In this season of literary wildfires, when cultural borrowings have unleashed protests that have shaken the publishing industry, the issue of authenticity is paramount. Erdrich retakes the lead by offering the reader the gifts of love and richness that only a deeply connected writer can provide. You never doubt these are her people. The author...delivers a magisterial epic that brings her power of witness to every page. High drama, low comedy, ghost stories, mystical visions, family and tribal lore — wed to a surprising outbreak of enthusiasm for boxing matches — mix with political fervor and a terrifying undercurrent of predation and violence against women. For 450 pages, we are grateful to be allowed into this world ... I walked away from the Turtle Mountain clan feeling deeply moved, missing these characters as if they were real people known to me. In this era of modern termination assailing us, the book feels like a call to arms. A call to humanity. A banquet prepared for us by hungry people.
Erdrich’s career has been an act of resistance against racism — the hateful and the sentimental varieties — and the implacable force of white America’s ignorance. In one powerful book after another, she has carved Indians’ lives, histories and stories back into our national literature, a canon once determined to wipe them away ... The Night Watchman is more overtly political...but it’s a political novel reconceived as only Erdrich could ... As usual, modern realism and Native spirituality mingle harmoniously in Erdrich’s pages without calling either into question ... This tapestry of stories is a signature of Erdrich’s literary craft, but she does it so beautifully that it’s tempting to forget how remarkable it is. Chapter by chapter, we encounter characters interrelated but traveling along their own paths ... This narrator’s vision is...capacious, reaching out across a whole community in tender conversation with itself. Expecting to follow the linear trajectory of a mystery, we discover in Erdrich’s fiction something more organic, more humane.
That a family history forms the novel’s skeleton is fitting, because it is a sense of family that holds the whole story together ... What is most beautiful about the book is how this family feeling manifests itself in the way the people of The Night Watchman see the world, their fierce attachment to each other, however close or distant, living or dead ... [there is a] dark strand running though the book, and through the American story—one that, for all its chauvinism, Erdrich frames with remarkable care.
The Night Watchman is indeed historical, thoroughly researched, rich with cultural and topical detail. However, what engages the reader most deeply are Erdrich’s characters: people, ghosts, even animals ... The author’s narrative voice has been compared to Steinbeck. Taking into account her entire body of work, the comparison seems apt. Here, The Grapes of Wrath comes particularly to mind as The Night Watchman is a resonant saga of Thomas’ family and friends, representatives of the marginalized, vulnerable community ... The characters, both major and minor, all matter ... Great care is exactly what Erdrich shows for everybody in the novel. Each character — sympathetic and unsympathetic alike — is rendered in the round with attention and respect ... Both the story of the tribe and the story of the individual family plumb grim history and circumstances, but the novel is neither grim nor a lament. Rather, it is a tale of resistance, courage, and love prevailing against the odds ... Some readers may question such optimism and hope and doubt the tentative, nuanced resolutions achieved by the tribe and Thomas’ family. But any reader in this present, dark winter of 2020 open to reminders of what a few good people can do will find The Night Watchman bracing and timely.
This book is mainly about Thomas’s crusade to save his people, but it is also—like many of Ms. Erdrich’s novels—about life on the reservation, in all of its struggle and magic ... Although Ms. Erdrich has long felt a duty to chronicle the Native American experience, she mostly avoids burdening her books with an obvious political agenda. Her tangled and unpredictable multigenerational sagas, with their recurring characters and territories, are largely about the messiness of survival. The Night Watchman, however, feels uncharacteristically and ploddingly schematic. The heroes and villains are so cleanly drawn that one can easily imagine the Frank Capra adaptation ... Ms. Erdrich’s noble desire to do justice to her grandfather’s memory seems to have compromised her talent for psychological complexity. Thomas is so good as to be almost boring ... Pixie feels similarly archetypal as the pretty yet plucky heroine with little need for—but a great deal of desire from—men. There is something a little annoying about all of her strength and courage, her good sense, cute figure and ability to do nearly everything well ... Ms. Erdrich has unfortunately curbed her considerable gifts as a writer in order to make this novel a vehicle for an inspirational message.
Erdrich’s reverence for her heroic grandfather and her moral passion about the mistreatment of her people irradiate the magisterial, beautiful, important fiction she creates here ... Thomas is our literal night watchman, and Patrice must also watch out for her father’s lurking presence, but Erdrich beautifully evokes and explores the many figurative implications and resonances of both words ... Some readers may find the novel’s kaleidoscope of perspectives confusing or its ambling pace too slow. But those who can surrender to Erdrich’s intricate tapestry of a vision, who appreciate her remarkable ability to veer from humor to pathos in a pithy phrase and, as one character says of another, to 'make life’s bitterness into comedy,' who admire her luminous empathy, will place The Night Watchman alongside the best of her remarkable fiction.
In her latest novel, The Night Watchman, Erdrich’s blend of spirituality, gallows humor, and political resistance is at play ... Pixie’s forays into the woods, and her visions while exploring them, form the most evocative parts of the novel ... the novel feel[s] almost gothic in places ... We need more of these stories that recount collective resistance and the small victories that can accompany it, while also recognizing the toll they take (economically, physically, emotionally) on individuals and communities.
