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What Members Thought
Transcendent, earthy, tragic, funny, necessary.
There's a lot going on in this book, and there are a lot of characters and at least a dozen POVs (including a ghost and two horses). At first I had trouble keeping track of everyone, and I made liberal use of the Wikipedia list of characters. It is perhaps ironic that the character I was least interested in was Thomas, the eponymous night watchman. Patrice aka "Pixie" was the most interesting character; in many ways, she is Tookie (from the Sentence) just placed in very different circumstances.
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Amazing book. I’m ashamed (of the US) to say that for most of my life, my knowledge of native life stemmed from the past. I think my third grade teacher did a great job of actually starting my interest in the Chumash tribe and in SLO, at least, almost every year we read a books that painted American Indians in sympathetic lights but were also just written by white people and perpetuated the “noble savage” trope (omg I’m thinking now… Island of the Blue Dolphins, Julie of the Wolves, Stone Fox, S
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Dec 20, 2021
Melissa Rochelle
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
read-2021
I first heard of Louise Erdrich in high school, my English teacher loved her books. I can't remember if I read one of them then or not...it's been 20+ years...but maybe The Beet Queen?
Anyway, Erdrich is an incredible author. This novel won the Pulitzer. It's wonderful. You should read it. For a real review, follow Ron Charles. ...more
Anyway, Erdrich is an incredible author. This novel won the Pulitzer. It's wonderful. You should read it. For a real review, follow Ron Charles. ...more
Wow! Don't miss this incredible novel by Louise Erdrich, winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize. I'm in love with it. Set in the 1950s and telling the stories of some of the Chippewa tribe of North Dakota, based on letters written by Erdrich's grandfather. You get to meet incredibly bad ass Patrice; kind, smart Thomas who advocates hard for his community; and baby whisperer Wood Mountain; a ghost and some spirits; and many more. There's a world here that's both familiar in its humanity and very diffe
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I hope Erdrich is planning to write more about these characters. I felt like Patrice's story got short-changed at the end. She was the focus for most of the book, but then the resolution focused on less-central characters.
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Didn’t love it.
I never thought I would say that a 400+ page book should have been longer, but there’s a first for everything! Louise Erdrich is at the top of her game with this one, highlighting an unfortunately little-known era in US history, when native tribes were under threat of ceasing to be recognized as tribes. The Nightwatchman is an excellent example of composite storytelling.
Mar 01, 2020
Michelle
marked it as to-read
Mar 29, 2022
Mihika
marked it as to-read
Aug 11, 2022
Lisa
marked it as to-finish
Aug 22, 2022
Lisa
added it
Feb 22, 2023
Cindy
marked it as to-read
Jan 06, 2024
Melissa
marked it as to-read
Mar 05, 2024
Liz
marked it as to-read
