Review: The Night Watchman

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was a recommendation from an English teacher colleague, which I followed up on. The novel is set on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota in the 1950s at time when the federal government was trying to eliminate both reserves and Indian status. The story follows several characters including the titular character, Thomas Wazhashk, who combines the role as a member of the reserve council and work as a night watchman at the jewel bearing plant on the reserve. The central over-arching conflict is the fight that Thomas must wage to preserve the reservation which, ultimately, includes a trip to Washington D.C., to defend the reservations status. But this novel also has several sub-plots including members of Thomas' family and others on the reservation. Those can be complex to follow, but the characters are fascinating.

The novel itself is based upon the letters of Erdrich's grandfather, who spearheaded the resistance to dispossession in the 1950s. The story reflects the resiliance and resistance of these communities at at time when assimilation was the policy of many lawmakers in both the US and Canada. The novel gives a vivid sense of the time and is well worth rading.

View all my reviews