Nod

Product Information

After psychosis sets in for those who cannot sleep, and Nod falls into the wrong hands, Paul’s world begins to spiral out of control in a way he never could have imagined. Okay, so let's start with the basics: the plot. It ultimately never goes anywhere and is merely used as a vehicle to show the Deprivation of Man and how We Were Like This All Along and honestly, by that point I'd stopped caring.

As it starts out you could be mistaken for believing you're going to get a high octane end-of-the-world novel with zombie analogues. Actually while it could easily have gone that way it turns more toward the navel-gazing, deconstruction of personality, relationships and society. But it's very well done. Violent, frightening, textured, and dystopian are words that aptly describe the short-lived world that Barnes has created. Barnes’ writing is beautiful” -Quest For Sleep Thought provoking and utterly engrossing, NOD is a science fiction tale of horror unlike any I have read before.” -Count Gore

Based upon the synopsis of Nod, I thought that the book was going to tell an interesting and unusual apocalyptic story. And in reality, such a good idea should have produced a enthralling novel. I feel the need to emphasis the "should". In reality this was one of the most unenjoyable reads that I have experienced in a long time. The style of writing that Nod is written in was overwhelmingly distracting. Maybe the author did manage to write a passably interesting book, but it was completely hidden under that many words I couldn't even be bothered to start digging. I did manage to finish Nod, mainly because I was playing the "how many ridiculous words in one sentence can I find" game. It's not that often that I find myself writing a completely negative review, but I can honestly say that I can not find anything about this book that I liked. 1 star.

For anyone who has suffered from insomnia, the idea of a world with no sleep is an unsettling place as it feels so real. The thought of having to drag yourself to work after a night with no sleep is bad enough, but what about two nights, or three, or four? Society will crumble if everyone missed five meals in a row, but what would happen if we all missed five nights of sleep? If you end up in the land of Nod, we are all in trouble. On day one people continue in a facsimile of normality, but after a second night of sleeplessness, the reality ‘dawns’ and Paul’s world slowly dissolves. two sides emerge, the ‘Awakened’ and the ‘Sleepers’, the Awakened are the majority, the living zombies. Paul’s girlfriend, Tanya, can’t sleep and she becomes jealous of Paul. It’s clear early on that Paul needs to keep his normality hidden from those, who, after only a couple of days are suffering the hell of sleeplessness. Please bear in mind that this is my own point of view, and maybe other readers may find themselves enjoying Nod. My main issue with this book is that the author spent so much time using unnecessary words, that he failed to write anything interesting about what was actually going on. I don't usually quote from the books I'm reviewing but in this case it's necessary, "Charles loved big words, loved forcing them into his sentences no matter how much they squealed." Seriously? That sentence is probably the best description of Nod that I could ever come up with. Words just forced into sentences. However, the ideas are exciting and very well written. The book kept me entertained, thinking hard, appalled, and fascinated.Having made his literary point, the prose becomes more conventional as he gets on with the story. Hardly anybody in Vancouver can sleep. (Yes, Vancouver. Why not?). Our writer and children seem to be the only ones. Why? Who knows? I'm reminded of Day of the Triffids, where someone wakes up and everybody else is blind. There's a parallel with My name is Legion too. Triffids, Legion and Nod: three fine books and each one thin - conclude what you will.

Debut author Barnes has written a completely original twist on the subject of insomnia. His apocalyptic thriller will appeal to fans of ChristopherGalt’s Biblicaland other dystopian and sf thrillers as well as readers with an interest in mythology”– Library Journal Everybody I’d seen since leaving home looked like they were carrying an invisible case of nitro-glycerine in their shaking hands. Both dangerous and in danger” Edit: RIP Adrian Barnes. I learned today that the author died early this year, succumbing to the brain cancer he was diagnosed with around the time the book was released. Outside of this, our so-called hero is a misanthropic author of books on etymology nobody reads-- save for one homeless character who nobody in the story actually likes. I'm having a hard time describing him without swearing profusely. Honestly, he's abhorrent. He describes one character wearing a suit as an 'autistic attempt to copy mad men', which is a dozen different kinds of messed up and honestly has no place in the 21st century, and believes another character later on can't possibly be a doctor because he's fat, and therefore CLEARLY spent all his time before the end of the world in his mother's basement playing video games. It was stupid, the story went absolutely NOWHERE, so I was left feeling not only annoyed and offended, but like the entire thing was a waste of time and the paper it was printed on.

Fantasy Books Of The Year

It’s estimated that without sleep you would certainly die within around four weeks: Paul’s aim, in the end is to survive those four weeks. Nod takes place in Vancouver, Canada and follows the lives of Tanya and her husband Paul, an etymologist and writer, who is one of the rare Sleepers. Paul is the novel’s narrator. Early on in Nod, Tanya, an Awaker, desperate for sleep as anyone would be after several days of watching the moon make its slow crawl across the sky, demands sex from Paul, because she hopes that will get her to sleep. Tanya and Paul’s touching is coarse, brutal, and primitive, setting the stage for the rest of the novel. Ah I so wanted to like this more. The excellent premise lured me right in, but sadly the slumber was not as restful as I would have liked. There is a plot, of course, but I found it so sparse on actual story and so heavy with experimental tangents that I couldn't connect with what was going on. It's obviously very clever and you can feel the author's style consistently throughout, but it almost felt like this is a book for a certain elite and if that's not you, you're left right out.

As there seems to be no explanation for just why the Awakened are… perpetually awake, and they draw ever closer to death; as The Dream filled with golden light and a feeling of well-being continues to call to Paul; and as he tries to find a safe place for Zoe, the mute Sleeper girl he and Tanya stumbled upon and took in, the question becomes not so much about how to survive this situation, but rather how to ride it out until the inevitable end.Paul is an etymologist – his life revolves around the exploration of words and their origins, and writing books about their history and transformation. This is certainly a book of unanswered questions, and most frustratingly of all, the protagonist, Paul, doesn't seem interested in what any of the answers are. He rarely questions anything; why is his book coming to life? Why is this happening? What does his dream mean? How is he connected to the Sleepers when most others aren't? Thus meaning they'll know exactly how much bullshit went into that one line. To briefly deconstruct it: Leia is forced to watch the destruction of her homeworld, powerless to stop it; the death star isn't in any way Vader's, and throughout the first movie she's largely contemptuous of Han. To portray her as vapid and indifferent as Barnes does here is... honestly kind of insulting to one of science fiction's most prominent women.