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The Watch
When an enigmatic visitor from another world appears at the deathbed of Peter Alexeivich Kropotkin in 1921 Russia, offering him a chance to be reborn, Peter gladly accepts, but his new life in 1999 America is far from idyllic as he is faced with a bizarre new world of plastic and capitalism, where other refugees, both past and present, crave freedom and justice. Reprint.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
August 15, 2020
I'm rounding up a bit, I think, but I really did enjoy this novel and I didn't really expect to like it as much as I did. It sounded a bit too contrived and, perhaps, a little too presumptuous. I figured it would be Kropotkin wandering around providing social commentary about all those who are left to their struggles and suffering in a time of plenty and, as it so happened, I was in enough of a mood for that kind of commentary and was feeling ok with reading something that wasn't the best story ever. I lucked out, however, because this turned out to be a fairly charming book after all.
It was less a negative critique than it was Kropotkin finding the joy and wonder present at the end of the 20th century while seeing the potential of its people and the hope available for its future. That's not to say that there wasn't social criticism, but it was much more focused on what could be if we allowed it rather than what shouldn't be. And it was all rather cleverly put together in a rather pleasant story.
Like a lot of other people, I felt that the book started out really well but then got a little weaker as it went on. Kropotkin's response to life in 1999 was delightful but his reaction to why he was there and the aspects of the plot that surrounded it were kind of silly and sometimes off-putting. Even if I didn't like that aspect of it nor the specifics of the ending, the storytelling was ultimately good and I felt genuinely moved by the possibilities that it explored.
It was less a negative critique than it was Kropotkin finding the joy and wonder present at the end of the 20th century while seeing the potential of its people and the hope available for its future. That's not to say that there wasn't social criticism, but it was much more focused on what could be if we allowed it rather than what shouldn't be. And it was all rather cleverly put together in a rather pleasant story.
Like a lot of other people, I felt that the book started out really well but then got a little weaker as it went on. Kropotkin's response to life in 1999 was delightful but his reaction to why he was there and the aspects of the plot that surrounded it were kind of silly and sometimes off-putting. Even if I didn't like that aspect of it nor the specifics of the ending, the storytelling was ultimately good and I felt genuinely moved by the possibilities that it explored.
August 30, 2009
Peter Kropotkin, the anarchist prince, a contemporary of Emma Goldman, is rescued from his deathbed by a man from the future who sends him to Richmond Virginia in 1999 to live his life again (he is only in his 30's when he is reborn). Revolution ensues.
The book started off really well. I enjoyed Peter's character and his personal and political acclimation to his future. And then about halfway through it gets really bad. The characters fall apart (even Peter) and become flat and annoying. And then there's this whole revolutionary moment that develops which is poorly developed and not at all credible. The "organizing" that goes on is basically Peter talking to people randomly about their lives and the preposterousness of capitalism. The struggle is supposedly about race and the legacy of slavery but the most complex black character we are given, a man who escaped slavery and is befriended by Peter, is poorly created and not well fleshed out. So by the end, I was so irritated, I just couldn't read the last 20 pages.
The book started off really well. I enjoyed Peter's character and his personal and political acclimation to his future. And then about halfway through it gets really bad. The characters fall apart (even Peter) and become flat and annoying. And then there's this whole revolutionary moment that develops which is poorly developed and not at all credible. The "organizing" that goes on is basically Peter talking to people randomly about their lives and the preposterousness of capitalism. The struggle is supposedly about race and the legacy of slavery but the most complex black character we are given, a man who escaped slavery and is befriended by Peter, is poorly created and not well fleshed out. So by the end, I was so irritated, I just couldn't read the last 20 pages.
October 4, 2009
A time-traveling anarchist.
That would have been enough to get me to read the book. Then, after stumbling across the book at my local library and reading the secondary title: "Being the unauthorized sequel to Peter A. Kropotkin's Memoirs of a Revolutionist", I headed directly to the checkout.
It's not often you find science fiction books centered on the leading historical thinkers of social anarchism. In fact, I can't recall ever seeing a similar premise. Especially a time-traveling one.
Peter Kropotkin is transplanted moments from his death to Richmond, Virgina, 1999. The adjustment that Kropotkin must make to American culture serves as interesting reading through most of the book. However, what I found most engaging was the imagined implementation of anarchist principles in modern society. The mundane moments of communal living as well as Kropotkin's reaction to Hemlock Society's nihilistic, anger-fueled anarchist play were some of the best segments. One of my favorite of such moments were between Kropotkin and Mike's university advisor, Dr. Richard Sapworth:
The voice Danvers used for Kropotkin at first threw me. Having only read some of his works, my impressions of Kropotkin lacked the casual sociability with which Danvers imbues his protagonist. But, in reflection, I tend to think Danvers' personification is more accurate that that of the somewhat withdrawn scholar-idealist I had imagined. The Watch accomplishes, for me at least, a renewed desire to read Kropotkin's original works. Such subtle activism seems a worthy attribute of any book, let alone a science-fiction story.
