The Night Watchman
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4.2 • 107 Ratings
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- $22.99
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE 2021 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WASHINGTON POST, AMAZON, NPR, CBS SUNDAY MORNING, KIRKUS, CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY, AND GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BEST BOOK OF 2020
Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.
Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new “emancipation” bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress. It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill isn’t about freedom; Congress is fed up with Indians. The bill is a “termination” that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity. How can the government abandon treaties made in good faith with Native Americans “for as long as the grasses shall grow, and the rivers run”?
Since graduating high school, Pixie Paranteau has insisted that everyone call her Patrice. Unlike most of the girls on the reservation, Patrice, the class valedictorian, has no desire to wear herself down with a husband and kids. She makes jewel bearings at the plant, a job that barely pays her enough to support her mother and brother. Patrice’s shameful alcoholic father returns home sporadically to terrorize his wife and children and bully her for money. But Patrice needs every penny to follow her beloved older sister, Vera, who moved to the big city of Minneapolis. Vera may have disappeared; she hasn’t been in touch in months, and is rumored to have had a baby. Determined to find Vera and her child, Patrice makes a fateful trip to Minnesota that introduces her to unexpected forms of exploitation and violence, and endangers her life.
Thomas and Patrice live in this impoverished reservation community along with young Chippewa boxer Wood Mountain and his mother Juggie Blue, her niece and Patrice’s best friend Valentine, and Stack Barnes, the white high school math teacher and boxing coach who is hopelessly in love with Patrice.
In the Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich creates a fictional world populated with memorable characters who are forced to grapple with the worst and best impulses of human nature. Illuminating the loves and lives, the desires and ambitions of these characters with compassion, wit, and intelligence, The Night Watchman is a majestic work of fiction from this revered cultural treasure.
Customer Reviews
Perfect Reading by the Author
We read this for our book club, so I originally purchased the hard copy (which is beautifully printed). Due to time constraints, I also bought the audiobook, which was a great companion. Louise Erdrich’s voice and phrasing adds another layer of context and it helps to hear her pronounce the Chippewa words. Several times, I listened to a paragraph, then marked it in my book, savoring the written and spoken word in tandem. This book is on the list of my favorite books of all time - historical fiction with an eye and ear that complements the times we live in now. Louise Erdrich gives voice to the women, men and non human beings that inhabit our planet. A story for the ages about broken promises, fighting back against the myth of supremacy, inner strength, the falsification of gendered roles and hope - I cannot recommend this story more fervently.
will floor you
This novel is based on Public Law 280 which was passed by Congress in 1953. It was an attempt to sever the trust doctrines between Indian tribes and the federal government. This Indian termination act was supposed to formally disband Indian tribes and to give the government the authority over their land and resources. It's hard to believe that something so vile happened in the 1950s, where our government was trying to screw over the Indians yet again. This story is presented by telling the story of Thomas, the night watchman at a factory who also serves as the judge for the reservation. Thomas. who is based on Erdrich's grandfather, is gathering signatures to take to Washington DC in an attempt to the termination. There are so many supporting characters in this story. You get such a rich taste of life for the Chippewa people. You also are floored by the injustices faced by these people just trying to stay alive and well. This story will floor you with its characters and their hardships.