Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

7 reviews

maggies's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Read for a book club and really struggled with this one. It was beautifully written. Erdrich is clearly a master. But the subject matter and composition were not my cup of tea. It was almost stream of consciousness, which is my absolute least favorite, and I found it very difficult to keep track of the many characters, especially as the POV switched to a new character basically by the chapter. I gave it an extra star because I learned a lot about termination, but overall, not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Death of parent, Racism, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

rieviolet's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This is the first Louise Erdrich's book I've read and, all in all, I liked it. It was not a bad reading experience and I'd like to try out some of her other books.

The chapters are quite short so you can get through them quickly and the book doesn't really feel as long as it is. 
There are multiple point of views and it is interesting to experience so many different voices; still, inevitably, some characters were more captivating than others to me, and the overall narrative could feel a bit disjointed. 

I really appreciated how the author constructed the characters, they were flashed out well and felt very vivid on the page.
Also, I've read very few stories about Native American communities, so I enjoyed getting a glimpse into their history and culture.

It took me a bit to tune into the writing style, and there were still some bits where I struggled a little with the language and I'm not sure I really understood what was being said (but I am not a native speaker) or what was going on.

At times it got a touch strange for my personal taste 

just to name a few examples: dogs talking, chapters from a horse's POV, mention of a horse's vulva

, or the story took quite dark and disturbing turns abruptly, leaving me a bit discombobulated.

I wasn't completely sold on the ending, I think that a lot was left unexplored and untold, which is comprehensible given that there were a lot of narrative threads, but it still left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Colonisation, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Medical content, Kidnapping, Violence, Gun violence, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Addiction, and War

danimcthomas's review

hopeful informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Trafficking

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Confinement, Death, and Alcoholism

Some graphic depictions of sex trafficking

bri_morgan's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Injury/Injury detail

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Such a good story - based upon the true fight by the Turtle Mountain band of the Chippewa against the government's plan for the termination of the reservation and support of their people. She brings to life so many different characters and elements of reservation life in the 1950s.  I love these characters and hated to leave them when the book ended.  I'll be reading more from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Racism, Rape, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, and Incest

teresareads's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation, Violence, Trafficking, Rape, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

alyx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A modern classic. The Night Watchman is defined by its beautiful prose and masterful storytelling, uniquely illuminating the lives of a wide variety of characters, yet also informing readers of an oft-erased period of neocolonial history and violence in the United States

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Trafficking

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, War, Pregnancy, and Genocide