But all is not collective utopia with The Watch. The plot seems tenuous throughout most of the book and utterly falls apart in the end. Though the characters and story devolve to a point that eventually pulled me from my suspension of disbelief in eye-rolling frustration, the scattered moments of an idealist anarchist in today's society still carry through.
That would have been enough to get me to read the book. Then, after stumbling across the book at my local library and reading the secondary title: "Being the unauthorized sequel to Peter A. Kropotkin's Memoirs of a Revolutionist", I headed directly to the checkout.
It's not often you find science fiction books centered on the leading historical thinkers of social anarchism. In fact, I can't recall ever seeing a similar premise. Especially a time-traveling one.
Peter Kropotkin is transplanted moments from his death to Richmond, Virgina, 1999. The adjustment that Kropotkin must make to American culture serves as interesting reading through most of the book. However, what I found most engaging was the imagined implementation of anarchist principles in modern society. The mundane moments of communal living as well as Kropotkin's reaction to Hemlock Society's nihilistic, anger-fueled anarchist play were some of the best segments. One of my favorite of such moments were between Kropotkin and Mike's university advisor, Dr. Richard Sapworth:
"A pleasure", he says, tilting his head back in order to assess me, I gather, through the proper portion of his spectacles. His hand retreats upon arrival without ever actually grasping mine. "Cole tells me you're an anarchist."
"Yes."
"Bookchin? Chomsky? Or what's that fellow in Oregon's name?"
"Don't know. I'm a Kropotkin man through and through."
"Oh really? That's unusual. Relation?"
"No. I just like the way the man thinks."
He waits for me to elaborate, but I don't. "Interesting. Where is it you teach?"
"I don't."
I smile pleasantly, and he decides I'm a wit. "I know how you feel. They get stupider every year, don't they?"
"The faculty?"
He smirks at my irony. "Them too."
"What's your field?" I ask, for I know the etiquette.
"Consciousness Enactment," he says, squaring his shoulders.
"What's that?" I ask.
"Well," he says, rising up on his toes and chuckling, "that is The Question, isn't it?"
I would have thought there were several others more pressing, but he considers the matter settled. "Let's start with The Republic," he says, and does, and continues on from there without pausing for my Let's not. I try to listen, but it all sounds to me like it's just another lemming trek down the it-doesn't-matter-what-you think, only-how-you-think road over the it-doesn't-matter-what-you-do precipice to drown in a sea of precious pointlessness. Pg. 182-183
The voice Danvers used for Kropotkin at first threw me. Having only read some of his works, my impressions of Kropotkin lacked the casual sociability with which Danvers imbues his protagonist. But, in reflection, I tend to think Danvers' personification is more accurate that that of the somewhat withdrawn scholar-idealist I had imagined. The Watch accomplishes, for me at least, a renewed desire to read Kropotkin's original works. Such subtle activism seems a worthy attribute of any book, let alone a science-fiction story.
But all is not collective utopia with The Watch. The plot seems tenuous throughout most of the book and utterly falls apart in the end. Though the characters and story devolve to a point that eventually pulled me from my suspension of disbelief in eye-rolling frustration, the scattered moments of an idealist anarchist in today's society still carry through.
August 20, 2011
I had forgotten how frustrating this book is. Premise = awesome. Start = awesome. Main character = his awesomeness strains credulity a little bit (does anyone really love people as much as this character seems to?), but is still enjoyable. Execution = FAIL. I don't care about some jerk from the future manipulating everyone's lives! I want to know, if Kropotkin were here and now, what would he do to foment revolution? The last 1/4 of the novel was massively unsatisfying.
October 24, 2019
I quite enjoyed this and don't think I've read anything else like it. Chapter after chapter, there doesn't seem to be conflict. Everything goes well for Kropotkin, but it's incredibly readable all the same. Maybe because there's this sense of dread hanging over the whole thing. The ultimate villain isn't a character, although one is placed in that role. The villain is the system, the status quo, capitalism, the state, and all of us who make it happen. And you might suspect that villain will win, because it usually does in real life.
