!
Absolutely love this review. You are so eloquent and passionate. Do us all a favor and never stop reviewing books. You just earned yourself a subscriber.
This is my first time viewing your channel. Thank you for referencing The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King! I'm two-thirds into reading that book, when I picked up There, There - having known no information about the book. I'll definitely add The Break to my reading list. :D
Thanks for checking out my channel! That's good to hear you're reading Thomas King as well. I think these two books are great to read at the same time since they are both all about setting the historical record straight! I'll be curious to see whether Tommy Orange publishes some non-fiction as well in the future...
Thanks for this review and I loved the visuals and music! I'm about halfway through and I'm undecided, on whether this lives up to the hype (which is almost impossible?) or is just a really good book ("just"). It's interesting that both this and Heart Berries were both written by students of Sherman Alexie, pre-disgrace... for me Heart Berries didn't quite resonate. I appreciate the risks Orange is taking, e.g. I'm glad he didn't use the film project as a framing device, that would have been the obvious thing to do. Though it might have made it easier to distinguish the characters if we heard a monologue from each! Anyhoo, I'll let you know where I end up when I'm done!
I had to use some Tribe Called Red, since Orange gave them a nod in his book! I feel you... I think I'm in the "just really good book camp." It's a cool story and I'm glad that I read it, but I don't think that it will end up being one of my top absolute favourites of the year. I know-- there is so much Sherman Alexie love in the acknowledgements!! I haven't read Heart Berries yet... still waiting on the library for that one, but we'll have to see! Hope you enjoy the ending... I liked the pow wow section a lot!
So interesting Alex especially the idea of history still affecting the lives of Native Americans and the characters in this book and the background to the title itself. From the reviews I've seen, everyone has found positive things to say but that the fact it's a debut shows through every now and again. I was planning to read it at some point but now you've compared it to The Break, one of my favorite books of the year, that will be sooner rather than later!
That's great to hear you liked The Break! These books make for an interesting comparison, especially with the differing Canadian/American settings. I agree with other reviewers in that no one should expect a perfect miraculous book, but it still is a worthwhile read in my opinion! Gave me a lot to think about which I always appreciate :)
So glad to hear you enjoyed this one as well! I agree that this is one hell of a debut... I'm excited to see what Orange is going to do next! (I would be happy with a follow up novel from any of these characters tbh...)
Loved this book. I would have liked more resolution and it was a bit of work keeping the characters straight but so worth it. I didn’t buy the Jacqui/Harvey relationship.
I know what you mean-- we were treated to such in-depth perspectives in the first half of the novel that if felt a bit quick at the end. And I agree there were probably a few two many narrators. Glad you had an overall enjoyable experience!!
[despite] all the hype I was thinking I had to read this. Thanks for confirming! My libe has 43 copies, 139 holds. The Sand Creek Massacre was here in Colorado (Kiowa County). I've gone past it a few times. They're building (have built?) a memorial there & our current Governor apologized for Sand Creek. Two of the US soldiers refused to participate. Not to overshare, but I had a boss who was Blackfoot & we traveled to reservations together & dealt with various issues from drug use (FAS is real) to schools appropriating Indian names for their sports teams. He was a complicated, person: defensive, self-hating, difficult, but I have a warm place in my heart & I think this book may help me understand him a little better. Sorry to be such a downer. Excellent spoiler-free review, BTW!
Dang, your library is bustling! This book just got a "Heather's Pick" sticker (like Canadian Oprah's club haha) so I bet it will be doing quite well here as well. I didn't know there was an official apology for Sand Creek... I imagine that would be a very sad spot to visit. I hope that you'll enjoy this one if you pick it up-- like the description of your boss, the characters in this book are all quite complex and defy categorization... which all makes for quite a compelling reading experience :}
Started reading this today! I think this book will have me meditate on my own heritage with being a bit bewildered by my Mom’s Filipino culture since I’ve just been born and raised here in the States. Excited to see how U.S. history is unraveled in the story from Orange’s perspective and how he isn’t shy to illuminate colonization. Great review Alex!
Awesome, I hope that you enjoy this one! It'll be interesting to hear if you end up relating to any of Orange's ideas here. But either way, this makes for a wonderful summer read :)
This one had been on my radar for a while. I got the book when it first came out, but have just not gotten around to reading it. I loved it. Tommy and I are both C&A of Oklahoma. Additionally, we both grew up away from the tribe in a city, connecting only later with our tribe. There are some things throughout the book that seems catered to non-indigenous folks and then you flip the next page and all of a sudden, Tommy is writing to me again. I loved how that was managed. Anyway, just some quick thoughts! Thank you for the review!
