Louise Erdrich is an exquisite writer. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 2021. The fictional story of The Night Watchman is based on her grandfather, who in addition to working as a night watchman in a jewel bearing plant, becomes an ardent activist, seeking to prevent Congress from taking recognition from his tribe, the Turtle Mountain Ojibwa. This would involve shutting down the Turtle Mountain Reservation and relocating the indigenous residents to various cities.. The story is set in the 1950s. Thomas’s niece Patrice, formerly and widely known as Pixie, works in the plant supporting her Mother, her brother and herself in a subsistence lifestyle. Her sister Vera left for St. Paul not too long ago to get married, but has not been in touch. This leads to Patrice seeking to find Vera, but finding instead only a cold trail through some scary evidence and an unexpected situation that requires further attention.
Patrice is very smart, very competent at her job and she is uninterested in marriage and children. Still, there are men interested in her for, making for some great descriptions of her internal monologues about men and her mix of inexperience and sophisticated thinking about her future in the era. There are many well-drawn characters, including some scary ones, incredibly well crafted and some deranged scenarios that cannot be shared due to the need to avoid spoilers. This is an amazing novel. I wish I’d read it when it came out in 2020 because then I’d read it gain. The author narrates this novel beautifully.
They Called me Bookworm 