At the same time there's hope everywhere in this story. Each time a character pulls their head out of the morass to speak to the person next to them they prove the problem isn't all-encompassing. And if the hero is too good to be true, I'm okay with that once in a while. The rest of us need an ideal by which to gauge reality and we're not going to find one of those unless we invent it.
At the same time there's hope everywhere in this story. Each time a character pulls their head out of the morass to speak to the person next to them they prove the problem isn't all-encompassing. And if the hero is too good to be true, I'm okay with that once in a while. The rest of us need an ideal by which to gauge reality and we're not going to find one of those unless we invent it.
March 3, 2010
I seem to be giving a lot of 5 star ratings, and to a lot of books I haven't read in a while. I am safe with this book though since I have read it recently.
This book is interesting on several levels. It is a compelling and mysterious science fiction story. It has many interesting historical aspects and introduced me to Peter Kropotkin the Russian anarchist whom I wasn't previously familiar with. The most interesting aspect of this book is the exploration of the value of human freedom and sacrifice.
I have read several other books by this author hoping to find one close to as good to no avail.
This book is interesting on several levels. It is a compelling and mysterious science fiction story. It has many interesting historical aspects and introduced me to Peter Kropotkin the Russian anarchist whom I wasn't previously familiar with. The most interesting aspect of this book is the exploration of the value of human freedom and sacrifice.
I have read several other books by this author hoping to find one close to as good to no avail.
April 14, 2012
Page 45:
My old life, mostly gone before I left it, now lies unreachable across a gulf of time -- everyone and everything I've ever known, utterly unreachable, immutable.
Page 79:
"That the university library?" I ask, pointing behind her. "Where the class is to be held?"
"Yes. They're letting us use one of the conference rooms."
"Can anyone use the library, or only students and faculty?"
"You can't check anything out, but you can use the materials there. ... What do you want to research?"
"Everything."
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry.
I read 80 pages of this. You don't need to.
My old life, mostly gone before I left it, now lies unreachable across a gulf of time -- everyone and everything I've ever known, utterly unreachable, immutable.
Page 79:
"That the university library?" I ask, pointing behind her. "Where the class is to be held?"
"Yes. They're letting us use one of the conference rooms."
"Can anyone use the library, or only students and faculty?"
"You can't check anything out, but you can use the materials there. ... What do you want to research?"
"Everything."
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry.
I read 80 pages of this. You don't need to.
September 8, 2020
It is rare to find a book that deals with substantive philosophical issues like fairness, equity, social justice, and the well-being of individuals rather than the construct of the state. It is also rare to find a book that portrays atheists as real people, even heroic people worthy of admiration. Rarer still to find a novel that has a character make hard sacrifices in order to stay true to their own principles, their own philosophy. This book does all of that within the framework of an entertaining and compelling story. It is an intelligent person's page-turner.
October 3, 2016
A thoughtful take on anarchy, mutual aid, and the legacy of the Confederacy as seen through the eyes of a visitor from the past. This is a heartfelt book, and a fine picture of Richmond that brings the punk anarchy of the 1990s to life like nothing else I've read or heard. Kropotkin's humane approach to life is a tonic, especially when it leads to repeated jarring crashes against our world today.
December 27, 2020
This is a perfect time to read this book. Besides being fascinating, it may be even more timely now than in 2002 when it was written. Until very close to the end, I forgot that I was reading fiction. Then, just as events became even more unlikely, I forgot again.
That's all I'm going to say. You should read it!
That's all I'm going to say. You should read it!
December 20, 2017
Who knew the type of genre book I'd been waiting for was published 15 years ago? A great primer on anarchism hidden within a riveting first person science fiction tale. Loved it and can't recommend it enough!
November 20, 2020
I actually bought the e-book, I mean, it must be the only sci-fi revolutionary anarchist time travel novel ever written. Highly recommended, seems D D really swotted up on Kropotkin, though frustrating that it didnt end up as I hoped.
March 3, 2025
Really fun and interesting! Everything a science-fiction book should be! Can’t wait to read more of his books. Appropriately, given the story, I stumbled across this book while liking for a different one and somehow decided to check it out. Now I feel like I’m part of the plot!
April 20, 2009
April 20th is the perfect day to review The Watch by Dennis Danvers, a book very much concerned with dates and times. This particular date in 1999 figures prominently in the story. Ten years later The Watch, though no longer in print, ought to figure more prominently in the ongoing conversation. I came to this book by way of a recommendation from Kelly Justice, owner of The Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia. I mentioned on my blog that I was having some difficulty locating a copy but I would continue searching. My search didn’t take long: the author found that post, left a comment, and sent me a signed copy! So I thank Kelly Justice for her recommendation and Dennis Danvers for his generosity and ingenuity!
