小說/散文

Night Watchman
出版社： Harper Collins Publishers
書林書號：
20279080
作者：
Erdrich, Louise
定價：
630
會員價：
$536
ISBN：
9780062671196
出版年份：
2021
裝訂：
平裝
總頁數：
0
  • 本書介紹
The Night Watchman《守夜人》2021年普立茲小說獎得獎作品 Louise Erdrich

Thomas是龜山印地安人保留區附近工廠的守夜人，同時也是奇珀瓦族議會的議員。1953年，他試圖了解美國國會正在推動的「解放」法案將帶來的後果，但奇珀瓦族的議員們心知肚明這條法案不會讓他們得到更多的自由，反而可能奪走屬於他們的土地及身份。

Thomas的姪女Pixie自高中畢業後便堅持所有人叫她Patrice，她並不像保留區的其他女孩期望組織家庭，過安穩的生活。她在工廠的薪水只夠勉強度日，但她存下每一分錢，只為了前往大城市尋找失去音訊的姊姊Vera。在這段旅途中她見識了出乎意料的剝削與暴力，甚至危及她的性命。

Louise Erdrich以自己祖父的故事為藍本創造出Thomas這個角色，並將故事聚焦於少數人物，透過不同敘事線深入刻劃他們生活的樣貌，帶領讀者穿越時空回到1950年代的美國。這些角色在社會上承受著各種形式的歧視與暴力，使得他們的生活充斥著難題。雖然書中的情況可能不再，但歧視至今仍然住在人們的心中，暗自影響著這個世界。

Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new “emancipation” bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress. It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill isn’t about freedom; Congress is fed up with Indians. The bill is a “termination” that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity. How can the government abandon treaties made in good faith with Native Americans “for as long as the grasses shall grow, and the rivers run”?

Since graduating high school, Pixie Paranteau has insisted that everyone call her Patrice. Unlike most of the girls on the reservation, Patrice, the class valedictorian, has no desire to wear herself down with a husband and kids. She makes jewel bearings at the plant, a job that barely pays her enough to support her mother and brother. Patrice’s shameful alcoholic father returns home sporadically to terrorize his wife and children and bully her for money. But Patrice needs every penny to follow her beloved older sister, Vera, who moved to the big city of Minneapolis. Vera may have disappeared; she hasn’t been in touch in months, and is rumored to have had a baby. Determined to find Vera and her child, Patrice makes a fateful trip to Minnesota that introduces her to unexpected forms of exploitation and violence, and endangers her life.

Thomas and Patrice live in this impoverished reservation community along with young Chippewa boxer Wood Mountain and his mother Juggie Blue, her niece and Patrice’s best friend Valentine, and Stack Barnes, the white high school math teacher and boxing coach who is hopelessly in love with Patrice.

In the Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich creates a fictional world populated with memorable characters who are forced to grapple with the worst and best impulses of human nature. Illuminating the loves and lives, the desires and ambitions of these characters with compassion, wit, and intelligence, The Night Watchman is a majestic work of fiction from this revered cultural treasure.

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