Name: Nod
ISBN: 9780956687685

Adrian Barnes

SHORT LISTED FOR THE ARTHUR C CLARKE AWARD Dawn breaks over Vancouver and no-one has slept the night before, or almost no one. A few people, perhaps one in ten thousand can still sleep, and they've all shared teh same strange, golden dream. A handfull of children still sleepp as well, but what they're dreaming remains a mystery. After six days of absolute sleep deprivation, psychosis will set in. After 4 weeks the body will die. In the interim, panic ensues and a bizaree new world arises in which those previously on teh frignes of society take the lead.

Dawn breaks over Vancouver and no-one in the world has slept the night before, or almost no-one. A few people, perhaps one in ten thousand can still sleep, and they've all shared the same golden dream. A handful of children still sleep as well, but what they're dreaming remains a mystery. After six days of absolute sleep deprivation, psychosis will set in. After four weeks, the body will die. In the interim, panic ensues and a bizarre new world arises.

I would have liked the book and its characters to have been slightly more developed but I still found the idea interesting. Not sure if my favourite read of the year but should be a good conversation starter at book club.

Dawn breaks over Vancouver and no-one in the world has slept the night before, or almost no-one. A few people, perhaps one in ten thousand can still sleep, and they've all shared the same golden dream. A handful of children still sleep as well, but what they're dreaming remains a mystery. After six days of absolute sleep deprivation, psychosis will set in. After four weeks, the body will die. In the interim, panic ensues and a bizarre new world arises in which those previously on the fringes of society take the lead. One couple experience a lifetime in a week as he continues to sleep, she begins to disintegrate before him, and the new world swallows the old one whole...

Patrick Book

I wanted to make this a 4, and it’s close, but there are just a few too many things that didn’t quite work or add up or make sense to me to go that high. But quite a gripping read! And A+ concept.

E J Doble

To start with the good: this book was fascinating. A story of how humanity disintegrates when it is denied sleep; how those who can sleep are revered and then demonised; how cults form and destroy themselves as our innate tribalism dictates. I could not guess nor believe Paul's journey, and that was the beauty of it - not to mention the book is very well written, with an anecdotal and referencing narrative that I found very fun despite the obvious horror the book also contains.

But, on the opposing side, this book was also not very unique in its plot and never really took itself seriously. Perhaps it is the media I've consumed in film, but this book is basically if I Am Legend and the Edge of Tomorrow had an insomniac baby - and then never quite pulled it off. Without giving spoilers, if you were to guess the storyline of a dystopian novel about "outlasting the rest", chances are this book would be pretty close to that guess. That doesn't make it a bad book - it just makes it predictable.

To conclude, I loved the concept of the book and the ideas it explored, but it was expressed with over-the-top quips and a rather mediocre plot line that detracted from the experience overall.

Sian

I stepped out my comfort zone with this one. It's a good book and well written but it's just not my kind of good book. Would recommend if you like sci fi and post apocolypic dystopias.

Ewan

I understand why some people would hate this book. In fact I could see myself as one of those but I have just finished one of the best books I have read in years.

Flawed as hell, but I loved it. 

I think that if i wanted a story about how society falls after people stop sleeping I would be extremely disappointed, the plot, the world building, the characters are all rather thinly constructed. 

So if the book isn't "about" insomnia, what is it about? Well my take, is that it is about the power of words and a meditation on death. It can come across as pretentious at times, and wordy, but contains some amazing turns of phrase throughout.

As an addendum reading that he was diagnosed with, and has since died of, brain cancer was heartbreaking

Natalia Hernandez

Reseña en español en mi blog: https://natified.com/2018/06/26/2018-...

One night, people stop sleeping. They just can't fall asleep, no matter how tired they feel. A few are still able to, and they all have the same dream.

I read that, on the back cover of the book, and I was hooked. I needed to read this! I remembered an article I read years and years ago, about a family in Europe that had a neurological disorder that turned them into sleepless people (they all died from complications of it), so I wanted to see if it had something to do with that. It doesn't, but it was still a fun novel to go into. 

