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My Bright Midnight
Walter Schmidt's life isn't His wife Nadine wants to live next door to her dead first husband's mother, the Mississippi River is three blocks down the street and rising dangerously, FDR is dead, and the war seems like it will never end -- but for the most part, things are going Walter's way. Then one bright April morning in 1945, Walter comes home early from work to find Nadine in bed with his best friend, Sammy.
Shocked into silence, when she then calls him a "kraut," Walter becomes even more confused. True, he's a German immigrant, but he's lived in New Orleans for almost twenty years, and an hour before, he thought he was a happy American---baseball fan, reader of pulp novels, lover of gangster movies. Suddenly Walter wonders if Nadine's right, if he's more German than American, more enemy than friend. When Sammy later offers him $1,000 as an apology for sleeping with his wife, Walter accepts, desperately hoping to hurt his friend, but instead setting in motion a series of events more dangerous than betrayal and petty revenge.
Set against a backdrop of a nation exhausted by war, in a decadent city that for years has been denied its butter, sugar, and Mardi Gras, My Bright Midnight is a novel about the complications of loyalties to country, to friends, and to those we love.
Shocked into silence, when she then calls him a "kraut," Walter becomes even more confused. True, he's a German immigrant, but he's lived in New Orleans for almost twenty years, and an hour before, he thought he was a happy American---baseball fan, reader of pulp novels, lover of gangster movies. Suddenly Walter wonders if Nadine's right, if he's more German than American, more enemy than friend. When Sammy later offers him $1,000 as an apology for sleeping with his wife, Walter accepts, desperately hoping to hurt his friend, but instead setting in motion a series of events more dangerous than betrayal and petty revenge.
Set against a backdrop of a nation exhausted by war, in a decadent city that for years has been denied its butter, sugar, and Mardi Gras, My Bright Midnight is a novel about the complications of loyalties to country, to friends, and to those we love.
- GenresFiction
152 pages, Paperback
First published August 24, 2010
About the author
Josh Russell
28 books25 followersI'm the author of three novels: A True History of the Captivation, Transport to Strange Lands, & Deliverance of Hannah Guttentag (Dzanc Books, 2012); Yellow Jack (W.W. Norton, 1999), which earned me the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Shane Stevens Fellowship in the Novel; and My Bright Midnight (LSU Press, 2010), which earned me a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Prose and won the Independent Publisher Book Awards bronze medal for Literary Fiction.
My shorter prose has appeared in the Greying Ghost Press chapbook Pretend You'll Do It Again, and in several dozen magazines, textbooks, and anthologies, most recently Epoch, Copper Nickel, and Not Normal, Illinois.
My shorter prose has appeared in the Greying Ghost Press chapbook Pretend You'll Do It Again, and in several dozen magazines, textbooks, and anthologies, most recently Epoch, Copper Nickel, and Not Normal, Illinois.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 15, 2025
So much happens in this book, it could have been a lot longer. Russell kept it short enough to keep from getting tiresome. This is a story about accepting friendship because you are lonely but knowing it is a bad idea.
August 16, 2010
from my blog
I finished My Bright Midnight last night. I am too close to the author I think to do a publishable review - we were friends in college and this novel was published by the same press doing my book - so I'll say what I'll say here: It was really good. The short novel traces a rather sprawling tale of a reluctant German immigrant in New Orleans at the tail end of WWII. It does an excellent job of not being too New Orleans-y while still being totally there; in fact its geographic arc from the city to the coast and back drew a light-pressured sketch of the landscape similar to that found in Walker Percy's The Moviegoer. The protagonists in both have distanced tethers to the world in which they live, but instead of wandering in the wonder, our man in Midnight finds himself wanting to swim but bobbing in the eddies of inaction, of deflection, only to discover his stroke when the water gets rough. Past and future grow blurrier as the story proceeds, until they finally don't really matter at all when he accepts the present and only then does the foreigner become resident, the transplant take root, the backstory give way to a life.
I finished My Bright Midnight last night. I am too close to the author I think to do a publishable review - we were friends in college and this novel was published by the same press doing my book - so I'll say what I'll say here: It was really good. The short novel traces a rather sprawling tale of a reluctant German immigrant in New Orleans at the tail end of WWII. It does an excellent job of not being too New Orleans-y while still being totally there; in fact its geographic arc from the city to the coast and back drew a light-pressured sketch of the landscape similar to that found in Walker Percy's The Moviegoer. The protagonists in both have distanced tethers to the world in which they live, but instead of wandering in the wonder, our man in Midnight finds himself wanting to swim but bobbing in the eddies of inaction, of deflection, only to discover his stroke when the water gets rough. Past and future grow blurrier as the story proceeds, until they finally don't really matter at all when he accepts the present and only then does the foreigner become resident, the transplant take root, the backstory give way to a life.
