Page 21 - Panama City Living Magazine

BOOK REVIEW
THERE THERE BY TOMMY ORANGE
Reviewed by Geoff McConnell
Geoff McConnell and his lovely wife Rebecca are the parents of three wonderful sons. A resident of Panama City Beach since 1995, Geoff is a Panama City Beach city councilman, owner and CEO of Orion Services LLC, and a member of the Leadership Council of the National Small Business Association. He is also a lifelong baseball fan.
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“There There” (2018), the debut novel of Cheyenne and Arapaho author Tommy Orange, explores the deeply personal and conflicting journey of 12 Native Americans living in California as they converge on the Big Oakland Powwow. Orange shines a spotlight on indigenous peoples living in the city, characterized by the continued struggle of Native Americans searching for originality and authenticity in an urban environment.
The book’s prologue is an inflammatory yet capti- vating essay as Orange sets the stage with several striking historical accounts of the methods and techniques by which the lands of Native Ameri- cans were “cleansed” of what was considered an undesirable population. The novel captures the complexity of urban Native American life and the characters’ search for identity and self, including intense struggles with drug addiction, unemploy- ment, crime, suicide, and alcoholism flowing from the disconnect they feel between the culture they live in and the culture of their history.
Conflict is central to the story and is reflected in almost every character of the novel. The most striking character for me was Tony Loneman. Deeply insecure, he feels he has no worth regard- less of the empathy, support, and positive feed- back shown to him by those surrounding him. To- ny’s life is significantly impacted by his mother’s decision to drink alcohol while pregnant with him, and Tony suffers from a severe birth defect that
he calls “the Drome.” This is derivative of the fetal alcohol syndrome that has disfigured his face, col- oring his view of the world and its view of him. His deformity and negative view of himself leads him down a path of rage and self-destruction. While he does not consume alcohol because he believes that his body received all that he needed in utero, Tony has no issue with selling marijuana and co- caine to others. It is his main source of income and leads directly to his downfall.
I enjoyed the storytelling techniques employed by Orange as he moves chapter by chapter between characters, gradually tying them all together until the climatic end. It enables readers to get an in- depth view of each individually while slowly bring- ing them into each other’s sphere. “There There” is a worthy read that allows the reader to build empathy with each character’s life experiences and reveals the complexity of attempting to define any one person or subculture.
www.PanamaCityLiving.com • March—April 2020 • 21