Tommy Orange is a modern Native American author whose previous book, There There, was a Pulitzer runner-up and won other distinguished awards. His writing style is random or wandering, but his message is clear. He wants readers to understand how many ways the United States government has tried to eradicate the Natives from the land. He essentially writes a survival story for his people, the Cheyenne and Arapaho, and all Native Americans who have maintained a sense of identity through the generations.
A Washington Post review claims the book Wandering Stars “explores a legacy of trauma that flows through a Native American family.” That sums up this historical fiction story. Tommy Orange’s fictional characters experience actual events in a way that forces readers to consider the efforts to exterminate natives throughout American history. Through this author’s eyes, we see well-known historical figures such as Teddy Roosevelt in a new light.
Jude Star, a character who survived the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, gets sent to a Florida prison and meets up with Richard Henry Pratt, the founder of the Carlisle Indian School, where Indians were expected to assimilate and, of course, lose their cultural identity. Jude’s name seems to remind us of another genocide, and although Jude survives, he is mute, and his descendants feel the trauma in multiple ways.
Jude Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the Carlisle School a generation later and experiences the same brutal treatment as his father. Charles meets Opal Viola, and together, they hope to build a life free from the harsh treatment they experienced. The story covers several generations of Jude’s and Opal’s descendants still struggling with addictions, persecution, and misunderstood identity.
Through the book’s episodes, the characters experience torment by white people’s efforts to civilize, Christianize, and assimilate them. From the Native point of view expressed in this novel, whites will not be satisfied unless Natives become white. Opal’s great-nephew, Orvil Red Feather, a character from Orange’s previous book, is a main character in this one. Orvil views Opal as his grandmother and relies on her as well as his biological grandmother, Jacquie, an alcoholic. Orvil is the survivor of a gunshot wound in 2018 and addicted to painkillers. He befriends a boy named Sean, who is a Native and Black, adopted by white parents. Their bond is based on the trauma they seek to navigate. Both hunger for knowledge of their heritage and realize that the past is always with them. In essence, these younger members of the multigenerational family in Wandering Stars demonstrate that the past will always be with their people.
If you are looking for a book where the plot follows a predictable line and ends with closure, this book is not for you. There is much movement from different timeframes and more questions than answers. Orange’s carefully chosen language will move you as he tries to find hope, spirituality, identity, and solutions for his characters, who represent his people.
