There There: book discussion (over Zoom)

"This is the first novel by Cheyenne and Arapaho author Tommy Orange. Published in 2018, it opens with an essay by Orange as a prologue, and then proceeds to follow a large cast of Native Americans living in the area of Oakland, California, as they struggle with a wide array of challenges ranging from depression and alcoholism, to unemployment, fetal alcohol syndrome, and the challenges of living with an ethnic identity of being "ambiguously nonwhite." All coalesce at a community pow wow and its attempted robbery.

"The book explores the themes of Native peoples living in urban spaces (Urban Indians), and issues of ambivalence and complexity related to Natives' struggles with identity and authenticity. There There was favorably received, and was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize. The book was also awarded a Gold Medal for First Fiction by the California Book Awards."
source for above: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_There_(novel)
(sorry, I couldn't find the author's website, my preference, Deb)

Join us to discuss this book. We'll share what stood out for us...what challenged us, what we learned, questions we have, and whatever comes up. Come with a passage from the book that you want to discuss.

We have a lot to learn, and we do it better together. All are welcome.

ZOOM:
The meeting code will be posted in the comments on this page before the meeting. Only folks who RSVP will be let in from the "waiting room." Put a comment on this page if you are having problems getting in. (Please download Zoom in advance if you haven't used it before.)

• To help us be prepared and to communicate if there are changes in plans, RSVPing here is required. If your plans change, PLEASE let us know. Thank you!

If you want to buy this book, we strongly favor and recommend the Frugal Bookstore in Roxbury, a small family owned store that could use our support: https://frugalbookstore.net. If they offer you free-shipping, that means they are making no profit...so pay for it too if you want to support them. Leonard, the owner, is very kind and helpful, so I suggest calling and placing your order. Let him know his store is valuable to us. 617-541-1722

Books we have read so far:

• "So You Want to Talk About Race" by Ijeoma Oluo
• "Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color" by Andrea J. Ritchie
• "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
• "You Have the Right to Remain Innocent" by James Duane
• "Neither Wolf Nor Dog, On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder" by Kent Nerburn
• "White Trash. The 400-Year Untold History of Class" by Nancy Isenberg
• "On the Other Side of Freedom, The Case for Hope" by DeRay Mckesson
• "White Fragility" by Robin DiAngelo, PhD.
• "Unraveling the "Model Minority" Stereotype" by Stacey Lee
• "How to be an Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi
• "An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
• "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi
• "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
• "Reproducing Racism" by Daria Roithmayr