The Night Watchman

De: Louise Erdrich

Narrado por: Louise Erdrich

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.

©2020 Louise Erdrich (P)2020 HarperAudio

Interesting story well told (and read).

The Author happens to be a talented reader - this is a rare treat for the listener. The title character, based on the Author's grandfather, was especially intriguing - a humble man possessing great wisdom. It is a multi-character narrative where all of the voices and perspectives feel authentic; the products of their place and time. Highly recommended for those who enjoyed The Round House.

Based on authors life, excellent!

Based on authors life, excellent!
I highly recommend this book. Engaging, well performed. At first it was hard to keep the many characters straight, but then I got to know them. Author is native American and I got a real flavor of the culture. The story slipped into mystical and native sorry at times, but always as an added aspect, never too far from reality to be irritating. I loved the major characters of Thomas and Patrice, and the added minor character of Millie. There was romance, but even that was not superficial with expected outcomes. The historical fiction aspect of the white rich American politicians destruction of Native American life was described such that I got an inside view into what history books gloss over.

One of my favorite authors narrates her own book !

Wonderful glimpse into the lives of Native Americans. Hard working, in-tune to natural surroundings , humble , Realists, but with a connection to the spiritual world that is intriguing . Certainly seems more plausible than the tales I have been taught as a Roman Catholic . This book will stay with me for a long time . Thank you Louise Erdrich .

Wonderful

A beautiful story made even more beautiful that it is based on true events and delivered by the author herself. I loved everything about this book.

Classic Erdrich

I felt included in every conversation as the character s carried on their unique everyday life.

A certain gentleness

This book, story and even the recording exude a certain gentleness that pervades Native American spirituality and mythology. All the characters, even the unsavory and less than perfect, have vulnerability that makes them relatable, if not likable
. The rapid switch from hard reality to the Native spirit world might be disconcerting for some readers but is a window into a world this is deep, rich and well presented by authors like Louise Erdrich.

Loved it! What fabulous storytelling!

This is the type of book you finish fast because you can’t bear to be far from the characters and yet it is also educating you every step of the way. I am fascinated by American history and believe understanding where we come from is key to navigating forward.

Excellent beyond compare !

We live near the Red Lake Reservation and consider many lovely people there as friends . The references to places we know and inclusion of the language deepened our enjoyment for this masterpiece. I loved the section describing the misguided naming of places after war heroes, priests , generally men rather than the eternal that might occur in the place . Powerful - poignant.

A beautiful book but…

The book is stunning in its language and imagery. However, I kept finding the author’s narration irritating. Her voice is absolutely gorgeous and I kept thinking that I should love it. But the words were so slowly pronounced and over-enunciated. I just got the impression that the author was just a bit too in love with her own prose. It made it all just a little too precious.

Her words in her own wonderful voice!

Wise, awe inspiring, filled with love and kindness in contrast with a world stacked against them, the tribe is true to itself and the honor of the people.