Tommy Orange, the author of “There There,” at the Indian American Institute of Art in Santa Fe, N.M., where he teaches, (Christopher Thompson/The New York Times) CHRISTOPHER D. As a result, Black Americans are forced to always be conscious of themselves as white Americans see them, which is not necessarily the way that they see themselves or one another. Dubois in 1903, double consciousness refers to the way that Black Americans are forced to divide their identity in two while living in a racist society: They must see themselves both as Black people, and, separately, as Americans. I started thinking about the concept of double consciousness. I’d been gone since the first time he laid hands on me.”ĭespite the novel’s strengths, a strange thing happened as I read There There. I slept in the same bed with him, got up for work every morning like it was nothing.
When she describes her decision to stay with her abusive boyfriend, there is no judgment of her choice, only heartbreaking empathy: “After the first time, and the second, after I stopped counting, I stayed and kept staying. The best section of the book revolves around a character named Blue. Wurth’s recent Buckskin Cocaine.Īnd unlike some male authors who think of their female characters as mere conduits for male desires or projections, Orange’s are rich and complex. Orange, who is from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, utilizes first, second and third-person narration to incredible effect, creating a multi-voiced novel that effectively reflects an entire community, much like other urban Indigenous books such as Katherena Vermette’s The Break or Erika T. It is a master class in style, form and narrative voice.
Let’s get this out of the way: Tommy Orange’s debut novel, There There, should probably be on reading lists for every creative writing program in this country. Log In Create Free Account Open this photo in gallery:
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