Sponsored by Private Lessons by Cynthia Salaysay.
After Claire’s father’s death, only music has helped her channel her grief. Claire likes herself best when she plays his old piano, a welcome escape from the sadness and her traditional Filipino mother’s prayer groups. In the hopes of earning a college scholarship, Claire auditions for Paul Avon, a prominent piano teacher, who agrees to take Claire as a pupil. Soon Claire loses herself in Paul’s world and his way of digging into a composition’s emotional core. She practices constantly, foregoing a social life, but no matter how hard she works or how well she plays, it seems impossible to gain Paul’s approval.
Welcome to Read This Book, a weekly newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!
This week’s pick is The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich.
Content warning: Talk of genocide, alcoholism, sexual abuse/rape, brutality
I’ve not read Louise Erdrich’s entire (extensive!) backlist, but I picked up her newest book recently and I was completely blown away. Set in 1953 on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, this book follows Thomas, a night watchman, and Patrice, a young woman looking for her sister. Thomas guards the local jewel bearing plant at night, where he has plenty of time to correspond with various members of the Chippewa Nation as part of his job as council member. When he learns that Congress wants to revoke their treaties under the guise of setting the people “free” and selling their land out from under them, Thomas is alarmed and knows they must fight it. Patrice works at the plant, but her worries are a bit more personal–she’s scared for her older sister, who moved to Minneapolis and hasn’t contacted her since. Thomas and Patrice’s stories intertwine with others in their community as Thomas looks for a way to fight for their treaties, and Patrice’s eyes are opened to the dangers beyond her world.
All of Erdrich’s books are powerful, but this one especially took my breath away. She does such a brilliant job of setting the scene and she effortlessly contextualized so many historical events within the narrative. The people living on Turtle Mountain in the 1950s aren’t that far removed from the genocide and violence that first arrived on their land in the 19th century, and many of the young characters are survivors of the government schools. The phantoms of the past haunt the characters both literally and figuratively throughout the novel as they figure out how to keep living, even as the federal government wants to wash their hands of them. One thing that never fails to impress me about Erdrich’s writing is how she can write about such atrocities with a perfectly measured magical touch, so that you know exactly what she’s talking about without her ever having to spell it out for you, and as a result you feel what the characters are experiencing rather than simply absorb the facts of countless cruelties. This is a really powerful book that explores the past, but is a good reminder that these struggles aren’t over–they just keep repeating themselves.
Bonus: I listened to the audiobook version, which is narrated by Louise Erdrich herself, and it was a fantastic experience.
Happy reading,
Tirzah
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