The Night Watchman by Louise ErdrichMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
1953 was the real-life year of the U.S. Congress passing House concurrent resolution 108 and therefore establishing the federal policy known as "termination", which sought to abolish tribes and relocate American Indians (the start of a series of proceedings held from 1953- 1970). Primarily through the story of the titular character, Thomas Washashk (based on the life and activism of Erdrich's grandfather, Patrick Gourneau), and Patrice (Pixie) Paranteau, the novel revisits the mid-century tension of a people long dispossessed and disenfranchised caught in a no-man's land of ambiguously defined citizenry and capitalist manipulation. Thomas, who serves on the tribal council of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, and works as a night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, reflects an optimism and ethic of tenacity, perseverance and patience. Patrice, a recent high-school graduate, on the other hand, has youthful energy and occasional impulsiveness, but is also the sole provider for family that includes her alcoholic father, her mother, and her brother. She, with her friends Valentine and Doris, works at the jewel bearing plant as well. Her older sister, Vera, moved to Minneapolis, but has not been heard from in months, so Patrice sets off on a brief, but Campbellian, hero's journey, which opens her eyes to savagery from which she has been relatively sheltered on the reservation.
Somehow, Erdrich manages to mix historical account, a coming-of-age-story, and an intriguing story through a rich cast of humanized characters -- from the Mormon missionaries to the Washington senators. Most of the characters are multi-dimensional and fairly well developed, but the pace of the story (stories, really) moves in fits and starts and occasionally we lose track of some threads in deference to others. Everything does come back together by the close of the book, although I found myself disquieted by the relative neatness of the ending (I won't say "happy"). There's more to tell, that we know, and it is perhaps the challenge of historical fiction: good characters will make us want to have a larger slice of the historical narrative, especially when that narrative is perpetuated into our own time. This is an important book that attempts to zoom in on the lived experiences of a whole host of characters in order to illuminate the hardship and mistreatment of a government toward its indigenous peoples--the task is not an easy one. The latter goal occasionally gets submerged under the former, but this is a good problem to have because if nothing else, the characters keep us turning the page for all their foibles, their propensity for chaos, their passions, and their search for meaning.
Louise Erdrich's reading is very beautiful, full of tender and sensitive intonation and wisdom behind each word.
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