We follow a couple (she can't sleep, he can) who go through the city trying to find shelter in a world unraveling. People are going insane, they're turning paranoid and violent, and this man who can still sleep knows it's just a matter of time before everything stops, because no one can spend more than say 12 days with no sleep. He's just waiting, trying to survive, but it's getting hard. 

Nod is a really fast read, it took me two afternoons to finish it, and it's a fun read too.

Abi Hills

This book isn't for everyone, so the extremely mixed reviews don't come as a surprise. However, the reviews saying it was badly written confuse me. I found it excellently written, engaging and I couldn't put it down. The only reason I did in between is that I read the first half at night, and reading a book about people not being able to sleep while not being able to sleep is probably not a good idea. Even so, it added more thrill to the reading experience, like when I first read Frankenstien. 

I would recommend this book, but I acknowledge it's not everyone's cup of tea. Still, if you want to give it a go, do it! It's certainly an interesting and unique read.

(view spoiler)[I found myself really relating to the character of Paul which was another surprise. I don't often take to male main characters (let alone male authors) so to find him relatable was probably why I found this book more interesting than others did. I mainly relate to his not liking many other people, and his interest in etymology which I find fascinating. I also like how this plays a part in the way the story is written, with the words he uses and the titles of the chapters.

Paul doesn't really seem to feel fear, but I as a reader did, and that too was interesting. I also liked how he kept questioning morality, a key theme in the book, but still in a way held to some ideas of morality by protecting Zoe until he couldn't any longer.

I didn't like Tanya from the beginning, and since she plays a part in the two disgusting sex scenes (not smut because of the nature of them) which I skipped over, her character gets increasingly more unlikeable. Even when you see her through Pauls' eyes, it's kind of like watching a movie, at the same time you can see that he likes her, but you can still form your own opinion of her. I'm not sure how this was achieved, as the entire this is in Paul's point of view, but the book was remarkable.

As for the story itself, it was definitely the kind of dystopian/apocalypse story that hits very deep, and due to the ending, seems hopeless. However there is a glimmer of hope, with the dreams, and some of the cat sleepers intending to put the power back on and get things back to normal. I'm not quite sure how this would work if the same situation happened in real life if we'd all go crazy before anything could be put right or what? I like books that get you asking questions, and Nod certainly poses many. 

I also like, which others didn't, that the why everything happened wasn't explained. Paul was just a civilian, not a scientist, so it was unlikely he was going to find out why. Also, nowadays all films and tv need to make sense, need to be explained. I think this can ruin the enjoyment a bit. I enjoy things that have no explanation, especially with things like this where the explanation may feel forced or stupid.  (hide spoiler)]

roosmarijn

alrighty let’s finally start to digest what the actual frick this was

ironic enough, the little “essay” at the back of the book about the writers cancer was more heartwarming, touching and interesting to read than the book itself - oh the book, it was... something

we follow the path of destruction that follows after people can’t sleep anymore through the eyes of our protagonist, paul, and to dive straight in; i don’t know why the book was written in dairy-form; because instead of it giving us more connection with the main character, instead of it giving us more clarity and insight, it just made everything so more distant and abstract. i did not connect at all.

am i the only one who dislikes dairy-written books so much?? (that is; when it’s fictional, because non-fictional diaries are an entire different story and the two CANT BE COMPARED) like wtf mate, you’re in a world wide breakdown of humanity but somehow you manage to write this all down in so much depth and details?? that must have taken hours, where? why? how??

another thing that noticed me was the fact that the protagonist felt like such an unrealistic character? while the world broke down in a pace that was way too fast for my mind to process what was happening, he managed to ask no questions whatsoever?? while i was sitting here in my room begging for answers to all my questions, he didn’t provide me with anything, he didn’t bother to ask anything, he wasn’t interested to question - and it made my already confused head an even bigger mess.

it makes me sad that i won’t ever be able to read anything from this author, his writing was quite beautiful in a way, his analogies left me breathless and overall, despite the lack of connection and the paper-thin plot-line, i was quite hooked, almost read it in one sitting, and have been thinking about it for quite some time, trying to process things in my head.

i would love to hear some opinions of others!!! and if you decide to read this please message me on @rosies_coffeethoughts on instagram!!! i feel like i need to talk about this with someone

Nod

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