The Night Watchman in What's the Name of That Book???

Jun 04, 2022 jo rated it it was amazing

Shelves: native-north-american, blew-my-mind, audio

i want to say something about this book. i want to say that it's the best erdrich i've read. but see, i've been reading erdrich for thirty years, and in thirty years so much changes, plus memory is deeply unreliable, so is it possible Love Medicine was better than this? The Antelope Wife? this i can say: i used to admire erdrich, but some things in her books were things i tolerated. the magic, for instance. i tolerated it. but then she wrote The Round House, which doesn't have magic, and i didn' i want to say something about this book. i want to say that it's the best erdrich i've read. but see, i've been reading erdrich for thirty years, and in thirty years so much changes, plus memory is deeply unreliable, so is it possible Love Medicine was better than this? The Antelope Wife? this i can say: i used to admire erdrich, but some things in her books were things i tolerated. the magic, for instance. i tolerated it. but then she wrote The Round House, which doesn't have magic, and i didn't like that. things turned for me at The Plague of Doves. it's a large, sprawling, disorganized, meandering book (in my memory), but i loved it viscerally. that was the first time when i found nothing to tolerate in an erdrich book. the second time was The Sentence, which is more recent than Night Watchman. i loved The Sentence viscerally. and now this one. i loved it. viscerally.

i can't quite draw a history of the evolution of louise erdrich's novels, because, like i said, it's been 30 years, but it seems to me that she is becoming more and more adept at meshing multiple narratives some of which are deep and important (like, in this case, going up against the US government to save the community and the reservation), some other of which are ordinary -- memories, work, relationships, housekeeping, ceremony. so, for instance, in Night Watchman, the potential love story between patrice and barnes, or patrice and wood mountain, or whether patrice loves anyone at all, take the same space as thomas's effort to save his people. the minutiae of thomas's job as night watchman take the same space as his political responsibilities.

and this gives the book a calm, a peacefulness, that i treasured. how could i not? these are difficult times. and here is louise erdrich, a literary genius, telling me, telling us, live your life well, live your life calmly and minutely, do your little daily things, love the people you are with, lend a hand when you can, and if you are called to save your people, whoever your people are, pencil it in and do that, too, well and meticulously. ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Aug 08, 2023 Jessica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: library, audiobooks, nativeamerican, historical-fiction

My first Louise Erdrich, but certainly not my last! A beautiful, sad, funny, hair-raising story about the US government's attempt to terminate the Turtle Mountain tribe and take over their lands in the mid-1950's. Partially based on Erdrich's own grandfather and his fight to preserve his people, this is a rich and brilliant story that is going to stick with me for a long time. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Aug 31, 2021 Becky Marietta rated it really liked it

Great piece of history, including Erdich's famlity history. Strong characters, as always, and a lot of heart. The book was uneven at times, with a few too many storylines, and the story did not spend enough time on Vera and her fate. Mainly really good writing though, which is par for the course for Erdich. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 25, 2023 Heather rated it liked it

It was a slow hard read and didn’t come together until the end. I would’ve quit, but tim had me read it on a long drive.

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2021 Chrissie rated it really liked it

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. ...more

Like · see review