Tommy Orange: Wandering Stars

Hi everyone

Wandering Stars is Tommy Orange's second book. It's both a prequel and a sequel to his first book There There which I have read before restarting this blog.
I read this on my e-reader.

"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."

This book is difficult to review because the story itself is so powerful, harrowing, eye-opening and deeply human. The characters were real people with real struggles, good and bad choices made and with people around them and circumstances that influence and change them. 
I especially loved the generational aspect, seeing how one family’s trauma, pain, friendships, and choices influence the lives of their children. That depth made the story feel important and meaningful.

But the writing was so, so bad. Tommy Orange jumps from one scene to the next, his prose is almost childish and very rushed, not at all suited to this heavy story.
The characters all blended together because they sounded the same to me. Their voices weren’t distinct enough, which made it hard to connect with them individually.
Tommy Orange also switches from first to third person and back; and every time it changed I felt thrown out of the story. 
Finally, the book felt unfinished. It moves too quickly from one character to the next, never lingering long enough to let me truly understand or care about the characters' lives. I wanted more time with them, more depth, more exploration of both characters and events. Instead, the story felt too shallow, and the writing was weak enough to make the book ultimately forgettable; which is a shame, because the themes and history it covers are so important.

Wandering Stars had the potential to be extraordinary, but the execution fell short. I’m glad I read it but I can’t help but feel it could have been so much more.

Have you read Wandering Stars or There There? Did you connect with the characters more than I did, or did you also struggle with the writing? I’d love to hear your thoughts! 

Happy reading!
Helena