The Night Watch - Sarah Waters

The Night Watch is a tale of passion and secrets told against the backdrop of 1940's London. The story revolves around the loves and losses of 4 characters Kay, Helen, Viv and Duncan and how each of their stories interconnect over a 7 year period.

I am sorry to say that I felt that this book was a bit of a let down. Whilst the setting and time period are wonderfully imagined I found the storylines to be overly drawn out and the characters to be rather 2 dimensional.

The book is written in a reverse narrative whereby we are introduced to the characters and then invited to find out how they arrived at their 1947 situations. At first this was an intriguing concept but I do not feel that Waters used this to the best advantage. I was hoping that Waters would present characters in 1947 and then shatter your assumptions of them as you delved into their back stories, however I found this not to be the case. As the novel went on I found it too obvious to know what was going to happen as I already knew thanks to the 1947 years, as such the final section of the story felt a bit pointless.

I felt like the book was a bit of a struggle not least because I did not really feel anything for the leading characters. I often felt that the characters motives were not fully explained and as a result I found it hard to engage with their actions. My least favourite character was Helen who I found rather brattish. As a novel I found it disjointed and despite the 500 pages felt little knowledge of or affection for the characters.I felt the character of Duncan and his story line was out of place within a novel that is essentially about forbidden relationships. The story of the characters relationships however did not really grab my attention either and to be honest the book was only saved by attention to period detail and a couple of very good events.

The descriptions of the 1940's was absolutely wonderful. The period detail in the novel was brilliant throwing you instantly back to the 1940's, the book was obviously very well researched. I really enjoyed the Blitz aspect of the novel, especially the sections when Kay is engaged in her work in the ambulances during air raids. Waters effectively brings the horror of the London Blitz to life I could have read a whole novel based on Kays nightly work. Viv's story in the middle section (I don't want to give away too much) was also brilliant if rather graphic and was the only real time I felt any empathy for the characters. However such events were few and far between which made the novel a bit of a slog. I can't help but think that this novel would have really benefited from being a lot shorter.

I know that Sarah Waters is a much loved novelist and I am sure many of her fans will disagree with this review but for me this book was a great disappointment not least after having read the excellent "The Little Stranger".