The Watch is narrated by Peter Kropotkin, a Russian anarchist from the 19th century. On his deathbed he is approached by a mysterious figure from the future named Anchee who offers to restore him to life and health if he will do Anchee’s bidding. Kropotkin accepts without questioning Anchee’s intentions, which he comes to regret and resent. Kropotkin is restored in the future, when all of his acquaintances are no more, and sent to the foreign city of Richmond, Virginia aboard the foreign conveyance of an airplane. He arrives with no money, no contacts, and no instructions from Anchee. He has already lived as an exile however, so he does speak English and has moderate survival skills. Between his abilities, his charisma, and the intervention of some generous residents of Richmond (like Danvers!) he gets along rather well. Until he learns that all of these interventions, right down to seemingly chance meetings, have been orchestrated by Anchee, not chance at all. He has become the subject of an experiment. If everything he desires (love, anarchy, equality) is arranged for him but not by him, will it still be desirable?
I enjoyed this read on many levels. As a History and Russian major, I appreciated the treatment of the narrator’s background as well as the setting. As a U2 fan it made me think of the lines “She said “Time is irrelevant, it’s not linear”/Then she put her tongue in my ear” from the song “No Line On The Horizon.” As an author working on a book that takes place in Virginia, specifically in Richmond, I gained a crucial perspective of the city that I was lacking. I haven’t met anyone from the future, but finding this book was so fortuitous it almost seems prearranged by some meddling traveler!
The Watch is narrated by Peter Kropotkin, a Russian anarchist from the 19th century. On his deathbed he is approached by a mysterious figure from the future named Anchee who offers to restore him to life and health if he will do Anchee’s bidding. Kropotkin accepts without questioning Anchee’s intentions, which he comes to regret and resent. Kropotkin is restored in the future, when all of his acquaintances are no more, and sent to the foreign city of Richmond, Virginia aboard the foreign conveyance of an airplane. He arrives with no money, no contacts, and no instructions from Anchee. He has already lived as an exile however, so he does speak English and has moderate survival skills. Between his abilities, his charisma, and the intervention of some generous residents of Richmond (like Danvers!) he gets along rather well. Until he learns that all of these interventions, right down to seemingly chance meetings, have been orchestrated by Anchee, not chance at all. He has become the subject of an experiment. If everything he desires (love, anarchy, equality) is arranged for him but not by him, will it still be desirable?
I enjoyed this read on many levels. As a History and Russian major, I appreciated the treatment of the narrator’s background as well as the setting. As a U2 fan it made me think of the lines “She said “Time is irrelevant, it’s not linear”/Then she put her tongue in my ear” from the song “No Line On The Horizon.” As an author working on a book that takes place in Virginia, specifically in Richmond, I gained a crucial perspective of the city that I was lacking. I haven’t met anyone from the future, but finding this book was so fortuitous it almost seems prearranged by some meddling traveler!
February 28, 2019
Both covers horrible. I read the green, with the guy who looks like a Balkan soldier. The title refers mostly to a sort of a pocket watch, only a bit, sometimes, to observers and monitors. The other cover, with a watch face in front of a person's face, could be seen as that metaphor... but certainly the 'vibe' and first impression of the cover is all wrong. This is more of a man stepping *through* time (which could be drawn as a watch face), and though we needn't see his face, it should not be implied he has none.
Anyway. Book review. Great fun, intelligent, persuasive, engaging... until the end, when our hero has to make a choice. And I disagree 100% with the choice, and am furious that he made it. I don't even know why he made it! He makes a statement there, but it's totally insufficient, and BS to boot. In my reading of the story, all his actions & thoughts to that point seemed to lead to a slightly longer decision-making process, in which he considered the alternative, but then made (what I consider) the right choice.
And now, now that Danvers betrayed my sense of what's right, true, honorable... now I don't trust him. I don't trust any of the philosophy in the rest of the book. At this very moment I'm even more angry at this book than I am at 'Celestine Prophecy' which I only got about 10 pp into before discarding, despite its popularity with thinking readers.
Ok, I'm not going to rate this now. I need to ponder a bit. Are there clues I missed in the book? Is Danvers being ironic? Is it just a casual novel, meant to make us think only until we finish reading, rather than an entertaining treatise/ call to action? Also, are we meant to believe that Kropotkin would be so brilliant, so energetic, so adaptable... or do we have a sort of Mary Sue thing going on?
