I’ve been watching the Dark Winds TV show, which centers on Navajo Police Chief Joe Leaphorn and those around him investigating a set of crimes on the Diné reservation in the 1970s (his wife also has her own somewhat connected set of conflicts which relate more to the reservation as a community [I also got a kick out of Chief Leaphorn’s father who shows up in the second season and is quite cheeky towards Joe]).
One thing I loved was the use of the actual Diné language pretty often and efforts to capture the people and their concerns. The only downside is that the show can be a bit melodramatic and Hollywood at times but on the whole it is still very entertaining.
Watching Dark Winds got me thinking of the novel The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, which is set in the early 1950s on Turtle Mountain Reservation, following a range of characters as their community fights the federal government’s attempts to dissolve the reservation and end tribal sovereignty (you know, breaking yet another promise to the indigenous people).
If you’ve never read Erdrich, this novel is a real treat. The way she captures the through line of tensions surrounding the threat to the community while also depicting the unique concerns and lived experiences of her characters is well worth the read.
As with Dark Winds, The Night Watchman is great at showing how indigenous people maintain their culture despite the encroaching influence of the dominant Anglo-American culture.
One last thing I will say is to keep in mind that this is literary fiction, so don’t expect a fast-paced action-adventure story. While it’s not a slow-burn story like my middle-high fantasy novel The Quartermastra, it is beautifully character driven and has some powerful moments. Also like my novel, the supernatural elements add depth and meaning.
So yeah, if you’re looking for a new book to read, The Night Watchman would be a worthy choice.