The Night Watch: 1944 Chapters 4 and 5

Today's round of discussion brings us to the end of the 1944 section of The Night Watch, having read through the end of chapter 5 of that 1944 section.

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We'll do another open thread for today to get things started (with more staff-written questions coming up for the next segment, which takes us to the end of the book, on July 13). What did you think of this part of the book? What struck you about it? Did it shed any further light on the remaining mysteries within the story?

I went ahead and finished the book. I could not wait. But what strikes me about this book being written in sections is that I am so relieved to know that these characters will live through it. As they go through the terrible events of 1944 and further back to 1941, I feel as if they are friends sitting across from me at the cafe and telling me some of the harrowing events of their youth that they have managed to survive.

>2 PoetVictoria: Yes, it seems very realistic to get so know someone in deeper and deeper layers of detail. What’s interesting to see is that those who went through physical traumas (Viv and Helen) seem to have recuperated better than those whose damage was more emotional (Duncan, and especially Kay).