Customer Reviews
Dross - By: Occasional reviewer, 31 Oct 2008 
This is such a disappointing read from a writer who has authored such gems as Fingersmith & the truly awesome (and highly underrated) Affinity that you have to wonder what on earth her publishers were thinking ofin allowing the release of this vapid tosh. Shallow characterisation & bland storyline are not what made Sarah Waters a household name but sadly that's exactly what you get with this one. One to avoid!
Dull, dull, dull - By: A. Dean, 29 Oct 2008 
I only finished this book because I had to. It was a book club choice.
The only part I really engaged with was Reggie, Viv & the dentist [better not spoil the story & leave it there], & that was because Reggie was so thoroughly objectionable that I found myself very angry with him.
So, allin all, not a pleasure to read! Where was the story?
*applauds* - By: The Chosen One, 31 Aug 2008 
There was no doubtin my mind that i was going to buy this book once i had finished the other sarah waters book i was reading. But i did see that this particular one, had been given mixed reviews. Its true that this book is slightly different to her other novels, but this is not a insult! There are many charactersin this one which only enrichens the story, & i fellin love with all of them. The way that their lives all interlinked was wonderful, & the timein which it is all set is superbly conveyed. I feel asthough Waters has simply raised her game with this one & i shall look forward to future releases, as i always have. The Night Watch will certainly have you gripped from start to finish. It seems to have fueled my addiction & i hope that Sarah Waters continues to feed my habbit for many books to come!
A really dreary book - By: J. Flanders, 26 Aug 2008 This is the first - & will probably be the last - book by Sarah Waters that I have read. What a thoroughly dreary book, populated by the drearirest people imaginable. YUK! It only gets ont star because it filled a rainy day on holiday.
A Night to Remember - By: Oliver Redfern, 18 May 2008 Waters' fourth novel -- her first one set during the 1940s -- revolves around the experiences of four characters during the Second World War. The novel is dividedin three sections that move backwardsin time, through the War, & that serve to explain why these characters (three women & one man) fell into their predicament. The novel echoes my grandmother's stories of life during the Blitz: the banality of death; the short-lived romances; the very British stoicismin the face of hopelessness & a city literally envelopedin darkness.
People at my book club found it disappointing that it didn't have the same energetic pace as Waters' previous novels, but I thought its subdued tone fit perfectly well a story that focused on the minutiae of everyday life rather than the epic events commanding the country. I found it far more interesting to learn how people got their coffeein the black market than what type of bomb blew up their neighbours. And it goes without saying that Waters' research into queer lives of that period (or her assumptions of it) are a major attraction of the novel. There's enough material there to fill another three novels (but, hopefully, with less ambiguity as to what goes on between gay men.)
