Sleepwalk is a high speed and darkly comic road trip through a near future America with a big-hearted mercenary, from beloved and acclaimed award-winning novelist Dan Chaon.
“[Chaon] does madcap well and likes his characters, even the killers—especially the killers.”—The New York Times Book Review
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
An NPR “Book of the Day”
A USA Today “Must Read”
Sleepwalk’s hero, Will Bear, is a man with so many aliases that he simply thinks of himself as the Barely Blur. At fifty years old, he’s been living off the grid for over half his life. He’s never had a real job, never paid taxes, never been in a committed relationship. A good-natured henchman with a complicated and lonely past and a passion for LSD microdosing, he spends his time hopscotching across state lines in his beloved camper van, running sometimes shady often dangerous errands for a powerful and ruthless operation he’s never troubled himself to learn too much about. He has lots of connections, but no true ties. His longest relationships are with an old rescue dog that has post-traumatic stress and a childhood friend as deeply entrenched in the underworld as he is, who, lately, he’s less and less sure he can trust.
Out of the blue, one of Will’s many burner phones heralds a call from a twenty-year-old woman claiming to be his biological daughter. She says she’s the product of one of his long-ago sperm donations; he’s half certain she’s AI. She needs his help. She’s entrenched in a widespread and nefarious plot involving Will’s employers, and for Will to continue to have any contact with her increasingly fuzzes the line between the people he is working for and the people he’s running from.
With his signature blend of haunting emotional realism and fast-paced intrigue, Dan Chaon populates his fractured America with characters who ring all too true. Gazing both back to the past and forward to an inevitable-enough-seeming future, Sleepwalk examines where we’ve been and where we’re going and the connections that bind us, no matter how far we travel to dodge them or how cleverly we hide.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Trippy
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2022
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It was weird to identify with Billy, the protagonist who is a bit psychotic, a bit sociopathic, a bit druggie, a bit hippie, a bit dreamer, and a bit murderer. But I definitely identify with the loner in Billy, the sleepwalker. He’s been a survivor, but longs for true connection and does finally get it, or gets as close to it as may be possible in this doomed world.
I’m happy simply to have finished a book! My last three or four have been duds, so that’s some kind of good recommendation, I guess. May try another Don Chaon book.
4.0 out of 5 stars Intriging apocoplyptical tale
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2022
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I liked this read for sure …possibly a bit dark and pessimistic for some but the main character is intriguing,even if a kind of psycho oriented person. Like other authors,ie,Patricia Highsmith,this tale can make the reader dwelling in a paranoid world but Dan is a very good writer and the theme of ‘sperm donors’ is relevant in our times as a real issue………. Go ahead cleveland—-i would give it 4 1/2 if could just 1/2 star off for the lack of much humor and un-ending darkness of the atmosphere —even the bright ending seems dark as you will see….
Dan Chaon is the Author Of Sleepwalk pdf Book, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and You Remind Me of Me, which was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications. Chaon’s fiction has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction, and he was the recipient of the 2006 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Chaon lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and teaches at Oberlin College, where he is the Pauline M. Delaney Professor of Creative Writing. His new novel, Await Your Reply, will be published in late August 2009.
You Can get A Copy Of Sleepwalk pdf Or Paperback By Dan Chaon from these online store links below.
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