There There

(Knopf, $26) “Everything about There There acknowledges a brutal legacy of subjugation—and shatters it,” said

in The Washington Post. With his first novel, Tommy Orange, a 36-year-old Oakland native and a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, has devised a storytelling structure that’s defiant in itself: He opens with a blistering essay, then leaps between 12 contemporary Native American characters while gradually revealing that all intend to gather in Oakland for a major powwow. Some see it as a chance to understand or celebrate their heritage; a few see it as the perfect setup for a robbery. Meanwhile, “in varying degrees, their vague sense of ethnic pride is infected by a toxic germ of shame.” There There “has soft spots,” including a Grand Guignol ending that’s not as satisfying as it should be, said in The New York Times. Still, the novel “has so much jangling energy and brings so much news from a distinct corner of American life that it’s a revelation.”