Rating: 
Summary: won't put you to sleep...
Review: This is the second novel by this young Brit, and if this book is any indication, he should be writing intelligent, thoughtful, humorous novels for some time. It's my intention to pick up his first novel (once I have time to read it, that is). "The House of Sleep" is a novel about dreams and obsessions, about sleeping and waking and how vital they are. The book has an interesting style, it is about four students who knew each other (some well, some just as passing acquaintences) in college, who all wind up coming back to the old house that served as student housing 12 years ago which is now a sleep-disorder clinic. The chapters switch off, the odd-numbered ones take place in the present and the even-numbered ones take place in the past - or is it the other way around? At any rate, I felt this might get confusing but it was quite naturally done. The problems of narcolepsy, and of a man who hasn't slept for the better part of 12 years, plus two other men with strange obsessions, don't sound like they would be part of a very funny novel, but parts of this book were so funny I was practically crying. The chapter about the "business success seminar" was utterly hilarious. The characters were likeable, for the most part, and well drawnand well-realized whether you found them likeable or not. The lyrical writing, the use of similar and repetitive language, and the many-layered plot contrived to form a compelling and enjoyable novel. And even though I saw the ending coming from about the middle of the book, its impact was not lessened. The coda, in the form of three brief appendices, was absolutely breathtaking. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: won't put you to sleep...
Review: This is the second novel by this young Brit, and if this book is any indication, he should be writing intelligent, thoughtful, humorous novels for some time. It's my intention to pick up his first novel (once I have time to read it, that is). "The House of Sleep" is a novel about dreams and obsessions, about sleeping and waking and how vital they are. The book has an interesting style, it is about four students who knew each other (some well, some just as passing acquaintences) in college, who all wind up coming back to the old house that served as student housing 12 years ago which is now a sleep-disorder clinic. The chapters switch off, the odd-numbered ones take place in the present and the even-numbered ones take place in the past - or is it the other way around? At any rate, I felt this might get confusing but it was quite naturally done. The problems of narcolepsy, and of a man who hasn't slept for the better part of 12 years, plus two other men with strange obsessions, don't sound like they would be part of a very funny novel, but parts of this book were so funny I was practically crying. The chapter about the "business success seminar" was utterly hilarious. The characters were likeable, for the most part, and well drawnand well-realized whether you found them likeable or not. The lyrical writing, the use of similar and repetitive language, and the many-layered plot contrived to form a compelling and enjoyable novel. And even though I saw the ending coming from about the middle of the book, its impact was not lessened. The coda, in the form of three brief appendices, was absolutely breathtaking. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: The House Of Sleep
Review: `THE HOUSE OF SLEEP' by Jonathan Coe has to be one of the most original books that I have read in a long time. It is a dark comedy about a group of friends who in college lived together in an off campus residence hall called Ashdown. In the book all of the odd numbered chapters take place between 1983-84 when the group is in college and the even numbered chapters take place in 1996 twelve years later, when Ashdown has now been turned into a clinic for people with sleep disorders.One of the main characters, Sarah, suffers from narcolepsy as well as a disorder that causes her to dream so vividly that she often mistakes them for reality. Robert, another of the main characters who shows up mainly in the odd numbered chapters, is madly in love with Sarah who unfortunately does not return his affections. And then there is Terry a freelance journalist who once required fourteen hours of sleep but now finds himself getting less than twenty minutes of sleep a night. These three along with a host of other characters makes `THE HOUSE OF SLEEP' a very interesting read that will keep you guessing and at times keep you laughing.
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