Wandering Stars: A Novel

The deliberate stripping of Native American identity and culture is not that kind of situation discussed in Martin Puchner’s illuminating book about the heterogeneity of culture—the notion that given cultures are not freshly sprouted and unadulterated stock. Rather, culture as we use the term is a mixed bag of borrowing or imposing culture systems through invasion and colonization or simply the normal blending that results from mass migrations and resettlements. In this story, the cultural stripping is not being done by a foreign power. It is not a thing of centuries past in some distant and mysterious world. Rather, it is an instance of one group of Americans—who it might be noted hold the entire stock of hard and soft power—deciding its culture is superior to that of another American group. The story that unfolds in this book is about generational trauma and the challenge of thriving as forced adoptees of a transplant culture. It is about today’s world and should serve as a reminder that it is naïve and dangerous to force one’s view of the world on another’s agency. Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

I found this book to be so beautiful and so heartbreakingly powerful. A must indigenous read. The author conversely was able to express the first person experience of addictions, indigenous culture, and the struggle of identity so casually yet so impactful. I devoured this book with such intent that it is something I will reference over and over again.

I really didn't care for this book. I was very confused and kept having to go back to the family tree to figure how the people fit. I did not finish the book

Was really excited for this one, but it’s not as amazing as his last book.

Well written, glad to have read this book to learn more about how Indigenous people have been treated in America, and especially how it has affected them then and now.