by Tommy Orange, Book Review
There There is a new novel about the intertwined lives of a group of Indigenous People in Oakland CA, told in first person narratives. The novel’s title is a nod to Gertrude Stein who spent time in Oakland as a child, but when she went back, she recognized nothing and famously wrote:
“There is no there there.”
Her statement encapsulated her sense of loss, and for many was a dismissal of Oakland as entirely un-memorable, and un-interesting. But the phrase takes on layers of complexity under Orange’s deft portrayal of contemporary urban Indigenous People, for whom all land was once theirs, and yet has never in many lifetimes been theirs. The “there” that Stein cherishes is just another layer of the colonial story, the story of erasure, of assimilation.
And so these characters do what all people do: they seek family and connections, try to handle addiction and loss and poverty. One character feels inadequate because they have never lived on a reservation and do not know traditional rituals. Another learns how to dance for a pow-wow without telling his mother who he thinks would disapprove, since she never speaks of her heritage. Another seeks her child given up for adoption long ago after a teen pregnancy.
Against a backdrop of the streets of Oakland, the BART stations, the Coliseum, Orange has his characters speak for themselves, conveying each a certain dignity. But he does not shy from the gritty reality of drug deals and greed, of bald self-interest, of friendship gone bad. The writing is masterful, the descriptions crisp, the characters deftly drawn. I found myself often going back to re-read a paragraph because it was taut and yet evocative, because it grabbed me. The result is a gripping story, which brings the disparate lives to intertwine, to connect in unexpected ways. And the take-away is that there are many ways to be an urban Indigenous Person, because to reduce it to just one way would be to accept the colonial narrative, to accept the simplistic mascots and images, to allow erasure.
As a non-native, I learned a lot from this book. I would also hope that young Indigenous People can find some affirmation here, that validates their lives however and wherever they live. Read this novel. It’s great!
PS: I just read an interesting article by a copy editor about respectful editorial practices when editing Indigenous content.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/01/17/Copy-Editor-Indigenous-Style/
One point is that Indigenous stories are not often linear, but rather intertwining and circular. This novel makes great use of those techniques which I love, and which I associate with 20th century experimental European novels, but not the much older Indigenous narratives. I have much to learn.
