5/26/2023 0 Comments Reviews of the night watchman![]() ![]() Early in the story, Erdrich explains that “wazhashk” is the Ojibwe word for muskrat, “the lowly, hard-working, water-loving rodent”, who “although numerous and ordinary, they were also crucial” – having remade the world after the great flood, according to the Ojibwe creation myth. One of the story’s primary characters, Thomas Wazhashk, is modeled after Erdrich’s grandfather, Patrick Gourneau, who was chairman of the advisory committee for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (indigenous name, the Ojibwe) in the 1950s. Press play to hear a narrated version of this story, presented by AudioHopper. She poignantly captures the confusion and fear of a Native American tribe in 1953 North Dakota struggling first to understand and then mobilize in opposition to a Congressional action that threatens their existence. So concludes Louise Erdrich’s afterward to the powerful and important book The Night Watchman, her 16th novel. ![]() ![]() Conversely, if you should be of the conviction that we are powerless to change those dry words, let this book give you heart. Lastly, if you should ever doubt that a series of dry words in a government document can shatter spirits and demolish lives, let this book erase that doubt. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |