Night over Day over Night [Paperback]

Paul Watkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1997

As Sebastian Westland journeys from childhood to the bloody proving ground of men, he loses everything by which he knows himself: his past, his innocence, finally his name. His struggle to survive a war he scarcely comprehends is rendered in the urgent, beautifully spare, memorable prose of a born storyteller.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This "remarkably accomplished" first novel comes at WW II from an unusual angle. Its protagonist is the wry, embittered 17-year-old Sebastian Westland, who lives in a small German town and, during the last year of the war, enlists in the SS. PW called this "a dark triumph, with the grip of nightmare."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This first novel is the story of a 17-year-old who joins the Waffen SS in the summer of 1944. It follows him through the rigors of boot camp and into the horrors of combat. His unit is one of those spearheading the desperate Ardennes offensive (the Battle of the Bulge). There is the material for a memorable novel here, but, despite some powerful and vivid battle scenes, 23-year-old Watkins doesn't quite carry it off. Too often characters and incidents seem as if they have been recycled from formula war movies, and the narrator sounds as if he has come from a novel about disgruntled and angry postwar (Vietnam) adolescents. Only for collections where war novels are popular. Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1 edition (June 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312156081
• ISBN-13: 978-0312156084
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,794,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Teen Angst in WWII, August 8, 2001

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Night over Day over Night (Paperback)

In appropriately sparse prose, Watkins tells the story of Sebastian, a Hitler Youth member who signs up for the SS in 1944, when Germany is reeling and the war's outcome appears obvious. His offhand reason for doing so is that when you reached a certain age, you either signed up for the Army, Navy, Air Force, or SS. The Air Force and Navy are nonexistent at this point, and when he heads to the recruiting office, it happens to be the SS recruiter's turn to be there. One gets the feeling that he joins the SS for lack of anything better to do, and perhaps a general case of teenage angst. His father was killed in the war, his mother's gotten a bit weird, he's got an older lover, a proper girlfriend, his best friend is crippled, and we get the sense that like Holden Caufield, he just can't stand anything any more.

At SS training camp, Sebastian makes a few friends, a big doofus of a farmer boy, and a cool upper-class kid. They all sort of drift through a training regimen overseen by two grizzled veterans who survived Normandy and have nothing but derision for the new recruits. Even non-military readers will realize that their training is virtually useless, and they are being prepared as cannon fodder for the final offensive in the Ardennes (aka The Battle of the Bulge). When Sebastian visits home on leave, his emotional distance from everything and everybody is even starker, and it's clear he is even more adrift than when he left. There's a minor subplot of sorts, as Sebastian is tracked down by his older lover, and he tries to run from her obsession with him. The final third of the book takes place during this offensive and is a maelstrom of chaos, killing, looting, and murder. By the end Sebastian has been reduced to a survivor, and little else. Some readers may be troubled with Watkins' entirely human portrayal of an SS soldier, however it's clear many were not believers and joined for any number of reasons. Indeed, the question of why he enlists is a recurring one. At one point in the book, Sebastian pokes fun at another boy from his town who enlists, saying he saw the "Meet Your Comrades in the SS" poster and thought it would be a surefire way to finally make friends. While this may be true, it's no worse than Sebastian's own lack of concrete reason.

If you're interested in this book, I recall reading another book as a kid called "The Black March" written in the late `50s. It purported to be the memoir of an SS recruit's training and service on the Eastern front, and as a kid it was gripping. I don't know if I'd still find it so, and I've since heard it was all a fake by a French pulp writer, but you might want to check it out.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watkins' best, February 24, 2001

By 

"metroandy" (White Plains, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night over Day over Night (Paperback)

I decided to read six Paul Watkins books in order of publication date. Night over Day over Night was the most satisfying. Tightly written, it builds to a shattering climax that is as believable as it is horrifying. A truly great war novel written from the perspective of young German boys caught up in the absurdities of their training and the conflict itself. Sebastian is a character who should be studied by generations. The other books in order of preference are: In the Blue Light of African Dreams; Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn; The Story of My Disappearance; The Promise of Light; Archangel

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, August 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Night over Day over Night (Paperback)

There's been a lot said about the best war book, but I can say that this is in the top ten because it is such a splendid story about beliefs in causes that are bright and shiny but truth rubs off the gold and there's just tin underneath. I wish this writer would get more recognition on talk shows and other media. His name just doesn't crop up enough and he has a gift that classical writers posess. So many times you hear about these writers who are the hottest item but they soon fade like the paper of their yellow crumbly pages. Paul Watkins is a classic and I have to force myself not to buy his books until I've finished the one I'm currently reading.