A review by branheart
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

adventurous emotional informative mysterious reflective fast-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

5.0

Picked up The Night Watchman at the Tattered Cover Book Store when Andy and I were in Denver. I flew through the first half of this book, propelled by the plot surrounding Pixie/Patrice, her search for her sister, Vera, and her stint as the waterjack. Once Pixie returned home to the reservation, the pace of this book changed drastically. Although Vera remained missing, the sense urgency faded into the background and the mystery was eventually revealed in a POV switch (that slightly disappointed me, but oh well).

I liked that Louise's inspiration for the novel came from stories of her grandfather, and there were a few moments with the character he inspired, Thomas Wazhushk, that are unforgettable to me and rendered absolutely beautifully. One is the scene in which Thomas experiences the Star Powwow, which is one of the most incredible moments of surrealism/magic realism I've ever read (220-227). I loved the flexibility of time in that scene and how it escalated from realism to surrealism and--in an unexpected twist--back to realism. I loved how that moment was significant, but also not-in-the-larger-sense-of-the-plot significant. It made the spiritual so ordinary. It was absolutely poetic. Secondly, I loved how the metaphor of the Thomas as the muskrat wove together when he had his stroke near the end of the book (can't find the exact chapter or page at the moment, but I'd like to return to it).

A few thoughts that are loose-threads. The character of Roderick was extremely engaging to me. The physical lingering presence of shame and the Indian Boarding Schools. At the ND Humanities Sense of Place event on Sept. 12, 2021, Deb Marquart described Louise Erdrich's novels as conveying a sense of "accumulating violence." The book's change of pace slowed my reading a bit in the second half, but I still enjoyed the story. I read one reviewer who said this novel is "two books" but I think it goes back to telling the story of community and family and place and perhaps a less individual-focused/Westernized view of those things. Louise's novels are sprawling, interconnected stories of many. I love being immersed in the worlds and characters she creates.
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