The Night Watchman: Book Review

Today, we will be reviewing The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, an award winning historical novel. Keep reading to find out what we thought of this novel and if you should add it to your reading list!

The Night Watchman Summary

Thomas Wazhashk is a night watchman who works at the jewel bearing plant in Turtle Mountain. He is also the Ojibwe Councilor and leads the charge against a new termination bill drafted be Senator Arthur Vivian Watkins that plans to relocate Native Americans from their land.

Patrice is Thomas’neice and she also works at the jewel bearing plant and is the sole provider for her family. She decides to go to Minneapolis to find her sister Vera and bring her back home. But Patrice has little to go on and hasn’t been away from home before.

Thomas and Patrice both must work to provide for their families as well as going beyond to keep the people they love safe from harm. Will Thomas be able to stop Arthur from relocating his people and will Patrice find her sister? 

Commentary

The Night Watchman was released in early 2020 and went on to win the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Erdrich was inspired by letters written by her grandfather who the protagonist is based on. Some of the events did happen and the senator was a real person who led the charge of relocating 100s of Native American tribes. 

This was a wonderfully written novel and Erdrich does an amazing job of showing the daily lives of Native Americans on Turtle Mountain. While Thomas and Patrice are the protagonists of the novel, that statement isn’t fully accurate. 

Erdrich lets many different characters shine and you get to see Turtle Mountain breathe and can vividly picture it. I’ve never been to Minneapolis but after reading this book, I am curious and may in fact visit it because of this book.

The characters are the driving force of this book and I am sure that Erdrich used her grandfather’s letters as a reference. She uses any events that happened in real life in the novel. Some of them do make you wonder their importance in terms of the plot but only after reading the whole book do you see the full picture. 

Commentary

The storytelling and attention to detail showcase why this novel went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I enjoyed every second of this novel and will be checking out other works by Erdrich. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good book, loves history, or enjoys reading booked centered around communities. Happy reading!

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