The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

On July 27th Joanie, Mary Lib, Libby, Saran and Margie gathered at Margie's home to welcome Lucie into our group and to discuss the Night Watchman. 

While Annie was unable to attend, she did send some comments which so aptly expressed what those in attendance felt: "I think Erdrich is a gifted writer, combining Native American life and Spirituality with the often times cruel reality of modern (and past) culture. The book had truly dark parts, but the protagonist, Thomas was a stable, central force. And what interesting History!"

Lucie felt that this was one of Erdrich's best books and liked the use of  'vignettes' to tell her story. Margie had remarked that she didn't realize that she was choosing such a lengthy book, but all agreed it was an easy read and did not seem long because of the vignettes.

There were many different topics of discussion for this book. Some related to the different characters and which characters were liked and for what reasons as well as characters who might have been a bit confusing (e.g., Roderick). There was a lot of conversation regarding some of the more humorous and/or surprising side stories: the Mormon missionaries; the parade and the horse escapade; the waterjack; Thomas getting locked out of the plant. Mary Lib specifically mentioned the aspect of "time" and that Native Americans do not think about time as we so, and that was reflected in the book as there was no explicit mention of time in the book. Saran stated that there was a sliding back and forth in time. Mary Lib also thought it was quite clever how Patrice and her mom shared dreams indicating their strong connection to each other. 

There was a fair bit of discussion related to culture and history. Mary Lib highlighted that how people celebrate is an important part of their culture and this aspect certainly was included in this story. Libby commented that she got into the book so quickly as the story was taking place in our lifetime. Margie felt the best part of the book was the Afterword which provided historical detail and information regarding the basis of the characters. Lucie offered that this was perhaps one of Erdirch's best stories because it was so personal.

In regards to the historical nature of this novel we did reflect on the timeliness of it with the current focus on reparations related to the boarding schools. There was also mention of the fact that young women are still disappearing not unlike what happened in this book. We all agreed that this was a helpful book to read at this time in light of what's occurred in the last year with regards to  race relations. 

One final topic that was touched on was the whole notion of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Margie chose this book because it had just received it. In reviewing the list of all books that had received this prize she highlighted some that we had read, and that were not especially well received by our group although many titles are well-known and well liked.  Of course that lead to a search of what is the criteria for receiving the Pulitzer. We were all interested to learn that there is no specific criteria! While the definition of this award has changed over the years the most current definition (1984) states, "For distinguished fiction published in book form during the year by an American author, preferably dealing with American life." I think we could all agree that The Night Watchman fits this definition. The question put to me by someone outside of our group was , "Do you think it deserved the award?" How I wish I had asked that question of the group.