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A novel
by Tommy Orange
The Pulitzer Prize-finalist and author of the breakout bestseller There There delivers a masterful follow-up to his already classic first novel. Extending his constellation of narratives into the past and future, Tommy Orange traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of a family in a story that is by turns shattering and wondrous.
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.
Oakland, 2018. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield is barely holding her family together after the shooting that nearly took the life of her nephew Orvil. From the moment he awakens in his hospital bed, Orvil begins compulsively googling school shootings on YouTube. He also becomes emotionally reliant on the prescription medications meant to ease his physical trauma. His younger brother, Lony, suffering from PTSD, is struggling to make sense of the carnage he witnessed at the shooting by secretly cutting himself and enacting blood rituals that he hopes will connect him to his Cheyenne heritage. Opal is equally adrift, experimenting with Ceremony and peyote, searching for a way to heal her wounded family.
Tommy Orange once again delivers a story that is piercing in its poetry, sorrow, and rage and is a devastating indictment of America's war on its own people.
What audience would you recommend Wandering Stars to? Is there another book or author you feel has a similar theme or style?
I would recommend Wandering Stars for all that have read There There. It adds background details and enhances a further understanding of that book. I would also recommend both books be read with a gathering of HS students with their parents and possibly grandparents together. Maybe moderated by a...
-Nancy_S1
Overall, what did you think of Wandering Stars? (no spoilers, please!)
I'm sorry but I just couldn't finish this book. I hardly ever abandon books but I did Wandering Stars. I just couldn't get into the style of the writer.
-Jeanne_M
Someone tells Omelogor, “You know they don’t want us to learn our history.” She responds, “Go and learn your history. It’s not anybody’s responsibility to teach you.” What did you think of this scene? Do you agree with Omelogor?
Omelegor is right to suggest we owe it to ourselves to take our history (as people of a certain identity that matters to us) into our own hands. I think that is what she meant. She wanted him to care about their history. It is not unlike the message in Tommy Orange's Wandering Stars : some people...
-JLPen77
There are many instances where names and their significance are discussed in the narrative. What is the importance of names as they tie into identity, culture, and assimilation? What does it mean for a character to change their name?
There is so much talk and reaction these days to stealing of identity - and it is mind boggling how such unconscionable stealing of identity was done on such a wide scale to the native Americans. It was like wrenching their very life essence from within them and then Remolding them into becoming ...
-Mitra_V
What effects does interracial adoption have on Native people and communities as represented in the book? What did you think about Vicky’s adoption in particular?
It was a very painful part of the story. Vicky's travails gave me sleepless nights for a while. What sadness and what a level of exploitation. Unfathomable cruelty. A really devastating chapter of the book.
-Mitra_V
While Jude Star is at Fort Marion, he talks about white visitors coming to see them "perform being Indian." In what ways are Native Americans or their culture exploited throughout the book? Has changed over time, and if so, in what ways?
I have visited Indian communities in the Santa Fe area and definitely felt like an interloper. However it is an important source of income to them. Using non white or those with non conforming body types has a sad tradition, I am old enough to remember circus sideshows. Jude knew he was being use...
-Dianne_S
In the prologue, Tommy Orange discusses a history of colonial violence and assimilation. How did this affect how you approached the novel, if at all? In what ways do you think the prologue sets the stage for the rest of the book?
My approach to the novel was not affected because I am familiar with the egregious history and the fake narrative in many history books about the white settlers "helped" the so-called Indians to get educated, etc. I really liked the fact that the author was a first-people/Native American person a...
-Rebecca_R
The story begins with Jude and then unfolds across seven generations. Why is it important that the story is told through multiple generations in one family? What do the parents in the novel pass down to their children? What is lost over time?
Actually I found the many generations detrimental to the book. Each episode felt like I dropped into the middle and then the episode ended before any conclusion/resolution was reached. I never any connection with any of the characters.
-Becky_Haase
Is there a quote or scene in Wandering Stars that stood out for you? Why do you suppose it resonated?
Although there were several quotes in the book which hit a cord this one really made me think "America's longest war… How true that is and I never thought about it that way.
-Barbara_B2
How do you think identity and community affect healing? How did you see this represented in the novel?
I don't think that anyones identity was helped in this book by the community they lived in. They were all immured with the same problems- so how do you help someone just like yourself? The only times community seemed to help was when they got together for their powwows
-Christine_Brady
Opal Viola tells her unborn child about their father, saying, “[T]he dead are never far. They find us in dreams, and keep teaching us from the inside long after they go.” What do you suppose she means? Do you agree?
Our ancestors genes- good and bad- are with us whether we choose them or not. I think the best we can do is embrace those that enlighten our spirit and lives and ignore those that cause us grief and disquiet.
-Christine_Brady
Was there a specific character that you developed the most sympathy for? Why do you think you felt more connected to them than the others?
It's gotta be Orvil for me. I grew attached to him and his dancing in There There , then the aftermath and his struggles in Wandering Stars made me feel further connected to him. Whenever an Orvil chapter or story came up, I got a sense that the author was deeply invested in this character. He fe...
-Ann_Beman
Throughout the novel, dreaming is something that ties the characters together. How do the characters' dreams reflect their emotional states, in your opinion?
