Nov 5

Nov 5 Night Watch

Author: Jayne Anne Phillips
Publisher: Knopf
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

From one of our most accomplished novelists, a mesmerizing story about a mother and daughter seeking refuge in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War

In 1874, in the wake of the War, erasure, trauma, and namelessness haunt civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old ConaLee, the adult in her family for as long as she can remember, finds herself on a buckboard journey with her mother, Eliza, who hasn’t spoken in more than a year. They arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital’s entrance by a war veteran who has forced himself into their world. There, far from family, a beloved neighbor, and the mountain home they knew, they try to reclaim their lives.

The omnipresent vagaries of war and race rise to the surface as we learn their their flight to the highest mountain ridges of western Virginia; the disappearance of ConaLee’s father, who left for the War and never returned. Meanwhile, in the asylum, they begin to find a new path. ConaLee pretends to be her mother’s maid; Eliza responds slowly to treatment. They get swept up in the life of the facility—the mysterious man they call the Night Watch; the orphan child called Weed; the fearsome woman who runs the kitchen; the remarkable doctor at the head of the institution.

Epic, enthralling, and meticulously crafted, Night Watch is a brilliant portrait of family endurance against all odds, and a stunning chronicle of surviving war and its aftermath.

TL;DR Review

Night Watch is written with lovely prose, but unfortunately, it was just not my cup of tea. Stomach-turning scenes and an unsatisfying ending left me unhappy with it.

For you if: You are interested in historical fiction set in psychiatric hospitals (and can handle on-page depictions of sexual violence).

Full Review

Night Watch was longlisted for the National Book Award this year, which is what placed it on my TBR. The premise and the cover both held so much potential for me, but unfortunately, this book was just not my cup of tea.

As other reviewers have said before me, there are parts of this book depicting sexual violence that are very hard to read. In fact, it’s what drives our main character’s mother into her current mute, zombie-like state, which is how they end up in the novel’s main setting, a (historically real in the 1800s) psychiatric hospital. I did think that the research that went into this novel was really well done, and it was interesting reading a novel in a setting like that. Plus, the prose was good and I could see the potential of a strong ending to make the reading experience feel worth it, so I kept going. Unfortunately, that ending never materialized; in fact, I’m sorry to say that the ending totally sucked for me.

So all in all, while I can see its merits, this isn’t a book I’d likely recommend.