May 21, 2015
I was a huge fan of Yellow Jack, Russell's first novel, but didn't think this one was as strong.
On the plus side, the descriptions of New Orleans and an area in Florida are done so well that you can feel both places in that exact moment in their history. Yet, I found Russell's1940s characters, especially their dialogue, to be less believable.
Another plus is Russell's gift for writing about alienated people. He's truly great at creating a slightly surreal, almost hallucinatory feeling as his protagonist wanders around the city connecting with no one.
But this gift is double-edged. At a certain point, we're supposed to care about Walter and I found that hard to do because I'd spent so much time watching him watch everyone else from a distance.
If I had to guess, I'd say that Russell follows the trajectory of so many writers--an excellent first novel full of potential, a less-than-perfect sophomore effort, and a third book that contains all the power of the first along with an artistic maturity that pushes it to the next level. With that in mind, I'm looking forward to reading A True History of the Captivation, Transport to Strange Lands & Deliverance of Hannah Guttentag.
On the plus side, the descriptions of New Orleans and an area in Florida are done so well that you can feel both places in that exact moment in their history. Yet, I found Russell's1940s characters, especially their dialogue, to be less believable.
Another plus is Russell's gift for writing about alienated people. He's truly great at creating a slightly surreal, almost hallucinatory feeling as his protagonist wanders around the city connecting with no one.
But this gift is double-edged. At a certain point, we're supposed to care about Walter and I found that hard to do because I'd spent so much time watching him watch everyone else from a distance.
If I had to guess, I'd say that Russell follows the trajectory of so many writers--an excellent first novel full of potential, a less-than-perfect sophomore effort, and a third book that contains all the power of the first along with an artistic maturity that pushes it to the next level. With that in mind, I'm looking forward to reading A True History of the Captivation, Transport to Strange Lands & Deliverance of Hannah Guttentag.
October 29, 2010
This is a short novel, perfect for a day or two of reading (weekend fly-through). I won a copy of this book through the Goodreads Firstreads contest, and would be happy about sending this on to another friend who is a book lover.
The story itself is unpredictable, taking a few turns that left me just wanting to keep reading! What I like about quick-read novels is that they pack a lot of time in a short amount of space. Josh Russell weaves scenes that are not overdone- he leaves enough for your imagination. His characters are believable, painted in a true light.
This is the third novel in a row I have read set in New Orleans, all by happenstance, but I didn't feel tired of the South after reading it. I learned new bits about history, World War II, and Americans' relationships with each other during that era.
The story itself is unpredictable, taking a few turns that left me just wanting to keep reading! What I like about quick-read novels is that they pack a lot of time in a short amount of space. Josh Russell weaves scenes that are not overdone- he leaves enough for your imagination. His characters are believable, painted in a true light.
This is the third novel in a row I have read set in New Orleans, all by happenstance, but I didn't feel tired of the South after reading it. I learned new bits about history, World War II, and Americans' relationships with each other during that era.
October 7, 2012
Overlooked is the fact that Germans were one of the largest groups of settlers in Louisiana and New Orleans. This is a love story of an immigrant who comes to New Orleans and lives through the American cultural changes of World War 2. By the author of Yellow Jack, a great book about the impact of yellow fever in early New Orleans. Nice combo platter of historical New Orleans background, cultural impressions and the challenges of love in a world of complex relationships and motivations.
July 2, 2012
Loved this well written novella. Had a little bit of She's Come Undone (by Wally Lamb) tone to it: a bit nostalgic, a bit coming-of-age/adulthood/finding your stride feel. Would definitely recommend it to anyone, especially 1930/40s New Orleans fans.
October 25, 2010
I loved the part that Josh read at the Launch Party / Reading & Reception at the Georgia Center for the Book at DeKalb County Public Library.
October 1, 2010
Russell's quirky characters turn just plain silly by the end. Could have been so much more.....He sure has New Orleans spot on!
Want to Read
February 5, 2011latest book by Russell. For all looking for short books for your book groups, I think this book less than 150 pp. Plus, plot and characters sound intriguing.
June 22, 2014
A quick, interesting read that gives a good feel for New Orleans from a German immigrant's point of view in the 1930s and 40s.
January 3, 2016
Interesting characters, so fully imagined I keep thinking about them. The writing is both clean and lyrical in good measure.
February 21, 2013
I love this author!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews