I feel as though The Watchman by Matt Langford put me under a spell. I was so absorbed in the book that I am having real word reentry problems. That is really how you know that an author has a great sense of character and I can wholeheartedly recommend The Watchman for this very reason.
The Watchman is not for the faint of
heart. It is a first person
account of Adam, a teenager who lives with his parents, his brother, and sister. Adam has an unnamed mental disability
that does not allow him to communicate well with others. He loves few things: his family, his favorite drink (Pom-Pom
Parlars), and what he calls his “watches”. During these watches, he makes observations about the world.
Over
the course of the novel, many things change in Adam’s world. He begins to go to school, his siblings
grow up, and his family dynamic changes.
Adam cannot fully understand any of these happenings; nor can he
communicate his rage and frustration in a logical way. While, as a reader, I was privy to his
thought processes, so I knew why Adam does what he does, it was fascinating to
read how these internal conflicts played out in the physical realm of Adam’s
home and in his relationships. As
Adam’s understanding of an increasingly complicated world decreases, his rages
and frustration reach a boiling point and the change he has been fighting
against leads to the biggest change in Adam’s life.
I
cannot stress enough how enlightening this book was for me. I truly understood Adam and his
reactions to his environment. From
minor lacks in decorum to high rage, Adam’s thinking is fascinating. It is clear that Langford knows his
stuff. I really felt as though I
understood Adam and his motivations.
As his behavior devolves, I truly sympathized with Adam’s feelings of
powerlessness and loss.
The
book does have a few quirks. Some
of the vocabulary Adam uses is quite confusing at first. The ending is quite ambiguous (though
very moving), and I think some editing would have been beneficial to streamline
some passages. There is a great
deal of profanity in the book, but it is there for a reason and it added to the
overall arc of the story.
I
have never read a book like The Watchman—one
that has brought me so close to the experiences of a child with a mental
disability that is severe. The Watchman is an important book. I was disturbed by it, moved by it, and
ultimately in awe of the talent of Matt Langford. This was a terrific read.
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Regina
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The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.
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