... capacious in its inclusion of various details specific to its period in history ... The novel also develops believable characters who have jobs and varied responsibilities appropriate to their period ... these narratological elements of emplotment, perfectly realized as they are, are not what give The Night Watchman its particular flavor. The essential substance of the novel has relatively little to do with the actual stories being told. Rather, the novel’s specific effect has to do with a juxtaposition of two types of language. There is the language of government, and then there is the language of the people of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa or Ojibwe (or Anishinaabe) Indians ... This plainness of language also filters down to Erdrich’s own narrative style, which does not mean it is merely ordinary or inelegant...Erdrich’s style in The Night Watchman is neither ornate nor hallucinatory...The words of this novel are compelling in their precise simplicity ... It is a fully satisfying experience to read Erdrich’s novel. I put The Night Watchman down with a heavy heart. Not out of disappointment — far from it. It is a sad thing to finish the book because when you are reading it you are in the hands of a master storyteller, and you know you are in such hands. There is no question and thus no anxiety about the matter. You never wonder, 'Will she pull this off?' You know she will. Rather than inducing boredom as foreknowledge might in other contexts, this means you can relax and indulge in the pleasures of reading. The story is unfolding before you, and as it is unfolding, you know that you are going to enjoy it. As Auden might put it: here is an author that completely warrants your trust. It is this feeling of reassurance that I will miss, as I move on to other books — books that are possibly great, but who knows? Maybe they will disappoint me; maybe I will be not uplifted but cast down; there is no way to be certain. With The Night Watchman, you are sure from the start, and that little bit of certainty is a great comfort in our inconstant world.
Louise Erdrich’s new novel...shimmers and dances like the northern lights the book's cover evokes ... Erdrich, who is part Chippewa, is a gifted, award-winning storyteller whose writing introduces readers to Native American characters they will be sad to leave at book’s end. She subtly tells the story of the ruinous way this country treated its native people ... Watchman has it all – the tingly pangs of Patrice’s sexual awakening and the warmth of the long-standing love between Thomas and his wife, Rose; the joys of workplace girlfriends and the agony of romantic triangles; the tense buildup to a boxing bout and a face-off with a villainous real-life congressman ... In powerfully spare and elegant prose, Erdrich depicts deeply relatable characters who may be poor but are richly connected to family, community and the Earth.
Erdrich seamlessly blends the past, the present, and the future into her narrative and effortlessly skips between the physical and spiritual planes. Her writing shines as she discusses tribal folklore, ritual, and medicine, and it feels as if the reader has been invited into her home to be enlightened and taught ... It is a story in which magic and harsh realities collide in a breathtaking, but ultimately satisfying way. Like those ancestors who linger in the shadows of the pages, the characters Erdrich has created will remain with the reader long after the book is closed.
No one can break your heart and fill it with light all in the same book—sometimes in the same paragraph—quite like Louise Erdrich ... her gorgeously written, deeply humane books are a compelling history of the long dance between indigenous and European cultures that has shaped the nation ... Erdrich’s writing about the bonds of marriage and family is one of the greatest strengths of her fiction. She captures all the affection, teasing, pain and forgiveness it takes to hold a family together.
... stunning ... the connection between Erdrich’s characters and the natural world is unbreakable, and some of her most evocative passages are dedicated to this relationship ... Erdrich has chosen a story that is near to her heart, and it shines through on every page
... a singular achievement even for this accomplished writer ... Erdrich, like her grandfather, is a defender and raconteur of the lives of her people. Her intimate knowledge of the Native American world in collision with the white world has allowed her, over more than a dozen books, to create a brilliantly realized alternate history as rich as Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi.
Erdrich imbues The Night Watchman with her signature style: a sweeping vision of spiritual and historical resonance, animated by the rich depth of feeling within her characters and a wry current of humor. Amid its many strengths and pleasures, this novel creates a graceful meditation on the power—and the steep cost—of holding vigil for the things of our world that we love and that we know we may lose.
Through...small, personal rituals of purpose and accomplishment, we are given the opportunity to care about and relate to the characters ... Woven into the routines of life on the reservation is the thread of mysticism ... It is with great care for the world around them that these characters appreciate and even revere what can be known but not seen or heard ... This is the story of lives in the midst of struggle, efforts carried out within the borders, both physical and societal, of a circumscribed space. What makes reading this book such a satisfying experience is learning about the everyday pleasures, the successes, big and small, and the many ways they make meaning of their lives.
Louise Erdrich’s The Night Watchman is fiction, barely ... The chapters are short and often shift their setting and narrative perspective quickly to survey the book’s many characters. These cadences – the quick rise and fall and rise again – are typical of Erdrich ... Form mirrors content in The Night Watchman: from addiction to racism to sexual assault and land dispossession, the indignities of Native life pile up ... As she describes the attempts by the women of the jewel bearing plant to unionize, the use of community testimony to fight the 'emancipation' bill, and other forms of learned communal resistance, Erdrich also resists descending into caricature. Her lives on the reservation are filled with the same loves, jealousies and insecurities that preoccupy us all. These are big stories about small places, and it is easy to feel lost in the mêlée of it all. But no sooner are we confronted with the enormous weight of this history than we are drawn back to the land and to its people, to Patrice on a train to Minneapolis, her head resting wearily on the glass by her window seat, watching the hills fly by.
