February's book is There There by Tommy Orange. The meeting will take place on Wednesday February 20th at 1pm in the conference room on the lower level of the Slusser Center. There are regular print, large print and audio editions here at the library to check out.
*Starred Review* The at-first disconnected characters from whose
perspectives Orange voices his symphonic debut are united by the
upcoming Big Oakland Powwow. Some have been working on the event for
months; some will sneak in with only good intentions, while others are
plotting to steal the sizable cash prizes. Creative interludes from an
omniscient narrator describe, for example, the names of First Nations
people or what it means to be an Urban Indian: We ride buses, trains,
and cars across, over, and under concrete plains. Being Indian has never
been about returning to the land. The land is everywhere or nowhere.
Opal recalls occupying Alcatraz as a child with her family; today she
raises her sister's grandchildren as her own after their unspeakable
loss. With grant support, Dene endeavors to complete the oral-history
project his deceased uncle couldn't, recording the stories of Indians
living in Oakland. In his thirties, with his white mother's blessing,
Edwin reaches out to the Native father he never met. While anticipation
of the powwow provides a baseline of suspense, the path Orange lights
through these and his novel's many other stories thrills on its own.
Engrossing at its most granular, in characters' thoughts and fleeting
moments, There There introduces an exciting voice.--Bostrom, Annie
Copyright 2018 Booklist Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
