Amber Herbert reviewed Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon
Weird fiction with an emphasis on the strange and a dash of actual plot
2 stars
Sleepwalk is a story of love and self-preservation with a near-future and sci-fi veneer. There are strong themes of paternal responsibility, delusion, and the romanticization of people and situations.
Bill is a bounty hunter/hired gun/trafficker, yet I found myself warming up to him every time he proved he had a working, but flawed, moral compass. The prose and pacing were on point, leading me through the world without breaking my immersion.
I disliked the constant need to suspend my disbelief, as what transpires seems to be there to entertain, confuse, or annoy but offers little in the way of strengthening the overarching plot. The main character is half sympathetic, half insufferable. Many of the scenes have an absurdist slant that doesn't culminate into a fulfilling conclusion. There were many times I sighed, muttered "what the fuck," or rolled my eyes at a chapter break due to the quirks …
Sleepwalk is a story of love and self-preservation with a near-future and sci-fi veneer. There are strong themes of paternal responsibility, delusion, and the romanticization of people and situations.
Bill is a bounty hunter/hired gun/trafficker, yet I found myself warming up to him every time he proved he had a working, but flawed, moral compass. The prose and pacing were on point, leading me through the world without breaking my immersion.
I disliked the constant need to suspend my disbelief, as what transpires seems to be there to entertain, confuse, or annoy but offers little in the way of strengthening the overarching plot. The main character is half sympathetic, half insufferable. Many of the scenes have an absurdist slant that doesn't culminate into a fulfilling conclusion. There were many times I sighed, muttered "what the fuck," or rolled my eyes at a chapter break due to the quirks of this novel.
Despite having read through to the end because the chapters were short and the prose was written effectively, I disliked just about every plot choice. I hoped for a wacky but intriguing story. What I got instead was a lukewarm, half-baked tale that wrapped up only one of its many major plot threads.
If you enjoy weird fiction with an emphasis on the strange and a dash of actual plot, you might enjoy this. If I hadn't been reading this with my book club, I would have dumped it before the halfway mark.