內容簡介
【祖輩的傷口，仍在我身上灼燒】
1864年，騎兵團突襲科羅拉多一處印地安保留地，居住該地的夏安及阿拉帕荷族人，遭到慘無人道的殺害，百餘人更被肢解，身首異處。慘死騎兵鐵蹄下的，多為手無寸鐵的婦女及孩童。
在這場被後世稱為沙溪大屠殺的暴行中，倖存的年輕人Jude Star，被帶至惡名昭彰的馬里昂堡監獄，該處關押無數部落酋長與戰士。他們在監獄中，被迫背棄自己的文化傳統，Star在獄卒Richard Henry Pratt的監視下，學習英語、背誦聖經，實踐「基督教義」—亦即，活成「那些極力消滅我們的人」的模樣。
時間流轉，故事來到下個世代。Star的兒子Charles被送往卡萊爾印第安工業學校。該機構的成立，為的是抹消美洲原住民的歷史與文化，及其身分認同，透過文化的強制斷根，讓他們更加「順利」地白人化。而成立這所學校，並在之後以殘暴手段對待Charles的，不是別人，正是昔日看守父親的獄卒Pratt。對不堪虐待的Charles而言，另一名學生Opal Viola是他的避風港，即便他們比誰都清楚，這股難以撼動的結構性迫害只會隨著他們的血緣與身分，延續至下個世代，兩人仍偷偷展望著一個更加美好的未來。
2018年的奧克蘭，Opal在自己的晚輩Orvil遭槍擊重傷後，苦心維繫四分五裂的家族。Orvil自醫院醒來，開始偏執地反覆搜尋校園槍擊的影片，也對止痛藥產生嚴重依賴；而弟弟Lony在槍擊發生後，飽受創傷後壓力症候群折磨，無法消化自己目睹的恐怖屠殺景象，終使他獻祭自己的鮮血，渴望以古老儀式，與夏安先祖連結。
當祖先傳承給我們的，盡是厄運、苦難與折磨，我們還能夠走出不一樣的命運嗎？Opal自己也同樣無措，憑藉致幻仙人掌和古老祭儀，亟欲找到修復這個傷痕累累的家族的方法…
以出道作《There, There不復原鄉》入圍普立茲獎決選名單的Tommy Orange，再次深入挖掘三個世代美洲原住民的記憶與認同，直面被稱之為「歷史傷痕」的壓迫與殺戮。但傷痛與陰影不曾遠去，創口也從未癒合，作者再次以富詩意的語言與悲傷的探問，探討美洲原住民族群經歷的文化刨根與殖民暴行，與其帶來的，世代間如鬼魅般驅散不去，又與個人命運緊緊交織的創傷與困厄，如何和族群血脈一同延續，並在各個部位，持續掐著傷口。
於是從祖輩手中接下的，形貌已模糊的傷口，至今仍然疼痛。
"For the sake of knowing, of understanding, Wandering Stars blew my heart into a thousand pieces and put it all back together again. This is a masterwork that will not be forgotten, a masterwork that will forever be part of you.” —Morgan Talty, bestselling author of Night of the Living Rez
Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle,where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines.
In a novel that is by turns shattering and wondrous, Tommy Orange has conjured the ancestors of the family readers first fell in love with in There There—warriors, drunks, outlaws, addicts—asking what it means to bethe children and grandchildren of massacre. Wandering Stars is a novel about epigenetic and generational trauma that has the force and vision of a modern epic, an exceptionally powerful new book from one of the most exciting writers at work today and soaring confirmation of Tommy Orange’s monumental gifts.
作者介紹
TOMMY ORANGE is faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts MFA program. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He was born and raised in Oakland, California.