Absolutely love this review. You are so eloquent and passionate.
Do us all a favor and never stop reviewing books. You just earned yourself a subscriber.
Thanks for the kind words! No plans on stopping yet, as long as I keep reading great books like this one :}
This is my first time viewing your channel. Thank you for referencing The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King! I'm two-thirds into reading that book, when I picked up There, There - having known no information about the book. I'll definitely add The Break to my reading list. :D
Thanks for checking out my channel! That's good to hear you're reading Thomas King as well. I think these two books are great to read at the same time since they are both all about setting the historical record straight! I'll be curious to see whether Tommy Orange publishes some non-fiction as well in the future...
Thanks for this review and I loved the visuals and music! I'm about halfway through and I'm undecided, on whether this lives up to the hype (which is almost impossible?) or is just a really good book ("just"). It's interesting that both this and Heart Berries were both written by students of Sherman Alexie, pre-disgrace... for me Heart Berries didn't quite resonate. I appreciate the risks Orange is taking, e.g. I'm glad he didn't use the film project as a framing device, that would have been the obvious thing to do. Though it might have made it easier to distinguish the characters if we heard a monologue from each!
Anyhoo, I'll let you know where I end up when I'm done!
I had to use some Tribe Called Red, since Orange gave them a nod in his book! I feel you... I think I'm in the "just really good book camp." It's a cool story and I'm glad that I read it, but I don't think that it will end up being one of my top absolute favourites of the year. I know-- there is so much Sherman Alexie love in the acknowledgements!! I haven't read Heart Berries yet... still waiting on the library for that one, but we'll have to see! Hope you enjoy the ending... I liked the pow wow section a lot!
This book sounds wonderful! And what a great review - thanks, Alex!
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! This was such a cool book... worth the hype in my opinion :}
So interesting Alex especially the idea of history still affecting the lives of Native Americans and the characters in this book and the background to the title itself. From the reviews I've seen, everyone has found positive things to say but that the fact it's a debut shows through every now and again. I was planning to read it at some point but now you've compared it to The Break, one of my favorite books of the year, that will be sooner rather than later!
That's great to hear you liked The Break! These books make for an interesting comparison, especially with the differing Canadian/American settings. I agree with other reviewers in that no one should expect a perfect miraculous book, but it still is a worthwhile read in my opinion! Gave me a lot to think about which I always appreciate :)
Well done, lady! I adored this book. It was such an impressive debut. Thanks for the other recommendations. I'll definitely need to check those out.
So glad to hear you enjoyed this one as well! I agree that this is one hell of a debut... I'm excited to see what Orange is going to do next! (I would be happy with a follow up novel from any of these characters tbh...)
Ma'am please give me few examples of indigenous resistance from the book
Loved this book. I would have liked more resolution and it was a bit of work keeping the characters straight but so worth it. I didn’t buy the Jacqui/Harvey relationship.
I know what you mean-- we were treated to such in-depth perspectives in the first half of the novel that if felt a bit quick at the end. And I agree there were probably a few two many narrators. Glad you had an overall enjoyable experience!!
[despite] all the hype I was thinking I had to read this. Thanks for confirming! My libe has 43 copies, 139 holds. The Sand Creek Massacre was here in Colorado (Kiowa County). I've gone past it a few times. They're building (have built?) a memorial there & our current Governor apologized for Sand Creek. Two of the US soldiers refused to participate. Not to overshare, but I had a boss who was Blackfoot & we traveled to reservations together & dealt with various issues from drug use (FAS is real) to schools appropriating Indian names for their sports teams. He was a complicated, person: defensive, self-hating, difficult, but I have a warm place in my heart & I think this book may help me understand him a little better. Sorry to be such a downer. Excellent spoiler-free review, BTW!
Dang, your library is bustling! This book just got a "Heather's Pick" sticker (like Canadian Oprah's club haha) so I bet it will be doing quite well here as well. I didn't know there was an official apology for Sand Creek... I imagine that would be a very sad spot to visit. I hope that you'll enjoy this one if you pick it up-- like the description of your boss, the characters in this book are all quite complex and defy categorization... which all makes for quite a compelling reading experience :}