This Book Was Impressive, Flawed, And Disturbing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             It took me awhile to follow the structure of Tommy Orange's first novel, which has all the perfections and imperfections of a first novel.

                             At first, I thought it was a novel just connected by strings of short stories, or character viewpoints.  But, then, as I read further, I realized something--this book is structured in much the same way Joan Tewkesbury and Robert Altman structured their 1975 masterwork, "Nashville."

                            Like "Nashville," "There, There" covers a group of disparate American Indian characters, living in the Oakland area.  The reader eventually learns they are all on their way to attend a pow wow at a convention center--similar to Javits in New York, but on the West Coast--but everyone has a very different agenda.  And when those agendas come together...well, think of the Parthenon sequence in "Nashville."

                            I wonder if Mr. Orange had ever seen, or was influenced by "Nashville."  Because its structural similarity is unmistakable,  Yet he is able to tap into the emotional viscera of each of these very different characters, to demonstrate the plight of the American Indian through the centuries.  His depiction works very well, and shows some fine writing.  His culmination, I am not so certain about, though it has relevance for today.

                             In a year where fiction of quality stands few and far between "There, There" could stack up, by year's end, as one of the best.  It remains to see what literary events await us, in the Fall.

                             If, indeed, there are any!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!