Reading Order
There There Reading Order
Tommy Orange's There There (2018) is a complete standalone novel. There is no sequel. The novel follows twelve Native American characters — from different tribes, backgrounds, and experiences — who are all converging on the Oakland Coliseum for a powwow, where a robbery attempt will bring them together in tragedy. There There is a debut novel that won the PEN/Hemingway Award, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and is widely considered one of the most important novels about contemporary Native American life ever written.
Where to start
There There
Complete There There Book List
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There There
Tommy Orange·2018·Standalone — twelve Native American characters converging on an Oakland powwow; Pulitzer Prize finalist 2019, PEN/Hemingway Award winner; the defining novel of contemporary urban Native American experience - Buy
Wandering Stars
OptionalTommy Orange·2024·Follows characters from There There after the events of the novel; can only be read after There There
There There — Frequently Asked Questions
Is There There a standalone?
There There is complete as a novel. Tommy Orange published a sequel, Wandering Stars (2024), which follows some of the same characters after the events of There There. Wandering Stars requires having read There There. There There itself can be read without reading Wandering Stars.
What does the title There There mean?
The title comes from Gertrude Stein's description of Oakland — 'There is no there there' — which Orange reclaims in the opening essay, arguing that there is absolutely a 'there there' for Native Americans who have lived in Oakland for generations, and that the erasure Stein implied is part of what the novel documents. The title also carries the soothing meaning — 'there, there' — appropriate to a novel about trauma.
What is the powwow in There There?
The Big Oakland Powwow is the novel's destination and climax — a gathering that several characters are involved in organizing, attending, or planning to rob. Orange builds toward it through the first two-thirds of the novel, and the final section depicts the powwow and what happens there in real time. The powwow is both a celebration of Native American culture and the site of a tragedy that the novel's structure has been making inevitable.
Does There There have a happy ending?
Without giving away specific events: the novel's ending is violent and devastating in ways the opening essay has already announced as inevitable. Orange is interested in the way historical trauma plays out in present-day lives — the novel's tragedy feels both specific and structural. The book does not offer resolution, but it does offer testimony.
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