I pulled most of the book darts I'd put in to mark points of political philosophy, but here are two samples of Danvers' work:
"I have read novels that have made me a better man. I have also read novels that have made me wish the author were a better man." (says our hero)
Our hero discovers the Internet and muses, "Alice's tea party was a sensible affair by comparison, but not nearly so informative."
:sigh: I'll think about this a couple of days. I probably won't be able to help myself from doing so. Maybe I'll rate it then.
ETA: O good gracious. Kropotkin was a real philosopher. Whoa. If you read this, bear that in mind as you read the chapter-introducing quotations from his works.
Anyway. Book review. Great fun, intelligent, persuasive, engaging... until the end, when our hero has to make a choice. And I disagree 100% with the choice, and am furious that he made it. I don't even know why he made it! He makes a statement there, but it's totally insufficient, and BS to boot. In my reading of the story, all his actions & thoughts to that point seemed to lead to a slightly longer decision-making process, in which he considered the alternative, but then made (what I consider) the right choice.
And now, now that Danvers betrayed my sense of what's right, true, honorable... now I don't trust him. I don't trust any of the philosophy in the rest of the book. At this very moment I'm even more angry at this book than I am at 'Celestine Prophecy' which I only got about 10 pp into before discarding, despite its popularity with thinking readers.
Ok, I'm not going to rate this now. I need to ponder a bit. Are there clues I missed in the book? Is Danvers being ironic? Is it just a casual novel, meant to make us think only until we finish reading, rather than an entertaining treatise/ call to action? Also, are we meant to believe that Kropotkin would be so brilliant, so energetic, so adaptable... or do we have a sort of Mary Sue thing going on?
I pulled most of the book darts I'd put in to mark points of political philosophy, but here are two samples of Danvers' work:
"I have read novels that have made me a better man. I have also read novels that have made me wish the author were a better man." (says our hero)
Our hero discovers the Internet and muses, "Alice's tea party was a sensible affair by comparison, but not nearly so informative."
:sigh: I'll think about this a couple of days. I probably won't be able to help myself from doing so. Maybe I'll rate it then.
ETA: O good gracious. Kropotkin was a real philosopher. Whoa. If you read this, bear that in mind as you read the chapter-introducing quotations from his works.
October 17, 2011
I picked this one up on a whim from the library. I really liked it! An original concept, and infused with such an unbridled optimism for the inevitable goodness of the human race. I liked the main character, and also what the author obviously thought about America, capitalism, and its so-called democracy.
"... [T]hose who've been brought up good capitalists since infancy to measure their worth by consumption, and since even a glutton can only consume so much, they end up measuring their worth by how much they can waste. The are not evil, nor to they make any truly evil decisions. It's how the economy is structured."
"... [T]hose who've been brought up good capitalists since infancy to measure their worth by consumption, and since even a glutton can only consume so much, they end up measuring their worth by how much they can waste. The are not evil, nor to they make any truly evil decisions. It's how the economy is structured."
December 11, 2012
This book is hands down amazing! The ending, although a bit unexpected and expected at the same time, truly captured the captured the essence of the protagonist. I picked this book out of random mainly because i was desperate to read something and promised myself that i would read at least the first ten pages. I read and to my suprise (sci-fi isnt really my favorite subject) i enjoyed it a great deal.
January 22, 2014
Very well written and interesting book about a Russian anarchist who is transported into modern Virginia. The science fiction angle is just a prop to juxtapose the main character into our world and chance to give us this outsider view. The quality writing and interesting main character are what makes it work. A weak ending mars it and the main character adapts to easily to our world but still a good read.
May 27, 2009
Picked this up in a large batch of books from a previous library sale. Most of the books I get from those sales might be worth about what I paid (pennies on the book). This one however was a delightful surprise, with energetic and engaging characters.
January 22, 2011
I liked this book a lot. It had a clever concept, was well written, and was less esoteric than most leftist fiction tends to be (a reader wholly ignorant of Kropotkin or social anarchist theory in general would have no trouble with it).
September 19, 2008
anarchists and time travel, an intriguing read
September 30, 2009
This is probably the best time-travel tale I've read, and having peter kropotkin as a protagonist certainly helps.
May 17, 2010
A time travel of ideas, not mere humans .. worth reading.
Read
August 26, 2010A critique of 90's America from the perspective of an early twentieth century Russian anarchist.
February 13, 2012
Peter Kropotkin travels to 1999 Richmond, VA to change history but ends un in Guantanamo an accused terrorist. Should have been much better than it was.
July 8, 2015
I loved this book! It is one of my new favorites.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews