In this very short novel (or perhaps it's a novella?), a plague of insomnia has been sweeping the world, one that can only be treated by donations of sleep from others, and we watch a woman whose job it is to recruit these donations struggling with the ethics of her job and her approach to it.

Which makes this sound like an interesting but fairly straightforward sort of science fiction story. It's not. It's odd, hard to get a handle on, and, perhaps fittingly, rather dreamlike. Aspects of it feel deeply realistic, and others fantastic or almost mystical. The writing is a bit strange, too, giving the impression that the writer was happy to just throw all kinds of weird descriptions and metaphors at everything to see what stuck, with some results that are breathtakingly perfect and others that are borderline nonsensical. In a different sort of work, I might criticize that. In this one... maybe it works.

Thematically, it feels like it could, perhaps even should, be saying something simple and clear, but the more I try to draw one-to-one comparisons with obviously relevant real-life scenarios, the more I find my brain slipping around and getting lost in complexity and metaphor. Whatever I might make of it, I will say that it resonates strongly with issues about disease and treatment, capitalism and exploitation, generosity and greed, privacy and intimacy. ( )

This was a quickie, a dystopian novella about a global insomnia epidemic, with a hefty dose of medical (and other) ethics. It kept me right up until the end, when it didn’t quite stick the landing… but it was fun going, anyway. Russell’s style is so, so tight, but—especially in a shorter work—it still does it for me. ( )

I found this one interesting primarily for Russell's pre-pandemic take on the public's reaction to a novel illness and the ethical issues surrounding finding a cure/treatment. There's also a bit of an exploration of where one finds a moral compass in a world (or at least a culture) with maleable morality. What are the rules if there are no rules? Kind of bleak. ( )

This is a fast, fascinating read, and the Viking paperback I have has the most gorgeous illustrations which are themselves well worth sinking into. The concepts, ideas, and images here sucked me in almost immediately, and in the end, I read the book in only a few sittings. And... yet. And yet, I have to admit that I ended up wanting more. More from the characters, more from the plot, and more especially from the ending. In some ways, it felt like 90% of the book's energy went to world-building and imagery, leaving only 10% or so of the energy to go toward plot and character. In some ways, it may be that the world-building and concept were so vibrant that they were more than enough to hold up the experience of the book, so all else was deemed secondary, but especially by the time the book ended, I found myself simply wanting more.

So, would I recommend the book? Well, yes, but with some reservations, and with the caveat that this is a book to be read for the concepts and the world and the images playing it forward, vs for the primary story or any sort of conflict. I'm not sure if I'll read more of Russell's work, truly--if the sound of a story fascinates me, I probably will. If not... I probably won't. ( )

awful but awesome because this is such nightmare fuel for me: AN INABILITY TO SLEEP EVER AGAIN. but I enjoyed this more than I expected, much to my surprise; Karen Russell's particular weirdness doesn't always work for me? but the writing was good and no one was sexually assaulted!! otoh, some naive childlike adults. I never win. ( )