The Night Watchman

By Louise Erdich, 464 pages, Harper, 2020
Reviewed by Angela Allen, May 20, 2020

Louise Erdrich is a prolific author I can’t keep up with. She has written16 novels and books of poetry, memoir, nonfiction, children’s literature — and she has won a ton of awards. This year’s The Night Watchman, is one of her best. She knows how to tell a story and keep readers guessing, anticipating, hoping. She’s adept at creating complicated characters with embarrassing, tragic flaws and honorable qualities.

This book is fiction but based on the real life of Erdrich’s grandfather, Patrick Gorneau, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota. Gorneau’s fictional name is Thomas Wazhashk, a night watchman at a jewel-bearing plant, the first mid-century factory in the bitter cold country of the Native reservation. People lead hard-scrabble lives but know the land and how to share its bounty with one another. If higher education (other than “boarding schools,” where Natives are instructed in white ways) and money are hard to come by, these people have no desire to leave their reservation or give up what’s left of their tribal heritage.

In 1954, the Feds tried to dispossess — or “terminate” — the Natives, which meant the U.S. government wanted to move them off the reservation to cities. The American government called it “emancipation,” but by the1950s (and well before), Natives were hip to white man’s doublespeak. As a Chippewa council member, Thomas convinces his fellow tribesmen and women to put up a fight, and after exhausting work, takes a delegation to Washington D.C. to testify against the so-called “emancipation bill.” We never stop cheering for him.

Thomas is the main protagonist but he’s so thoughtful and quiet and reflective that he sometimes appears a shadow compared to the fiery tough-as-nails Patrice, who chops wood and supports her family by working at the jewel-bearing plant. Packing a homemade bag, she goes after her sister, Vera, who has taken off for the city, pregnant. Patrice’s journey exposes her to horrors off the reservation, but she returns with Vera’s baby and the uncanny half-knowledge that Vera is somewhere. Then, there’s Wood Mountain, the handsome young boxer, who falls in love with Patrice and Vera and fully falls for Vera’s little boy. There’s Haystack, the white math teacher who coaches Wood Mountain and longs for Patrice to notice him; Millie, the college-educated anthropologist who returns to understand and document her people on the reservation; a slew of wise women; some drunk fathers; some elders; and horses with big personalities. Most characters are tuned into their dreams and visions, which tip them off to the future and clarify the past. In this sometimes dreamlike atmosphere, the book’s cover is a take on the Northern Lights that occur at the end of the story.

The Turtle Mountain Band survives. But that’s only one good part of the book.

Reviewed by Sue Fountain, Sept. 30, 2020

“The Night Watchman” relates an important chapter in the long, painful story of Native Americans.

In 1953 The Turtle Mountain tribe of the Chippewa Nation was threatened by the federal government with termination. Government officials tried to claim it was “emancipation,” and that it would be good for Indians to move on with their lives without government support.

Theirs was not the only tribe listed for termination. In Oregon, the Klamath Tribe was actually terminated – paid off by the U.S. so the government could take the rich forest land from the members.

In this book, Erdrich tells the story of her grandfather who went to Washington to fight for his tribe and prevailed. Eventually, many of the “terminated” tribes regained their land and status. The book has a good quote from Eddy Mink, one of the tribal members: “The services the government provides to Indians might be likened to rent. The rent for the use of the entire country of the United States.”

The book is fiction, but it is based on fact. Thomas, the leader, is patterned after Erdrich’s grandfather, but other tribal members are combinations of people she knew on the reservation. It is a well-known story of poverty, drugs, and alcoholism, but also of the rich cultural heritage of the tribe.

The main characters speak in Chippewa to each other and they believe in spirits and ceremony. Pixie is the main character, and she wants more for her life than what she can attain on the reservation.

There is romance and heartbreak in the book, but so much of it is understated by Erdrich. She writes in a lyrical, poetic style about feelings and emotions but does not make them over-dramatic. Wood Mountain gets beat up in the boxing ring and never fights again. Pixie endures frightening experiences when she goes to the city, but comes home and it is not mentioned again. There is no long trauma, just moving forward with life. Their existence depends on a daily struggle for food and shelter – no time for hand-wringing.

I have read several books by Louise Erdrich, and this is one of her best.