There There

Posted on August 15, 2020October 25, 2021 by Aahnix Bathurst

Cover of "There There." The background is a reddish orange. Each word of the title is underlined with a thick black-and-white feather.

There There is a terrific semi-autobiographical novel written by Tommy Orange, an Indigenous author of Cheyenne and Arapaho ancestry who grew up in Oakland, California.

The book is a collection of nonlinearly interwoven stories, unflinchingly following 12 Native American characters, as their lives lead them to a nation-wide intertribal meeting.

The first character is introduced shortly before present day. The stories then are set before and after, each after appearing closer and closer to the Pow-Wow, and each before revealing more of the characters’ pasts. Orange uses the introduction of a new character in a story to feature them in a following story, either in a sort of a prequel or a sequel to the story the character first appears in.

Most of the characters in There There are a reflection of a piece of Orange’s life or experiences. Orange brilliantly manages prevent his characters from feeling flat while making it very clear which facet of his life the character represents. We feel the pain between sisters and daughters, the ambition of children, the quiet pride of elders, and the absence in them all. Through these characters, Orange manages to represent a story that has pieces that many Native Americans can point at and say “That’s me!” or “I know them!” or “My grandmother tells me stories of her home that sound just like that!”

One book that There There is heavily reminiscent of is The Grass Dancer by Susan Powers. I actually wrote a review of it here. While Orange’s book is based in the city and Powers’ is on a reservation, both are nonlinear, intergenerational narratives that tell the story of a Native experience. The Grass Dancer takes Indigenous Medicine rather seriously, with curses and visits from ancestors long dead playing a central role in the story. In Orange’s update, Indigenous Medicine feels lost, relegated to myth and legend; knowledge of how to interact with the world beyond our own has been lost to his characters.

Orange clearly owns being an “urban Indian.” He successfully shares the idea that Native People are not the fetishized mascots and trademarks of sports teams or butter companies. His characters show that Native People are People. Flawed, sometimes directionless and lost, other times following their compass in purposeful direction, still damaged from the attempted genocide.

An excellent gift for any high schooler, this book deserves five stars of five stars. Tommy Orange encapsulates urban indigeneity in an easily-read yet thought-provoking masterpiece.

If you liked There There, you may enjoy Susan Power’s The Grass Dancer (described above), Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime (chronicling Noah’s life in South Africa), Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (an intergenerational trilogy set in southeastern Nigeria as colonization begins), Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (a professor, mother, and ecologist reflects on people’s relationship with land and with each other), or Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (a multi-generational story of a family in Korea as they emigrate to Japan and live through and beyond World War II).

Recommended Titles:
The Grass Dancer, Susan Powers
Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
Pachinko, Min Jin Lee

Want to buy? Check out thriftbooks! (I receive no compensation for this recommendation)

The Grass Dancer

Posted on July 30, 2020October 21, 2021 by Aahnix Bathurst

This book blew me away. Written like a multi-generational version of Christopher Nolan’s Memento, The Grass Dancer chronicles the story of Red Dress and Ghost Horse and the intertwining stories of many families on their Dakota reservation that their lives and legacies affect. However, their stories begin much too early to appear at the beginning of the book. Instead, their indirect descendants and friends are introduced first.

Beginning in the 1981 and working mostly backward, ultimately reaching as early as 1864, Susan Power tantalizingly shares short story after short story, each one revealing more actions, motives, and consequences of their decisions. Many different characters, some who might be called good, and others who might be called bad, but none of whom are presented as evil, are introduced. These characters are either consequences of Red Dress’ and Ghost Horse’s actions or are ancillary to characters who are. The influence of Red Dress and Ghost Horse reverberate for over a century. When the two are finally truly introduced, all the loose threads waving free in the book are woven together.

Each story begins at a different date, so some re-orientation every chapter detracts from a smooth reading. However, the internal consistency and overlap between the stories and decades create an anticipatory atmosphere. Power keeps the reader eager to learn more about the depths of the characters’ past. Indeed, although the concept of time is presented largely as running straightforward, the construction of the narrative in The Grass Dancer clearly demonstrates the interaction of the past and future.

Power’s use of the supernatural adds strength to her story. In the book, the spirits of people who have died may appear to whomever they want, and can share wisdom, protect people, or threaten them. Indigenous “medicine” also works beyond science’s ability to explain. It is presented as unexplainable but as real as any natural phenomena. This magical realism allows Power to introduce Red Dress much earlier in the narrative than she could have otherwise, adding intrigue earlier. It also adds layers to the characters who either use Indigenous medicine, while showcasing the importance of dreams, where spirits are most visible and influential.

Recommended for anyone in high school or above, The Grass Dancer is a must-read for anyone interested in Native and Indigenous books, multi-generational stories, and stories of the spirit world interacting with the “real” world. If you liked this book, you will definitely enjoy Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (a professor, mother, and ecologist reflects on people’s relationship with land and with each other), The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia (a boy with a special connection to a colony of bees protects his adoptive family through the Spanish Flu and Mexican Civil War), Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (a multi-generational story of a family in Korea as they emigrate to Japan and live through and beyond World War II), or Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater (a book written with the voice of different spirits inhabiting a Nigerian immigrant woman in America).

