To the shock of just about the whole world,
Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year. No one was talking about this book. It wasn't on anyone's end-of-year best books of 2023 lists. (Fact check:
this compilation.) Awarding this high literary honor to
Night Watch and the other two finalists felt like a minor league team won the world series without anyone knowing they were even in the playoffs.
So why did Night Watch win the Pulitzer. Let's see if I can figure anything out.
Night Watch is set in West Virginia before, during, and after the Civil War. Instead of focusing on slavery or on the death tolls of the battles, this book examines the horrors citizens had to endure in the aftermath of the conflict. It also shines a light on one example of enlightened treatment of the mentally ill during this time period.
ConaLee, the twelve-year-old daughter of a man who went off to war and never returned, opens the book with her first person narration. The point of view switches throughout the book as other characters come in and out of focus, but ConaLee is the only one who tells her own story. She was born after her father left for war and her mother, Eliza, is raising her alone in the mountains of Appalachia, with the help of a neighbor, Dearbhla, an Irish healer who acts like her grandmother. At some point a terrifying man arrives and tells ConaLee to call him 'Papa'. She thinks this man is her father. He is not, but he stays on and tyrannizes Eliza to the point where she has a complete mental and physical breakdown. There is a horrifying rape scene which is so graphic I cringe to think of it. Finally this terrible man dumps both ConLee and her mother at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. This ends up being a good thing because the director is following the moral practices of Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, an actual historical person. Under the care of the director of this facility, Eliza starts to recover and ConaLee, who is posing as her nurse, find solace from their tortured life outside. While inside they meet a cast of characters among them is the Night Watch, a man with a history of his own.
Kirkus Reviews describes the book as having "haunting storytelling and a refreshing look at history." The Guardian sums up its review with "Night Watch is tough, even excruciating at times, but small notes of grace make an appearance throughout the novel." While Dwight Garner, writing a review of the book for the New York Times said, "Jayne Anne Phillips’s new novel...is sludgy, claustrophobic and pretentious. Each succeeding paragraph took something out of me." And Greg, a vlogger at Supposedly Fun, had this to say, "I hated, hated, hated this book." He explains several of his issues deal with the confusing way Phillips tells the story, dribbling out details, moving backwards and forward in time, including unnecessary characters and information that does not move the story forward. He thinks the Pulitzer Committee made a mistake in selecting Night Watch.
Wow. Some good and some extremely eviscerating comments from reviewers who know a whole lot more than me about what makes a book a good one. I was especially shocked by the NYT times reviewer calling the book sludgy and claustrophobic. Is such a negative review even allowed?
So why did the Pulitzer Committee select Night Watch over standouts like North Woods, Tom Lake, Absolution, and The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store? Greg, from Supposedly Fun, criticizes the clandestine process the Pulitzer uses to select their winners. No one even knows who the judges are until after the process. No short list of books are announced ahead of time. Each year's panel of judges can use, and do use, whatever set of selection guidelines they choose. These guidelines, therefore, change every year. 2023 Pulitzer prize went to the two top books of the year so Greg wondered it this year's committee decided to do the opposite and give the award to a more obscure book. In fact, Michael Chabon, one of the jurors this year, wrote, "Beyond the winner and 2 runners-up, I want to shine a light on three excellent books, among the many nominees I deeply dug, by less well-known, less heralded writers." This tells me that at least Michael Chabon was focused on bringing forward less well-known works to light in his role as a Pulitzer judge. How maddening is that? Ann Patchett, James McBride, Alice McDermott were all at the top of their game and they and their books get shoved aside because Night Watch was less well-known. That seems like a ludicrous reason to select a book for this award.
In January I created a tiered ranking list of all the Pulitzer novels I've read. I created the categories myself, from BEST to DIDN'T LIKE and several levels between. Right now, if I were to place Night Watch onto my tiered ranking list, it would be on the bottom level, 'Didn't Like', with Tinkers, A Visit From the Goon Squad, and Breathing Lessons. I wouldn't go as far as Greg, who hated the book, or Dwight who thought the book sucked the life out of him. But I doubt I will tell anyone to read the book and might even go into details why I hope they don't. I'll start with a warning about the rape scene. Ugh. Shivers. 😖
The publisher has not prepared any discussion questions that I could find, so a friend and I came up with our own questions before our meeting. Here they are. Help yourself:
Night Watch Discussion Questions:
- What
did you think of Night Watch by Jane Anne Phillips?
- Kirkus
Reviews describes the book as having "haunting storytelling and a
refreshing look at history." What do you think were its moments of
“refreshing storytelling?"
- The Guardian sums up its review with "Night
Watch is tough, even excruciating at times, but small notes of grace
make an appearance throughout the novel." List a few of the grace notes in
Night Watch.
- Dwight Garner, writing a review of the book
for the New York Times said, "Jayne Anne Phillips’s new novel...is sludgy,
claustrophobic and pretentious. Each succeeding paragraph took something out of
me." Describe Night Watch in one or two sentences.
- How
did this book add to your knowledge of the Civil War and its effects on
soldiers and families?
- How
did the lack of quotation marks add to or detract from the story?
- Which
characters did you find the most compelling and why?
- The
Trans-Allegheny lunatic Asylum was a real place and used moral treatment.
What did you think of the strategies used to treat the patients?
- When
did you suspect that the night watch was ConaLee's father? Did Eliza know
earlier on?
- Did
you find the ending realistic or contrived? Why?
- What
importance and structure did Dearbhla provide to the story?
- How
necessary was it to portray graphic rape or war violence in a book about
the Civil War? Is the brutality necessary to our understanding of the
conditions of this time?
- Night
Watch won the Pulitzer Prize. Do you think it deserved it? What does its
winning do to your regard for the selection process?
- Where would you rank Night Watch among the other
Pulitzer Prize novels you’ve read? [These are the Pulitzer Prize winners we've read: March; Sympathizer; Goldfinch; Nickel Boys; Less; Night Watchman; Demon Copperhead;
Night Watch.]
2024 Twenty Books of Summer Challenge
8 / 20 books. 40% done!
