A Tapestry of True Community for the Modern Reader: A Book Review of There, There by Tommy Orange
Twelve Native characters arrive at the Big Oakland Pow Wow each with a different expectation of the day in the Oakland Athletics Coliseum ahead. In the span of one novel a breadth of many stories is woven together around a singular event. A life altering situation that is at the forefront of many readers’ minds in 2019, a mass shooting. Mass shootings, even a fictional one, captivate our attention and cause us to lean in and evaluate our community. Author Tommy Orange, does not make this plot choice without a critical lesson on hand, armed and ready to release.
The new author is meticulous in all his choices throughout the pages of his debut novel, There, There, where he writes about Urban Indians. And his true to life story is being translated into multiple languages, including Cheyenne (as a way to archive his father’s first language), so readers around the globe are exposed to firsthand accounts of Oakland Natives. Orange holds nothing back about the strength and hardships within this community. He blows away the smoke that shrouded the modern day Native community, which previously prevented people from seeing the full, beautiful, complex picture.
Each fictional character comes to the Pow Wow as a different person with unique experiences yet Orange reveals through their background story one element they all share, a hope for connection to their community. He details the intricacies of real life relationships in his book, capturing the wide range of emotions our families and friends tend to cause us to feel. In one poignant scene, three brothers are bickering over what to buy at their first Pow Wow. After a loud discussion, they end their disagreement on which mementos to buy and pool their money for fry bread to share because eating something new together in this place was more important.
Orange’s book is a masterpiece of fresh perspective. He pulls readers in because we have yet to meet characters like his Jackie Red Feather or Thomas Frank. And it is quite possible, due to the scarcity of Urban Native voices in the writing community, Native people rarely picture themselves as characters depicted in widely acclaimed fiction book. Orange speaks about fractured identity during interviews and in sections of his book. For many years, the Native person has seen and heard the story of the historic Indian and many believe that is what it looks like to be Native. So when an Oakland resident who is a member of a tribe based in Oklahoma sees themselves in the mirror wearing a Raider’s jersey, A’s ball cap, and jeans they do not feel like a real Indian. There, There splits the headdress wearing silhouette by constructing a varied, multi-dimensional profile of modern day, city living Native people.
There, There opened my heart up to a deeper issue though, hardship and suffering. In listening to an interview between Orange and Evan Smith, I paused at one point he articulated, “I would prefer this book to be classified as hard to read and tragic, because sad is dismissive.”
That feeling, when you share with a person about a personal hurdle and they say oh how sad, makes you wish you never opened up to them in the first place. Orange packed in a great message into his pages that gave me hope I too will heal, more resilient and stronger than before. Overcomers do not want to be stuck at sad. Stories of pain and heartache and affliction are tragic and difficult to bear; but would we not all be stronger if we pulled each other up after and asked how can we be more?
My favorite character, of the twelve, was just this type of woman. Jackie Red Feather lived through deep tragedies and her story, which is parallel to many real-life women, was hard to read. She did not stay at sad though, she came through to the other side and refound her family when it so difficult for herself. Orange did not say this, but I could imagine, from his personal expressions in interviews and book readings, he wants the Native community to move on in people’s minds from being a sad group that has a sad history. Yes, the Native experience all through North America has been marked by hardship, trial, and tragedy. But the Native people alive today are just that, alive, strong, and present in every community.
This book needs to be bought and reread because it can shift our way of thinking about time in the past and the hopeful future to come. Observing the news reel and listening to public conversations reveal people in America are fixated on the tragic human experience. And if we let ourselves remain there we will be sad and unchanged, forced to stand back watching in horror. Gain strength from Tommy Orange’s words and see pain as something to feel, face, carry, and emerge transformed.
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