Through personalities that come to life on the page, Orange explores the many facets of being Native American today. It is difficult to survive in a modern society that has been defined by white Europeans, whilst also trying to maintain something of the culture that those white Europeans worked to erase. It is so easy to think of Native Americans as a stereotype, as a cartoon character with feathers in their hair, but of course, the truth is so much more complicated. Struggles with identity, community, substance addictions and poverty. It's not about reservations or the old stories, but about the struggles of modern Indians in the inner cities. The characters and stories here are not the stereotypes most non-native Americans are familiar with. He has somehow written a book where every chapter is from a different point of view and yet every single character's voice is unique and engaging. Orange's characters are vivid and complex. There seems to be some underlying implication in those words that the book has been hyped due to it's sociopolitical importance, and that's just not the case. There There is much-needed and important, but I kind of hate saying that.
The author takes a number of risks, and yet they all work to create a book of such extreme power that it's hard to come away from it unchanged. Orange's ambitious debut captures the experience of modern "urban Indians" through constantly shifting third person perspectives, ultimately showing that Native Americans are not a monolith, not a stereotype, not united under a single identity. Too many of us died to get just a little bit of us here, right now, right in this kitchen." "Don't ever let anyone tell you what being Indian means.
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