Expecting to follow the linear trajectory of a mystery, we discover in Erdrich’s fiction something more organic, more humane. This narrator’s vision is.capacious, reaching out across a whole community in tender conversation with itself. Chapter by chapter, we encounter characters interrelated but traveling along their own paths. This tapestry of stories is a signature of Erdrich’s literary craft, but she does it so beautifully that it’s tempting to forget how remarkable it is. As usual, modern realism and Native spirituality mingle harmoniously in Erdrich’s pages without calling either into question. The Night Watchman is more overtly political.but it’s a political novel reconceived as only Erdrich could. In one powerful book after another, she has carved Indians’ lives, histories and stories back into our national literature, a canon once determined to wipe them away. Read Full Review >Įrdrich’s career has been an act of resistance against racism - the hateful and the sentimental varieties - and the implacable force of white America’s ignorance. A banquet prepared for us by hungry people. In this era of modern termination assailing us, the book feels like a call to arms. I walked away from the Turtle Mountain clan feeling deeply moved, missing these characters as if they were real people known to me.

For 450 pages, we are grateful to be allowed into this world. High drama, low comedy, ghost stories, mystical visions, family and tribal lore - wed to a surprising outbreak of enthusiasm for boxing matches - mix with political fervor and a terrifying undercurrent of predation and violence against women. The livers a magisterial epic that brings her power of witness to every page. Erdrich retakes the lead by offering the reader the gifts of love and richness that only a deeply connected writer can provide. Her fiction has won the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award (twice), the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In this season of literary wildfires, when cultural borrowings have unleashed protests that have shaken the publishing industry, the issue of authenticity is paramount. Louise Erdrich is the author of sixteen novels, volumes of poetry, children's books, and a memoir of early motherhood.

The night watchman author