The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Published by Harper Books ISBN 9780062671189
Hardcover, $28.99, 448 pages

Give me a novel based in fact and a setting in a place I'm not familiar with and I am all in. And if it's written by Louise Erdrich, all the better. Her latest novel, The Night Watchman, is based on the life of her grandfather, an American Indian who fought the federal government when they tried to take away the land of his people in North Dakota in the 1950s.

The man based on her grandfather is Thomas, a night watchman in the jewelry making factory in a Native American homeland in North Dakota. Thomas is also on the Turtle Mountain Advisory Commitee that oversaw the area, and between both of those jobs he spends as much time as he can with his loving wife Rose and their children.

Thomas becomes concerned when he learns that the US House of Representatives is considering a bill that would end support of the Native Americans on Turtle Mountain, effectively forcing the residents there to leave their homes and move to the big city to find jobs to support their families. Selling the land would violate a treaty signed with the tribe years ago, and Thomas rallies the people to petition the government to honor their agreement and defeat the resolution.

Patrice is a young woman who works in the jewelry factory and lives with her mother, drunken father, and siblings in a rundown home. She works hard and hopes to get a promotion so she can earn more money to support her family.

When her older sister, who had married and moved away to the big city, disappears, it is up to Patrice to find her. Her journey to the big city brings her into contact with men who take advantage of young women, and Patrice has to use her wits to get out of more than one jam.

She has two men back home who want to date her, although she doesn't want to date them. Wood Mountain is a boxer who ends up on her train to Minneapolis, and he decides that he should keep an eye on her. Barnes is the math teacher who wants to be her boyfriend.

Every character in The Night Watchman is interesting. Thomas, Rose, Patrice, Wood, even the secondary characters like the Mormon missionaries who attempt to convert the Native Americans, are so fully realized, you find yourself wanting to know more about each of them. Erdrich writes in each of their voices brilliantly.

Erdrich packs a lot of story into her lovingly crafted novel, and you learn a lot about life on Turtle Mountain in the 1950s- the traditions, the food, the culture, the family connections. The scenes set in Washington DC as Thomas and Patrice and others go to meet with congressmen, are also fascinating.

The Night Watchman is a book to get totally immersed in, and in a time when most of us can't leave our homes, it's great to be taken somewhere else for a day or two. It's especially appealing to those who like history. I highly recommend it.

Friday 5ive- April 10, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. We're going on four weeks since we have been sheltering-in-place, and we seem to have settled into a routine. I get up, make my husband breakfast, catch the first part of CBS This Morning, do laundry twice a week, take a Peleton spin class, eat my breakfast and then get to work on whatever project I have going. I check in with family and friends, and then read for awhile before starting dinner. I have cooked (or reheated leftovers) every night since March 14th. It's exhausting, am I right? On to the 5ive-

1) We live near four hospitals and every night at 7pm, people go out on their balconies and cheer for first responders, healthcare workers, and all essential workers (grocery store workers, pharmacy workers, transit workers, etc.) I video it and post it on my Facebook page every night. It's really great to see people coming together to do this, and here is one from this week.

2) Speaking of videos, my birthday was this week and since my kids couldn't be with me, they sent me birthday greetings from Brian Baumgartner, who played Kevin on The Office. I love that show, and just finished a book The Office-The Unofficial Best Comedy of the 2000s by Andy Greene, so this was extremely appropriate and made me laugh so much. What a thoughtful gift! You can get one too at Cameo.com

3) Recipes have been on my mind this week, and not only the ones I have cooked. My cousin and her friends shared a Quarantine Recipe Exchange, where people swapped easy recipes made with things you probably have in your home right now. I shared Spanish Rice, which my husband loves, and the link to the recipe from Robyn Stone on Add A Pinch is here.
Our nephew's girlfriend has been making her grandmother's recipes and posting the results on Facebook and Instagram for all of us to drool over. What a great idea! We're trying to convince her to put together a cookbook as all the women in the family enjoy cooking.


4) I've been watching two shows about people "breaking bad"- Better Call Saul's fifth season is on now on AMC on Monday nights, and for those of you who loved Breaking Bad, you know the character Saul Goodman, a lawyer for the drug dealers. The show gives us his journey from struggling lawyer to cartel lawyer, and this season is a key one for Saul.

Good Girls is back on NBC on Sunday nights, and this one is about three suburban Detroit women who in desperation rob a grocery store and end up stealing a drug dealer's money by mistake. Every decision they make just brings them into deeper trouble. I watch it and marvel at where they take the storyline. If you haven't watched this one, binge it on Netflix.

5) I finished Louise Erdrich's The Night Watchman and it is fantastic. It's based on the life of the author's grandfather, who worked to keep Washington DC from taking away his tribe's land in North Dakota in 1953. The characters are so vivid, and the reader is immersed in the culture. I highly recommend this one.

I also started and finished Abby Greaves' debut novel The Silent Treatment. (My review is here.) It's about a long married couple whose husband stopped speaking to his wife for six months. When she becomes comatose after an intentional overdose, her narrates their love story and tries to explain why he was silent. It's heartbreaking and devastating.

I hope you all stay safe and well and home.

Friday 5ive- Living in a COVID World

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. Everyone in NYC seems to be settling in to a new reality. More businesses are closing (our dry cleaner closed, many restaurants who were doing takeout and delivery have closed), and the only people you see on the streets are walking their dogs or going to the grocery stores, which seem to be better stocked now.

1)  The weather has been so dreary and cold, the sight of these tulips blooming in front of our apartment building brought me joy.

2)  I'm trying to keep busy by doing one small project per day. Last week I reorganized my bookshelves (which was a BIG, all-day project), on Wednesday I reorganized my greeting card box, which only took about 30 minutes, but I feel better.  (And I have a lot of Halloween cards, I'm not sure why). Yesterday I cleaned out a big pantry bin and kitchen cart. Our apartment will be so well organized when this is done. Now all I need is a label gun.

Now I can find any card I need!

3)  My sister-in-law thoughtfully sent us a two-pound box of chocolates from Krause's Chocolates, the best chocolates around, in Saugerties, NY. It's a nice thing to support local businesses that are online and can deliver if you can do it. I've ordered books to send to family members from local independent bookstores in our area, and they are so grateful for the help.

Krause's Chocolates

4)  Staying connected with family and friends is important too, and we have been What's App-ing and FaceTiming with family, and I did a Zoom Happy Hour with two good friends, Kelly and Trish from back home, that was so wonderful, it made me very happy. (But we did miss Barbara.) I also participated in a Zoom mass celebrated by our priest from our hometown. That was an oasis of peace in the midst of the craziness on NYC.

5)  I haven't been able to read too much this week, but I finished Andy Greene's The Office- The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s which I really enjoyed. This is a must-read for fans of the show. 

 I did start Louise Erdrich's new novel, The Night Watchman, a novel based in part on her grandfather, who was a nightwatchman and worked to prevent the federal government from taking land from Native Americans in North Dakota in the 1950s. There is a book populated with many characters, and each one is more interesting than the next. You get a real sense of community, and you get immersed in their culture. I can't wait to get back to it.

I hope you are staying safe and healthy and home. We will get through this together. Peace my friends!