She faces abuse and poverty at home but is also steeped in the traditions she’s learned from her mother. Patrice is torn between her traditional life on the reservation, her desire to go to college, and her need to find her sister. Patrice leaves the reservation to find her sister, who moved to Minneapolis and hasn’t been heard from since. The story also focuses on Patrice Paranteau, the valedictorian of her class and a worker at the factory. Erdrich notes in the afterword that this is something that happened to many tribes. The bill would eliminate the federal protections on the land and would eliminate all benefits to the tribe, devastating the entire community, who would be forced to move and scatter, losing their traditions and their history. Thomas is a scholar and an advocate, so when he hears that a bill has been introduced in Congress to “emancipate” Turtle Mountain, he rallies the community to fight back. Erdrich is telling a fictionalized story about her own grandfather, who is the title character, a night watchman at a jewel bearing plant. I loved this book, which tells the story about the Turtle Mountain tribe and their fight to maintain federal tribal status in the 1950’s. But given limited time, all three were really great reads so I wanted to share my thoughts. All three of these books deserve a full review. You may know I’m not a huge fan of mini-reviews.

Book review the night watchman