Turno di notte si apre a Londra nel 1947 e racconta sprazzi di esistenza di alcune persone che, si capisce quasi subito, sono in qualche modo disintegrate dentro: ci sono tre donne (Kay, Helen e Julia) coinvolte in una sorta di triangolo amoroso, il giovane Duncan che vive con il vecchio signor Mundy, la sorella di Duncan, Viv, che è penosamente legata a Reggie, un soldato sposato. Poi uno spostamento temporale trasporta il lettore nel 1944 per seguire gli eventi che hanno provocato quella frattura interiore nei personaggi ed hanno cambiato il corso della loro vita. In particolare, quelli durante un terribile bombardamento notturno. Un ultimo flashback porta il lettore al 1941, all’origine di tutto.
Queste persone sono tutte in qualche modo collegate: Viv lavora con Helen, è la sorella di Duncan ed ha un “conto in sospeso” anche con Kay. Mano a mano che procede la lettura si capisce che su ciascun personaggio pesa un fardello. Le loro vite sono come interrotte, sospese, sembrano non condurre da nessuna parte. In qualche modo ricordano la paralisi presente nei racconti di Joyce (Gente di Dublino). Fin dall’apertura si capisce che della vita di Kay non è rimasto che un guscio vuoto e vi si fa riferimento quasi subito nel romanzo quando viene paragonata ad un fantasma e si sottolinea che la sua vita è come ferma. Mano a mano che si procede all’indietro nel tempo, capiamo che Kay ha già dato tutto ciò che aveva da dare facendo l’infermiera volontaria durante la guerra e che la sua vita si è svuotata nel corso di un maledetto turno di notte. Anche la vita di Duncan è come sospesa ed anche nel suo caso scopriamo come e perché procedendo a ritroso fino al terribile evento che ha sconvolto la sua giovane vita. Lo stesso vale per Viv, incapace di tagliare il filo che la lega ad un uomo sposato che si rivela un mascalzone.
La prima parte non mi è piaciuta molto, la trovavo un po’ noiosa e davo la colpa all’ambientazione facendo continui confronti nostalgici con l’ambientazione vittoriana di Affinità. Ma dal primo flashback in poi sono stata travolta dalla forza del destino ed ha prevalso la curiosità: ho seguito il filo che portava all’inizio della matassa senza interruzioni trovando una sorpresa dopo l’altra.
Poi, sapendo che anche da questo romanzo la BBC ha tratto un film TV ho deciso di procurarmelo. Purtroppo non sono riuscita a trovarlo e l’unico modo per vederlo è stato in lingua originale a pezzi (ben 7) su YouTube. Nonostante il fastidio di guardarlo sul computer e di dover avviare il video successivo appena terminava uno spezzone, mi è piaciuto molto… quasi più di Affinità. In particolare, ho trovato davvero indovinato l’espediente con cui hanno reso i due flashback e cioè l’effetto rewind. In generale, la chiave di lettura del romanzo proposta dal regista è stata interessante, ovvero l’idea di andare a ritroso per scoprire cosa ha portato i personaggi al punto in cui li troviamo in apertura di film. Questo è sottolineato da una voce esterna all’inizio che invita ad immaginare di entrare in un cinema al secondo tempo, per poi scoprire successivamente cosa era accaduto ai personaggi durante il primo tempo. Ho trovato i personaggi di Kay, Helen e Julia molto simili a come li avevo immaginati leggendo il libro; un po’ meno Viv e Duncan.
LIBRI NEI LIBRI:
C’è un riferimento alla storia leggendaria di Sweeney Todd: “Non mi piace il barbiere. Penso sempre che stia per farmi a pezzi per mettermi in un tortino.”
Duncan ha memorie dell’Oliver Twist di Dickens.
Julia ed Helen apprezzano la letteratura popolare: Gladys Mitchell, Elinor Glyn, Ethel M. Dell, Daphne Du Maurier, storie di intrighi e passioni.
Viv ha preso lezioni di dizione in cui recitava brani di Walter de la Mare e ricorda ancora a memoria la poesia The Listeners.
MUSICA – Per entrare nelle atmosfere del libro:
- Yes, we have no bananas today – Eddie Cantor che allude al periodo bellico inglese, durante i quale il governo aveva bloccato l'importazione di banane per un anno e i negozianti esponevano cartelli con quella frase per ironica protesta.
- There's Something About A Soldier - Cicely Courtneidge
- Bye bye Blackbird, Gene Austin
SARAH WATERS'S THE NIGHT WATCH
The Night Watch opens in London in 1947 and tells about fragments of lives of some people who are somehow disintegrated inside: there are three women (Kay, Helen and Julia) who are involved in some sort of love triangle, the young Duncan who lives with old Mr Mundy, Duncan’s sister, Viv, who is pitifully in love with Reggie, a married soldier. Then there’s a time shift and the reader is plunged in 1944 following the events leading to that interior break in the characters that changed their lives forever. In particular, the events related to a terrible night bombing. A last flashback brings the reader back to 1941, at the origin of everything.
