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A review by arodplatypus
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
4.0
As always, Sarah Waters knows how to set a lush scene and how to write characters in such a way that invites the reader deep inside the secrets of their lives. Waters is also brilliant at historical fiction, showing the reader details and aspects of the past in a way that makes that time period feel real and present. For example, despite the ubiquity of World War II literature, it took The Night Watch to show me how desperate and frightening life in England was during that war. The experiences of women, especially queer women, are often overlooked in fiction and historical accounts, so Waters' narratives often feel like a trove of lost treasures. Her narratives are also a powerful insertion of the disappeared identities of queer women into a literary tradition that has sought to erase them.
In The Night Watch, Waters takes the reader progressively back in time from post-WWII, to the middle of the war, to the early onset of the war. While this technique was interesting, some of the scenes felt redundant or unnecessary (mostly Duncan's scenes...his story is the least engaging). This progression backward in time (without jumping back to the "present") also recontextualized the purpose of the book, putting the focus on the war as a catalyst for a chain of events that wholly and irrevocably shaped the characters lives.
In The Night Watch, Waters takes the reader progressively back in time from post-WWII, to the middle of the war, to the early onset of the war. While this technique was interesting, some of the scenes felt redundant or unnecessary (mostly Duncan's scenes...his story is the least engaging). This progression backward in time (without jumping back to the "present") also recontextualized the purpose of the book, putting the focus on the war as a catalyst for a chain of events that wholly and irrevocably shaped the characters lives.