by Leah Stone
Now the task of having to go through every book I have read in the past year and trying to find one that was published in 2013 was such a momentus task I decided to stick to my most favourite read of 2013. Not necessarily published in 2013 but one that I have read in the past year and found so enjoyable I’ve put it to the top of my recommendation list.
So my best read of 2013 is: The Night Watch
Now the task of having to go through every book I have read in the past year and trying to find one that was published in 2013 was such a momentus task I decided to stick to my most favourite read of 2013. Not necessarily published in 2013 but one that I have read in the past year and found so enjoyable I’ve put it to the top of my recommendation list.
So my best read of 2013 is: The Night Watch
The Night Watch, written by Sarah Waters, was published in 2006. I came across this book as a base for my English coursework, and it was my main inspiration for my pieces. So there is a good starting point for you. What is good about this book? Well for one it’s very inspirational.
My coursework is all about sexuality and so I tried to find reading material relevant to my area of writing. The Night Watch follows the story of Kay, Helen, Viv and Duncan throughout World War Two. Both Helen and Kay are lesbians and Duncan is Viv’s brother, and we are led to believe he is gay, however this is not made certain. It teaches us about the struggles of homosexuals in the war, and just how difficult it has been throughout history for them.
As for the four characters, they are all protagonists at some point in the book and their lives intertwine in a complicated storyline. What makes it more complicated is that the story travels back in time. The first section is set in 1947, the second in 1944 and the third in 1941. But this unordinary way of setting a book makes it all the more intriguing and interesting. You know how things are end up but you learn how things happened to lead up to the pent up feelings and how the characters ended up where they were, instead of the other way around.
In 1941, Viv meets Reggie, a married soldier, on a train an inevitably falls in love with him and their love affair continues through the book. Duncan wakes up one night in 1941 with his friend Alec knocking at the window, who had just received his call-up and didn’t want to go to war. It leads to Alec committing suicide and Duncan attempting but being stopped before anything happens. Kay originally works at an ambulance service with her best friend Mickey. At one of their call-outs, Kay meets Helen, whom she becomes besotted with.
As you can tell just from the above snippet that things are confusing. The story of each of the characters are intricately entwined and, combined with the interesting way the story is told makes for a really great read. Waters proves how great a writer she is, with well developed characters with fascinating back stories, and is able to bring together a novel that at first appears to be quite a mismatched puzzle but works it out to be quite a masterpiece.
It is most definitely a book I would recommend, however not for younger readers as there are a few sexual encounters and some swearing, and also I would like to pre-warn any readers about the suicide and the few occurrences of self harm.
My coursework is all about sexuality and so I tried to find reading material relevant to my area of writing. The Night Watch follows the story of Kay, Helen, Viv and Duncan throughout World War Two. Both Helen and Kay are lesbians and Duncan is Viv’s brother, and we are led to believe he is gay, however this is not made certain. It teaches us about the struggles of homosexuals in the war, and just how difficult it has been throughout history for them.
As for the four characters, they are all protagonists at some point in the book and their lives intertwine in a complicated storyline. What makes it more complicated is that the story travels back in time. The first section is set in 1947, the second in 1944 and the third in 1941. But this unordinary way of setting a book makes it all the more intriguing and interesting. You know how things are end up but you learn how things happened to lead up to the pent up feelings and how the characters ended up where they were, instead of the other way around.
In 1941, Viv meets Reggie, a married soldier, on a train an inevitably falls in love with him and their love affair continues through the book. Duncan wakes up one night in 1941 with his friend Alec knocking at the window, who had just received his call-up and didn’t want to go to war. It leads to Alec committing suicide and Duncan attempting but being stopped before anything happens. Kay originally works at an ambulance service with her best friend Mickey. At one of their call-outs, Kay meets Helen, whom she becomes besotted with.
As you can tell just from the above snippet that things are confusing. The story of each of the characters are intricately entwined and, combined with the interesting way the story is told makes for a really great read. Waters proves how great a writer she is, with well developed characters with fascinating back stories, and is able to bring together a novel that at first appears to be quite a mismatched puzzle but works it out to be quite a masterpiece.
It is most definitely a book I would recommend, however not for younger readers as there are a few sexual encounters and some swearing, and also I would like to pre-warn any readers about the suicide and the few occurrences of self harm.
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