It was Gertrude Stein who famously said of Oakland that “there is no there there.” In his debut novel, There There, Tommy Orange begs to differ. A pow wow in Oakland draws together a diverse group of Native Americans for a dramatic and violent encounter. But this is really about the stories and journeys that bring them there. Shifting from non-fiction to fiction, trying out multiple voices and tenses, Orange weaves it all together in an impressive meditation on what it means to be an urban Indian. And an American.
Read my full review here.
Heartlands 