A character in Love Medicine,” Erdrich’s first novel, says 'Love is a stony road.' The sprawling plots and crowded stages of all her novels since are really just continuations of this thought. Each of the characters in The Night Watchman has a toehold on the rocky terrain of love. Erdrich doesn’t speak in grand terms about the persistence that keeps her Turtle Mountain band on their native ground. She shows us instead, one by one, what love of a homeland means to her characters and why they choose fidelity over dispersal. These are new characters for Erdrich. If we’re lucky, she’ll let us meet them again in a sequel.
...stunning ... Erdrich — the best-selling author and National Book Award winner — weaves the stories of other beautifully crafted characters against the backdrop of an impoverished reservation community on the Northern Plains of Minnesota ... the connection between Erdrich’s characters and the natural world is unbreakable, and some of her most evocative passages are dedicated to this relationship ... Erdrich has chosen a story that is near to her heart, and it shines through on every page.
Louise Erdrich’s prolific output has done nothing to water down the quality of her writing. If anything, after three decades of storytelling, she knows her groove and tells her tales in an assured, leisurely fashion. In this way, her latest novel is less a tightly plotted story than a recounting of an episode in American history with character sketches filled in along the way ... Certain themes can be relied upon throughout Erdrich’s body of work, most notably the injustice handed out to Native American tribes by the white powers that be ... The Night Watchman serves as a timely reminder that history seems to have a habit of repeating itself.
I eagerly dove into this new book by an author I love, and she did not disappoint ... honest, mystical and immersive ... the point-of-view shifts are seamless, and we walk alongside each person throughout ... I tasted and smelled the foods, heard the unfamiliar language, winced at the punches, felt the wet, cold, fear and joy, and experienced the visions, miracles and connection to Earth, spirit and humanity. Erdrich shepherds us through humanness at its best and at its worst, ultimately uniting us ... Erdrich’s writing is the kind that makes writers swoon, admire and envy. Her prose and storytelling are masterful and stir that feeling of dismay: How could I ever write with such grace and beauty? Her style is poetic with splashes of humor and wit, and her characters are real humans with complex worldviews, complicated relationships and uneven emotions. They are fully revealed to the reader without authorial judgment. In fact, The Night Watchman could be used as a study in character development for writers --- it’s that deft ... This clever, artful and compelling novel tells an important story, one to open our hearts and minds. If you’re looking for a book that is smart and discussable, tender and painful, riveting and elegant, you’ll find it in The Night Watchman.
... full-bodied ... a large cast of characters delineated with Erdrich’s customary vibrancy and wit ... Grittily realistic about the problems faced by modern Indians, The Night Watchman is also steeped in ancient folkways that acknowledge no arbitrary division between the physical and spirit worlds ... embraces the multifaceted nature of human experience and adds a valuable new chapter to this fine writer’s career-long project: tracing in richly individual details the complex variety of Native American lives while also paying tribute the web of relationships and traditions that sustain them as a collective.
... perhaps because of its intensely personal origins, this book feels particularly special, taking those elements that we expect from Erdrich — beautiful prose, exquisite depiction of the natural world, powerful emotion — and building them into something exceptional. If you haven’t read her before, The Night Watchman is a superb introduction to the work of one of America’s most important living novelists.
... [a] spellbinding, reverent, and resplendent drama ... a work of distinct luminosity ... Through the personalities and predicaments of her many charismatic characters, and through rapturous descriptions of winter landscapes and steaming meals, sustaining humor and spiritual visitations, Erdrich traces the indelible traumas of racism and sexual violence and celebrates the vitality and depth of Chippewa life.
Erdrich’s fiction has always been informed by her Anishinaabe roots, but this novel is truly personal ... In Erdrich’s hands, daily life on the reservation comes alive, the crushing poverty and lack of opportunity tempered by family cohesion and the wisdom of the elders. She acknowledges the scourge of alcoholism and exposes traffickers who prey on naive girls drawn to the cities ... Erdrich once again calls upon her considerable storytelling skills to elucidate the struggles of generations of Native people to retain their cultural identity and their connection to the land.
... [a] stirring tale ... Erdrich captures the Chippewa community’s durable network of families, friends, and neighbors, alive or dead, including Pixie’s alcoholic father and wise mother, who live in poverty. The heartbreaking conclusion to Vera’s story resonates with the pervasive crisis of missing Native American women ... Erdrich’s inspired portrait of her own tribe’s resilient heritage masterfully encompasses an array of characters and historical events. Erdrich remains an essential voice.
In this unhurried, kaleidoscopic story, the efforts of Native Americans to save their lands from being taken away by the U.S. government in the early 1950s come intimately, vividly to life ... A knowing, loving evocation of people trying to survive with their personalities and traditions intact.
