The Watch: A Novel [Paperback]

Dennis Danvers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2003

An ambitious and compelling novel, The Watch tells the story of Peter Alexeivich Kropotkin, a former prince who renounced his riches to become an anarchist, and his deathbed pact with the mysterious visitor who gives Peter a new life in the future -- a seeming miracle with a darker edge that soon comes into focus.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A philosophical inquiry with a basic moral point, this literate time-travel tale also thoroughly entertains. In 1921, the ailing, 78-year-old Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin is visited by an "angel," Anchee Mahur, who offers him a mysterious choice. He can either die or resume life as a young man, but in 1999, in Richmond, Va., Kropotkin agrees to a new life, but never loses his distrust of Anchee, a being from a future so far ahead that Anchee claims he could never adapt to it. One has less a sense of reading a story than of following the provocative thinking of the novel's displaced hero and narrator. The quotations that head each chapter from the real-life Kropotkin and such writers as Dickens and Coleridge, as well as Civil War generals and politicians lend insights into slavery, the Civil War and race in America. As Kropotkin copes with, and improves on, the world immediately around him, he tries to understand his purpose. Seemingly chance meetings give him a girlfriend, a job, friends, a place to live and contact with others from the past. Earl, a reclusive doctor and former resident of the Civil War-era prison on Belle Isle, provides more history lessons. As the anarchist becomes more aware of Anchee's manipulations, he finds himself once again with a terrible choice. Does he go along with Anchee's plan or suffer the consequences if he does not? Can he trade personal comfort for humanity's potential slavery? Danvers (End of Days) succeeds in making the reader really care about the answers. (Jan. 2)Forecast: Reminiscent of classic SF tales of the '40s and '50s, such as Asimov's Foundation series, this compelling novel may well become a minor classic in the field.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-This is a novel of ideas, but it is also one of great heart and fabulous personality. As the elderly philosopher Peter Kropotkin lies dying in 1921 Russia, Anchee Mahur, a visitor from the far future, offers to bring him back to life-restored to health, in a future time and place. Peter's curiosity gets the better of him and he soon finds himself in 1999, in Richmond, VA. He is on his own, starting a new life in what, to him, might as well be an alien planet, with no capital but his intellect and a lifetime's wisdom. As the time traveler shares his story, an original and sometimes startling vision of our times emerges through his eyes; to one who lived under czars, this is a world both fantastic in its technology yet all too familiar in its ethics. Peter is part innocent, part sage, wholly charming, and extremely funny. A gregarious fellow, he feels right at home with a diverse population and relates winningly to everyone. He finds romance. He falls in with a group of creative young musicians, artists, and activists who are sure to delight teen readers. And he discovers two more time travelers: a slave and an abolitionist from Richmond's past. Peter's presence has a catalytic effect on a city that still romanticizes its Confederate history, and a new revolution brings a reckoning with the truth of its past. Read as a thoughtful meditation, or simply as a delightful yarn, this is a story and a hero that should find an enthusiastic audience.
Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Eos (March 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380806452
• ISBN-13: 978-0380806454
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,189,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Dream Deferred..., August 29, 2002

By 

C. Glover (Langhorne, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Watch (Hardcover)

I happened to be reading this book as I traveled to the SC coast on vacation. I was intrigued as I passed through Richmond, VA, the location of this novel. As I Black woman I do not often have the opportunity to talk with Southern Whites about their attitudes toward the Civil War and the traitors they still revere as heroes. On the few occasions that I have had that conversation it seemed so strange to me that they have such passion about a war that happened generations before they were born. And it is not just Richmond, remember my destination was SC via NC. Reading this book told me that I was not alone in thinking the South of 2002 is still confused about who won the Civil War and why. I really wanted those who romanticize the Ante-Bellum South to come face-to-face with the reality of its Peculiar Institution and economic structure. All through the book I was getting ready for the confrontation that I was ultimately denied. Danvers provided the best of science fiction; the re-examination of our history from a future perspective, with the possibility of an alternate--a better--ending. I was challenged to think of what that alternate ending could be since Danvers denied me the pleasure of providing one. This book is rich, textured with characters that are deep and complex. The reader may need a notecard to keep from getting lost, but it is well worth the effort to make it through the wordiness. No sex or violence. Best if you are a history buff or student of Americana.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A work of love, April 8, 2003

By 

Peter Deane "Pete" (Los Gatos, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Watch (Hardcover)

The Watch is a genuine "romantic novel" and does a nifty switcheroo on the 19th century American speculative political science fiction genre seen in Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward," that also employs time travel.

The Watch got me banging on the kitchen table on page 99, and the ending, curling back on the author and the courage of the protagonist's indefatigable spirit, was a fine finish. I believe Danvers ate and fully digested all of the Anarchist Prince's writings as he deftly dishes up a double dose of Kroptikin spirit while he unveils a detailed history of --- and genuine love for--- his own hometown, Richomond, VA.

I'll bet this is the novel Danvers always wanted to write. And one you'll wish you had written about your own home town and intellectual hero.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anarchist Out of Time, October 8, 2003

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Watch: A Novel (Paperback)

This is a very creatively constructed story with elements of both time travel and historical fiction. For his own reasons Dennis Danvers has made himself an expert on the obscure Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin, who died in 1921. In this book Kropotkin is sent to present-day Richmond, VA by a mysterious meddler from the future, who either wants to change history favorably with Kropotkin as the catalyst, or simply amuse himself by creating new time streams. The story is told as an autobiography by the displaced Kropotkin, and this leads to enjoyable musings on how a Russian from the last century observes modern America, and especially how he finds kindred souls among a group of punk rockers. Interestingly, and perhaps courageously, Danvers lays down a lot of criticism of his hometown of Richmond and its strange obsession with its hateful past, through the eyes of Kropotkin.

Though many of the characters in this novel are quite well drawn and enjoyable, Kropotkin among them, he speaks mostly in the writings of the real-life anarchist, which Danvers clearly wants to bring to light for modern readers. That may have even worked with me, as my curiosity about Kropotkin's works has been piqued. But this method of storytelling leads to a rather implausible book in which Danvers is advancing his own theories and using Kropotkin's "classics" as a tool. The plotline also gets a bit out of hand toward the end, and the true motives of the mysterious future meddler remain vague. This is truly a fun and fascinating novel, and a great exercise in creative storytelling. But the use of Kropotkin's writings by Danvers to comment on modern society gets very heavy-handed and didactic. [~doomsdayer520~]