Night Watchman (Erdrich) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Erdrich’s reverence for her heroic grandfather and her moral passion about the mistreatment of her people irradiate the magisterial, beautiful, important fiction she creates here…. Thomas is our literal night watchman, and Patrice must also watch out for her father’s lurking presence, but Erdrich beautifully evokes and explores the many figurative implications and resonances of both words…. Some readers may find the novel’s kaleidoscope of perspectives confusing or its ambling pace too slow. But those who can surrender to Erdrich’s intricate tapestry of a vision, who appreciate her remarkable ability to veer from humor to pathos in a pithy phrase and, as one character says of another, to 'make life’s bitterness into comedy,' who admire her luminous empathy, will place The Night Watchman alongside the best of her remarkable fiction.
Boston Globe


That a family history forms the novel’s skeleton is fitting, because it is a sense of family that holds the whole story together ... What is most beautiful about the book is how this family feeling manifests itself in the way the people of The Night Watchman see the world, their fierce attachment to each other, however close or distant, living or dead ... [there is a] dark strand running though the book, and through the American story—one that, for all its chauvinism, Erdrich frames with remarkable care.
Minneapolis Star Tribune


The Night Watchman is above all a story of resilience…It is a story in which magic and harsh realities collide in a breathtaking, but ultimately satisfying way. Like those ancestors who linger in the shadows of the pages, the characters Erdrich has created will remain with the reader long after the book is closed.
New York Journal of Books


[The] stirring tale of a young Chippewa woman and her uncle’s effort to halt the Termination Act of 1953.…  Erdrich’s inspired portrait of her own tribe’s resilient heritage masterfully encompasses an array of characters and historical events. Erdrich remains an essential voice.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) In Erdrich's hand, daily life on the reservation comes alive…. Erdrich once again calls upon her considerable storytelling skills to elucidate the struggles of generations of Native people to retain their cultural identity and their connection to the land. —Sally Bissell, formerly with Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Fort Myers, FL
Library Journal


(Starred review) [S]spellbinding, reverent, and resplendent…. Through the personalities and predicaments of her many charismatic characters,… Erdrich traces the indelible traumas of racism and sexual violence and celebrates the vitality and depth of Chippewa life…. Erdrich at her radiant best.
Booklist


(Starred review) In this unhurried, kaleidoscopic story, the efforts of Native Americans to save their lands from …the U.S. government in the early 1950s come intimately, vividly to life.… A knowing, loving evocation of people trying to survive with their personalities and traditions intact.
Kirkus Reviews