There There

A young adult man who lives in Oakland, Tony’s fetal alcohol syndrome gives him distinctive facial features. He lives with his grandmother and sells drugs for Octavio. Tony’s narrative is both the beginning and end of the novel, and his position as both an insider and outsider makes him one of the most important characters in the text.

Dene is a young documentary filmmaker who picks up a project from his uncle and applies for a grant to carry it out. Dene begins filming stories from Indigenous Americans in and around Oakland, including at the Big Oakland Powwow.

Now in her fifties, Opal works as a letter carrier for the US Postal Service and takes care of her sister’s three grandsons. She and her sister attended an Indigenous protest at Alcatraz in 1970. Opal went through several foster homes as a teenager.