Carl Jung spoke about the collective unconscious, a shared pool of memories and stories that are passed down through generation. Dreaming is important to their culture. Opal gave Orvil a dream catcher which he was initially reluctant to hang in his car, because it was so stereotypical. But he eve...
-Susan_A
How do Orvil, Loother, and Lony each respond to trauma? In what way is this affected by their disconnection from their Indigenous community?
Orvil completely escapes through numbing. Lony is just the opposite, cutting himself so he will feel. Loother, who is the middle child, appears to want to just blend in. I think their responses are fueled by their disconnection from their community. They have only heard stereotyped versions of in...
-Susan_A
What similarities do you see within each character’s stories and experiences? How do they reflect the effects of intergenerational trauma?
Each character has had to deal with the past. They are all defined in some way or other by the experiences of their an ancestors. They all have struggles with generations of trauma and violence. This has caused them to be hard pressed to find a place in the world where they are comfortable and do...
-Nancy_D
Stars, birds and horses are woven throughout the entire novel. What do you think they symbolize? Why do you think the author chose the title, Wandering Stars?
There's the obvious level of Star as the surname for one family whose generations wander across the country, having been uprooted from their ancestral homeland, language and culture. There's also that connection Opal learns from her mother, Bird Woman: "The stars are our ancestors." They are a "g...
-JLPen77
Why do you think Opal kept cultural knowledge and family stories from the boys? At the end of chapter 25, Opal asks herself that question. What is the reasoning behind her shift in opinion?
I agree that Opal was trying to be protective of the boys, and maybe also burying what she knew of the past was necessary to her moving forward, creating a more stable life for herself. But she changes her mind when she reads the family papers in the box that Maxine passed on to her. She realizes...
-JLPen77
What is the significance of Opal giving Charles a traditional burial? How does the story shift with the end of this chapter? Why do you suppose the author makes this choice?
I think she wanted him to have some type of ritual that was a part of his heritage. By hanging him high in the tree he is closer to his reward. Opal was giving Charles one last gift. Once Opal dies and Vickie is adopted, all connection to Charles's heritage will be gone.
-Nancy_D
Opal Viola remembers hearing, “A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground. Then it is finished, no matter how brave its warriors or how strong its weapons.” What do you think of this statement?
I think women are the core of any civilization. They're generally the ones who keep culture alive, I think.
-kim.kovacs
In what ways do you feel colonization affects a parent's or grandparent's relationship with their children and grandchildren? What examples of this did you see in the book?
There seems to be a no-win contest between the need to fit in to survive (have a home, a job) on the individual level, to raise children/m and/or grandchildren, and the need to survive as distinct Native cultures, to pass down the language, stories and the rituals. This is true for immigrants too...
-JLPen77
Have you read the author’s previous work, There There? If so, how do the books compare? How do you believe Wandering Stars reinforces and adds to the themes presented in the earlier novel?
I have not read There There but after reading this book I plan to. He is an excellent writer.
-Paula_Walters
What book or books are you reading this week? (02/06/2025)
I'm reading Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange for the book club. Pretty interesting book and it's interesting that he ties into the characters of his first book, There, There. It's pretty heavy a...
-nick
What book or books are you reading this week? (01/23/2025)
Reading Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange for an upcoming book club discussion. So far I'm really enjoying it. I've only just started, so I'm still on the first character - Jude - but I'm ple...
-kim.kovacs
About the Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange Discussion category
Please join us in our book club discussion of Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange.
-system
What book or books are you reading this week? (01/09/2025)
Re: Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange I don't know whether or not you read There There by Tommy Orange but it is his first novel and definitely informs this one. I liked Wandering Stars b...
-Anne_Glasgow
"A stirring portrait of the fractured but resilient Bear Shield-Red Feather family in the wake of the Oakland powwow shooting that closed out the previous book ... With incandescent prose and precise insights, Orange mines the gaps in his characters' memories and finds meaning in the stories of their lives. This devastating narrative confirms Orange's essential place in the canon of Native American literature." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A searing study of the consequences of a genocide ... Orange is gifted at elevating his characters without romanticizing them, and though the cast is smaller than in There There, the sense of history is deeper." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Tender yet eviscerating ... There is so much life in this mesmerizing, kaleidoscopic novel ... Orange's second novel is both prequel and sequel to the striking There, There and a centuries-spanning novel that stands firmly on its own." —Booklist (starred review)
"If there was any doubt after his incredible debut, there should be none now: Tommy Orange is one of our most important writers. The way he weaves time and life together, demands we remember how our history shapes us. In this novel the pain and resilience of generations are summoned beautifully. A wonderous journey and a necessary reminder." —Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah, author of Chain Gang All Stars
"No one knows how to express tenderness and yearning like Tommy Orange. With an all-seeing heart, he traces historical and contemporary cruelties, vagaries, salvations and solutions visited upon young Cheyenne people, who cope with the impossible. In them, Tommy finds the unnerving strength that results when a broken spirit mends itself, when a wandering star finds its place, when, in spite of everything, Native people manage to survive." —Louise Erdrich, author of The Sentence
This information about Wandering Stars was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Elena Seibert
Tommy Orange is a recent graduate from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is a 2014 MacDowell Fellow, and a 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He was born and raised in Oakland, California, and currently lives in Angels Camp, California.
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