The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

Yesterday, I finished listening to the unabridged audio version of The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, which is narrated by the author. 

I had previously finished reading The Sentence by Louise Erdrich last month for Native American Heritage Month. I enjoyed The Sentence so much that I decided to follow it up with another novel by Louise Erdrich. The Night Watchman didn't disappoint! 

After reading two back to back novels by Louise Erdrich, I can safely say that I have a new favorite novelist. I look forward to reading more books by Louise Erdrich.

What can I say about The Night Watchman? The writing is spectacular! The characters are amazing, well rounded, and a full bodied in a way that is very satisfying to the storyline. The storyline is very captivating and well paced. There isn't a dull moment to be seen in this novel.

There's so much to convey about The Night Watchman that I am not sure where to begin first. I don't want to over share the plot details either that I end up giving away too much of the plot details! 

I will keep my review very simple to prevent too many spoilers. The Night Watchman takes place in the 1950s and is set mainly in rural North Dakota on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. The night watchman of this novel is Thomas Washashk. Thomas's last name means muskrat and there'e a lot of Native American Folklore surrounding the muskrat that is touched upon in the novel. Thomas Washashk is based on the author's own grandfather. 

I love that Louise Erdrich focuses on Native American history and issues/themes in her novels. I also enjoy that she incorporates real life events and real life people into her novels as well. In The Night Watchman, we read about Thomas Washashk's fight against Native dispossession which takes him all the way to Washington DC. All the while, Thomas tries to sustain life for his family through farming and as a night watchman at the local jewel bearing plant.

Another main character is Pixie/Patrice. She's a young women who works at the jewel bearing plant making the jewel bearings along with several other Native American women. We see Pixie/Patrice and others on the reservation struggle with poverty and the Native American identity.

Each character in The Night Watchman is very nuanced. How these characters mingle together to make a cohesive story is magic on Erdrich's part. The readers are provided a snapshot into life on the reservation and what the new 'emancipation' bill would mean for indigenous groups across the USA if it should pass.

Below is the plot summary for The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, which I discovered on Amazon's website:

Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

New York Times Best Seller

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, DC, 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.

I am giving The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich a rating of 5 stars out of 5 stars. 

In fact, The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich may be my favorite novel of 2024. The writing is incredible! I fully understand why it won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize.

Until my next post, happy reading!