Author: Tommy Orange
Year published: 2024
Category: Adult fiction
Pages: 336 pages
Rating: 4 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): USA (OK, FL, CA, CO)
Summary: 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.
Review: I enjoy doing First Book with Sheila at Book Journey as part of the larger blogging community. And, this book seemed like a good one since I have tickets to hear Tommy Orange speak at the end of the month. I am really looking forward to hearing him speak about this book and am hoping he will give me insights to it since I struggled with the first half.
I love There There (link to my review), so I was excited to read this book, but for some reason, I had trouble with it initially. I definitely liked the second half better than the first. The first half was about history, the background of the main family, and how they experienced prison (for being Native), destruction, and treatment by the official US government and its representatives. I think it covered too many generations, so I didn't feel like I got to know the characters well enough
The novel's second half was set in the present day, in the same family, so I felt much more invested in the characters and what happened to them. The story dealt with their personal journeys and traumas (drugs, alcohol, etc.) as well as their familial relationships. This second half worked much better for me, and I enjoyed the novel by the time I finished it.
Generational trauma is evident, as are the opportunities made available to Native Americans.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Alphabet Author--O
- Alphabet Title--W
- Cover Lovers--No people
- Literary Escapes--Colorado, California, Oklahoma, Florida
No comments
Post a Comment