Recommended Titles
Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Murmur of Bees, Sofia Segovia
Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
Freshwater, Akwaeke Emezi

Recommended for anyone in high school or above, The Grass Dancer is a must-read for anyone interested in Native and Indigenous books, multi-generational stories, and stories of the spirit world interacting with the “real” world. If you liked this book, you will definitely enjoy Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (a professor, mother, and ecologist reflects on people’s relationship with land and with each other), The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia (a boy with a special connection to a colony of bees protects his adoptive family through the Spanish Flu and Mexican Civil War), Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (a multi-generational story of a family in Korea as they emigrate to Japan and live through and beyond World War II, or Akwaeke Emizi’s Freshwater (a book written with the voice of different spirits inhabiting a Nigerian immigrant woman in America).

Recommended Titles
Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Murmur of Bees, Sofia Segovia
Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
Freshwater, Akwaeke Emizi

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse

Posted on July 23, 2020July 28, 2020 by Aahnix Bathurst

This review was written for Be The Star You Are! Charity and published on The Reading Tub.

Jimmy Mclean is Lakota, but his mixed ancestry means that kids at his school tease him for looking different. One summer, his grandfather Nyles takes him on a road trip through the upper Midwest. The two trace the steps that Crazy Horse walked over a century before. Along the way they stop and explore historic sites.

The story of Jimmy acts as a frame; the story of Crazy Horse is told as Nyles narrates what Crazy Horse did at each location. Although Crazy Horse is the clear protagonist in these stories, Nyles acknowledges the bravery and humanity on both sides of the conflict, and successfully conveys the feelings of hopelessness and heartbreak at the conclusion of Crazy Horse’s life.

As a Citizen Potawatomi with mixed ancestry, I understood Jimmy’s frustration at not visually belonging a certain group, and wish that Joseph Marshall addressed the issue further. Nyles resolves this conflict by noting that Crazy Horse also had lighter hair and a lighter complexion. After hearing about this fact and Crazy Horse’s troubles, Jimmy has the self-confidence to face his bullies at school. This lesson—that your appearance doesn’t define who you are—is well received, but this book would have been more powerful if it had more deeply explored Jimmy’s thoughts as he came to this conclusion in is mind and his heart.

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse packages a short overview of Crazy Horse’s life in a story well suited to young middle schoolers while giving lessons of confidence and courage. Worth reading, the underdeveloped characters and underdeveloped environment make In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse a book best checked out from the library.

If you liked this book, you may like books from Kenneth Thomasma (written to a similar reading level, with strong Native American Protagonists), Clyde Bulla’s Squanto (a short biography of Squanto for young readers), or Tony Hillerman’s The Boy Who Made Dragonfly (a Native American story about the creation of dragonflies).

Recommended Titles:
Amee-Nah, Kenneth Thomasma
Squanto, Clyde Bulla
The Boy Who Made Dragonfly, Tony Hillerman

This review was written for Be The Star You Are! Charity and published on The Reading Tub.

Recommended Titles:
Amee-Nah, Kenneth Thomasma
Squanto, Clyde Bulla
The Boy Who Made Dragonfly, Tony Hillerman

Braiding Sweetgrass

Posted on July 9, 2020July 29, 2020 by Aahnix Bathurst

Robin Wall Kimmerer has composed a majestic soul-piercing work of art in her book Braiding Sweetgrass. Using thirty-two different vignettes, Kimmerer not only conveys the need for an emotional connection to the Land, but successfully creates the bond in the reader. Kimmerer leaves the reader with a conviction to actively care for the environment. Fulfilling her responsibility, the biggest challenge for the reader is to keep the connection strong, not giving in to despair after falling from the spiritual heights her book evokes.

A gifted storyteller, Kimmerer uses a variety of storytelling methods, going so far as to construct a story using the structure of a scientific research paper. Combining her authority as a professor of botany, her deep familiarity with the culture of her tribe, and her experience as a mother, Kimmerer speaks with a kind of power that is rarely—if ever—seen. Kimmerer shares an incredible wealth of information by giving Indigenous histories, Western knowledge, and personal vignettes as she describes an individual fungus or an entire ecosystem.

Each story speaks directly to the heart. The reader is pulled into the mind of a botanist in one chapter, that of a mother in another, to a professor, and more, yet no identity is ever independent of the others. Despite spending hours delighting in Kimmerer’s wonderful thought patterns and personality, the reader is left longing for more, feeling as though they only glimpsed the outermost layer of the onion that is Kimmerer. One of few true masterpieces, Braiding Sweetgrass is a book I would recommend to everyone. Maybe then humanity will take the path of lush green grass.