These people are all related: Viv works with Helen and is Duncan’s sister; she has a bone to pick with Kay. As the reader proceeds it is clear that there’s a burden on each character. Their lives are somehow interrupted, suspended, leading nowhere. They remind me of the paralysis in Joyce’s short stories (The Dubliners). It is clear from the beginning that nothing has left of Kay’s life but an empty shell and the author refers to it when she is compared to a ghost.
As the readers goes back in time, it is also clear that Kay had already given everything she had to give while working as a volunteer nurse during the war and that her life was interrupted during a cursed night watch. Duncan's life is suspended, too. The reader finds out how and why going back until the terrible event that destroyed his young life. The same is for Viv, who is unable to cut the thread that binds her to a married man who is a scoundrel.
I didn’t like the first part much, it was a little bit boring and I thought it was due to the setting: I compared this setting to the Victorian atmosphere of Affinity. But after the first flashback everything changed: I was overwhelmed by the power of destiny and I was really curious to know the rest: I followed the thread back to the beginning of the skein finding one surprise after another.
In the end, knowing that BBC made a TV film from the novel I tried to find it. Unfortunately I couldn’t and the only way to watch it was in English and divided into seven different videos on YouTube. Despite the nuisance of passing from video to video… I liked it a lot… even more than Affinity. In particular, I really appreciated the expedient of introducing the flashbacks through rewind. According to the director of the film, the key to the novel is the idea of going backward to discover what had led the characters to the point where they are at the beginning of the film. The idea is emphasized by an external voice at the beginning that invites the viewers to imagine entering a cinema during the second half of a film and finding out later what had happened to the characters during the first half. I found Kay, Helen and Julia very similar to the characters I had figured out reading the book; Viv and Duncan not much.
BOOKS WITHIN BOOKS
There’s a reference to the legendary story of Sweeney Todd: “I don’t like the barber’s. I always think he’s going to cut me up and put me in a pie”.
Duncan remembers Dickens’s Oliver Twist.
Julia and Helen like popular literature: Gladys Mitchell, Elinor Glyn, Ethel M. Dell, Daphne Du Maurier, stories of intrigues and passions.
Viv took elocution lessons where she recited texts by Walter de la Mare and remembers the poem "The Listeners".
MUSIC - To get in the spirit of the book:
These people are all related: Viv works with Helen and is Duncan’s sister; she has a bone to pick with Kay. As the reader proceeds it is clear that there’s a burden on each character. Their lives are somehow interrupted, suspended, leading nowhere. They remind me of the paralysis in Joyce’s short stories (The Dubliners). It is clear from the beginning that nothing has left of Kay’s life but an empty shell and the author refers to it when she is compared to a ghost.
As the readers goes back in time, it is also clear that Kay had already given everything she had to give while working as a volunteer nurse during the war and that her life was interrupted during a cursed night watch. Duncan's life is suspended, too. The reader finds out how and why going back until the terrible event that destroyed his young life. The same is for Viv, who is unable to cut the thread that binds her to a married man who is a scoundrel.
I didn’t like the first part much, it was a little bit boring and I thought it was due to the setting: I compared this setting to the Victorian atmosphere of Affinity. But after the first flashback everything changed: I was overwhelmed by the power of destiny and I was really curious to know the rest: I followed the thread back to the beginning of the skein finding one surprise after another.
In the end, knowing that BBC made a TV film from the novel I tried to find it. Unfortunately I couldn’t and the only way to watch it was in English and divided into seven different videos on YouTube. Despite the nuisance of passing from video to video… I liked it a lot… even more than Affinity. In particular, I really appreciated the expedient of introducing the flashbacks through rewind. According to the director of the film, the key to the novel is the idea of going backward to discover what had led the characters to the point where they are at the beginning of the film. The idea is emphasized by an external voice at the beginning that invites the viewers to imagine entering a cinema during the second half of a film and finding out later what had happened to the characters during the first half. I found Kay, Helen and Julia very similar to the characters I had figured out reading the book; Viv and Duncan not much.
BOOKS WITHIN BOOKS
There’s a reference to the legendary story of Sweeney Todd: “I don’t like the barber’s. I always think he’s going to cut me up and put me in a pie”.
Duncan remembers Dickens’s Oliver Twist.
Julia and Helen like popular literature: Gladys Mitchell, Elinor Glyn, Ethel M. Dell, Daphne Du Maurier, stories of intrigues and passions.
Viv took elocution lessons where she recited texts by Walter de la Mare and remembers the poem "The Listeners".
MUSIC - To get in the spirit of the book:
- Yes, we have no bananas today – Eddie Cantor alludes to the wartime in England, when the government stopped the import of bananas for a year and the shopkeepers put signs with that sentence as a protest.
- There's Something About A Soldier - Cicely Courtneidge
- Bye bye Blackbird, Gene Austin
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