Reviews with content warning for War - The Night Watch

How long did they have to go on, letting the war spoil everything? They had been patient, all this time. They’d lived in darkness. They’d lived without salt, without scent. They’d fed themselves little scraps of pleasure, like parings of cheese. Now she became aware of the minutes as they passed: she felt them, suddenly, for what they were, as fragments of her life, her youth, that were rushing away like so many drops of water, never to return. [loc. 5289]

London, 1947: Kay lives in a half-derelict house owned by a Christian Scientist, mourning a great loss. Helen lives with popular author Julia, but is jealous of Julia's other friends. Duncan works in a candle factory, and lives with an older gentleman he calls 'Uncle Horace'. Duncan's sister Viv lives with her father, works with Helen and is in a relationship with Reggie, who is married. All of them are lonely, miserable and greatly changed by their wartime experiences.

Then Waters takes us back to 1944 and shows us how they got to where they are: the mystery about Duncan's time in prison, Kay being her best self as an ambulance driver during the bombing of London, Helen's infidelity, Viv's catastrophe. And further back, to 1941, as a kind of epilogue: how Kay met Helen, how Viv met Reggie, the evening that Duncan's life changed.

This is a book that demands to be reread: at least, I had to immediately turn back to the first chapters to reread in light of what was only revealed later in the novel. Waters never lapses into explanation: every 1947 scene, every emotion, has its roots in chronologically-earlier events, showing us (rather than telling us) how wartime exigencies shaped and changed each protagonist's life. The prose is lucid and informal, each chapter with the subtly distinct voice of its focal character. (Viv: 'she couldn’t bear it when they started talking so airily about prison, all of that'; Kay: 'with absolutely nothing wrong with her, living like a cripple, like a rat'; Helen: 'as if herds of great, complaining creatures were hurling themselves through the city sewers'; Duncan: 'Never being able to say the thing that people expected'.)

These are ordinary people. Nothing exceptional happens to them. They bear witness to the war, and to its little horrors: a child's jawbone full of milk teeth, a pigeon with its wings ablaze, a botched backstreet abortion. They learn to take each day as it comes. They find moments of joy amid the chaos. And then the war ends, and they are all, in different ways, suddenly lost.

I'm still thinking a lot about this novel (which I have owned for years, but only recently felt ready to read). I think it will haunt me for a while.

Fulfils the ‘Nominated for The Booker Prize’ (it was shortlisted in 2006) rubric of the 52 books in 2024 challenge.

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minniepauline's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I felt as though I was time-traveling, reading this novel. Waters’ research is meticulous, but she never lets you see it. Instead she creates a very believable 1940s London, and weaves her characters lives in and around the horrors of the war and its aftermath, as if they’re friends and neighbors. I think I know what a five-star book is, and then I read something like this and I wish there were more stars to give.

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laurenw's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad tense

4.75

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ninjamuse's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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frances_frances's review

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challenging emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is basically a series of vignettes of 4 specific people's lives. There's no plot; instead there's a running narrative of the characters daily experiences during and after the war. This was sometimes really interesting and sometimes a tad boring. However, Sarah Waters' writing is so beautiful and engaging that it makes slow, drawn out stories become compelling page turners. The Night Watch is the last Waters novel I had left to read. I have my favorite books of her's (Fingersmith and The Little Stranger), but all of them are well worth the read.

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wlarianna's review against another edition

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dark informative sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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twelvekindsoftrouble's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was great !! The characters were easy to connect with, their intertwining narratives were interesting and unique. However. This did not need to be this long; sometimes it felt like the story dragged on unnecessarily instead of focusing on underdeveloped points in the story. The reverse chronological structure was super cool; it changed the meanings of the words and interactions from earlier on in the book, but the jump from a year to a time three years previous sometimes left me wanting for a smoother transition.

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amberinbookland's review

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emotional slow-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

3.25

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