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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
dark
medium-paced
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
honestly the low number of reviews on this pulitzer prize winning book is honestly SO telling! The timeline of the book jumps around and so does the storytellers. Between that and the very graphic depictions of sexual assault- this book was just truly not good? the only reason i finished it was because i was listening to it on audio.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Night Watch tells the story of a family torn apart by the American civil war in 1864 and a family reunited 10 years later in 1874 in the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia.
I struggled with this book. Unfortunately the copy I borrowed from the library was one of the copies with the printing error that must have slipped through the net. But it meant that many of the pages didn't follow one another and that made it very difficult to read and associate with the characters. I enjoyed the setting and the flashback sections to Eliza's and Dearbhla's stories but overall I found it very difficult to enjoy. There was always a disconnect between myself and the characters. I think if I had read the correct errorless version then I may have enjoyed it more but unfortunately this was the only version I had available to me.
I struggled with this book. Unfortunately the copy I borrowed from the library was one of the copies with the printing error that must have slipped through the net. But it meant that many of the pages didn't follow one another and that made it very difficult to read and associate with the characters. I enjoyed the setting and the flashback sections to Eliza's and Dearbhla's stories but overall I found it very difficult to enjoy. There was always a disconnect between myself and the characters. I think if I had read the correct errorless version then I may have enjoyed it more but unfortunately this was the only version I had available to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, War
Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcoholism
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
dark
slow-paced
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ok, 3.5, but does not feel like a Pulitzer.
There are predictable plot coincidences.
Characters are sketchy. Why didn't the strong woman, Dearbhla, do anything to stop Papa's abuse? How can Eliza deny her daughter and get cured BY ROMANCE (gag me). Why is Weed here?
A completely bizarre epilogue featuring a brand new character.
Non linear time lines for what reason? Why are we going back to dinner with Doc O'Shea?
Redeeming quality 1: the depiction of societal PTSD. Hordes of displaced, traumatized, craven, psyscho war casualties, both the soldiers and the abandoned women and children.
Redeeming quality 2: vivid writing in a rural West Virginian tempo. There are gratuitously graphic war hospital and rape scenes that are realistic and sickening.
There are predictable plot coincidences.
Characters are sketchy. Why didn't the strong woman, Dearbhla, do anything to stop Papa's abuse? How can Eliza deny her daughter and get cured BY ROMANCE (gag me). Why is Weed here?
A completely bizarre epilogue featuring a brand new character.
Non linear time lines for what reason? Why are we going back to dinner with Doc O'Shea?
Redeeming quality 1: the depiction of societal PTSD. Hordes of displaced, traumatized, craven, psyscho war casualties, both the soldiers and the abandoned women and children.
Redeeming quality 2: vivid writing in a rural West Virginian tempo. There are gratuitously graphic war hospital and rape scenes that are realistic and sickening.
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated