I was starting to get
worried that I would never find a novel with an abrupt ending. How do you go
about choosing a book with an abrupt ending, without having to read a book in
the first place to find out if it has one or not?! Some of the books I’ve read
in this challenge did have an abrupt ending, but I wanted them for other categories,
in fact this book was supposed to be for #46 Featuring Indigenous Culture,
but, when this book reached its ending, I was shocked. The book just stopped. Dead. I had to dig out my phone and check it was the end of the book. What happened
to these characters I had started to learn about? I don’t know…it was a real cliff hanger, but then I guess, so is life…you meet people, you start to find
out about them, and then they just disappear from your life.
“Jacquie Red Feather and her
sister Opal grew up together, relying on each other during their unsettled
childhood. As adults they were driven apart, but Jacquie is newly sober and
trying to make it back to the family she left behind. That’s why she is there.
Dene is there because he has been collecting stories to honour his uncle's
death. Edwin is looking for his true father. Opal came to watch her boy Orvil
dance. All of them are connected by bonds they may not yet understand.
All of them are there for the cultural celebration that is the Big Oakland
Powwow.
But Tony Loneman is also there. And Tony has come to the Powwow with darker
intentions.”
This book starts out referencing
urban Indians, explaining to the reader about the loss of homelands and past
genocides which has trickled through their descendants so that their culture
has, in many instances, become lost. The people, just another part of history.
Following his uncle’s death, Dene Oxedene has decided to get his life back
together. He is going to collect stories about urban Indians, stories that tell
of the modern-day issues Native Americans face, and how they still feel that
they don’t belong in “our” society. Perhaps if their voices are heard, they may
begin to heal. He isn’t interested too
much in the old ways of reservation life, he wants to understand how, or indeed
if, the modern Indians identify with their heritage.
Dene’s uncle always spoke fondly about making a
film one day, however, he never did, and so Dene decides he will apply for a
grant to make a film, in which he sets up a camera and gets people to speak
about their lives and to share their stories. From these stories, he hopes a
film will take shape, showing how the displacement of the Indians, as Tommy
Orange refers to them, has affected an entire community, in favour of the white
man who threw them from their lands.
An opportunity arises at the Oakland Powwow for
him to video the stories of twelve different people, each will receive some
money for sharing their story. This book tells, in alternating voices, the
stories of these twelve characters. Each one has a different tale to tell, but all
the people have struggled in one way or another. Some have struggled with drug
addiction, some with poverty, others with loss of family or the sense of
community. Some would argue that these are just the struggles of modern society,
but what if you have that added layer of constantly feeling like you don’t
belong? You don’t know why, or what can be done to help you feel as though you
should be where you are, you just know that you don’t belong.
Whilst all of the characters are from Indian
heritage, some have been raised to embrace their heritage, whilst others have
been told to disregard it…it’s not deemed important in the modern world. Others
are brought up in white households and have no idea about the ways of the past.
It is these struggles with identity and how they have lost their culture that
connect these disparate people; most have been born into a modern life, they
have never lived on a reservation, but the blood bond is deep, and they all
feel a sense that something is missing from their lives. It is the loss of
their culture that makes them feel as if they don’t belong anywhere, and the
Powwow is something to look forward to, to give them the opportunity to try and
heal their fractured souls.
Just as all the characters have their own
reasons for feeling as though they are outsiders, each of the characters have
their own reasons for wanting to attend the Powwow. A boy wishes to perform his
native dance despite having little knowledge about his culture; he believes
that if he performs the dance with heart and soul, he will begin to understand
who he is and achieve a sense of belonging. It is this pure naivety that makes
you want to embrace him and let him know that things will turn out well for
him.
As each person shares their story, we find some
stories interlock with others. As readers we begin to understand the hurt and
anger these people feel and how others view wanting to retain a part of your
heritage as a waste of time.
As the day of the Powwow draws nearer and
nearer, there is this impending sense of doom. Whilst most people have the best
of intentions for heading to the Powwow, not all people are pure souls, and
their darkness begins to overshadow the tale. As a reader, or listener, you can
tell something major is going to happen, because the tempo of the book changes
via shorter chapters. We leap from one character to another and back again in
quick succession. Yet as the tension ramps into a crescendo, the book ends.
It actually makes sense to end the book where Orange
has, the event has happened, we thought we knew what was going to happen and it
has, so there is nothing more to share. But on the other hand, you feel a
little short-changed, we have built a relationship with these people, we want
to know what happens to them next, and so you’re questioning…well what happened
to x and what happened to y? But the fact that you are questioning shows what
an impact these people’s stories have had on you. You invested your time and
understanding in these fictitious people, but deep down you know these stories
probably ring true with so many people who are displaced from their homes and
forced to survive in places that feel alien to them.
Tommy Orange has written a powerful debut novel, which highlights the impact
that destroying a community can have many generations down the line. It is a
tale told which shows no hope or humanity, it is very bleak, but perhaps that’s
the point and why he ended it as he did.
Regarding the Audible version of the book
especially, the stories, and the Powwow, were dramatically enhanced using music
and drums, which gave a sense of being there in the middle of a turbulent
situation. You could feel the emotions
as events unfurled. It was almost like hearing something in slow motion, you
knew what would inevitably happen, but you couldn’t do anything about it.
Genre: Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Indigenous,
Release Date: 5th July 2018
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Listening Time: 8h
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