A strange and fascinating end to it all

This is a story told from the viewpoint of a man who can sleep when the rest of humanity has lost the ability. It starts gently with his girlfriend complaining about a restless night but then becomes completely gripping with the realisation that something terrible is going on in the world. I was awestruck by the description of how quickly society would disintegrate if such an event happened. This is a tale of madness and chaos and the descent is totally credible.

The main character is the perfect commentator. He is a misanthrope who claims to dislike people and yet his compassionate description of his girlfriend's horrible disintegration is very moving. On top of that, he is an expert on words and their often mysterious origins, and his musings on what is going on gives an almost poetic feel to this tale.

The narrator is fantastic. I loved his reading of a Canadian pretending to have an English accent.

I haven't found any other books by this author so am assuming this is first published novel. I hope he is very quickly inspired to publish another one.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

I stayed in the car till the end of the chapter

Where does NOD rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

top ten

What other book might you compare NOD to, and why?

little hands clapping

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was riveted

Any additional comments?

so exciting and worderfully worded, the best book for me this year

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Melancholic

A strange little read, neither good nor bad just strange. Of note, the characters. For a more humorous post apocalypse story try Jam by Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Pleasant find

Found this novelette in a hunt for something different and it was a really enjoyable story. The first couple of minutes were a bit off putting but then it picked me up and just flowed really well. Recommend to anyone who enjoys a slightly alternate-reality, mildly horrific tale.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Great story, perfectly read.

This exceeded my expectations. Such an interesting story and idea. Well performed too, I just wanted to keep listening.

I particularly liked the ending and strangely it made me very grateful to come back to the world and find it as I left it.

It was a real pleasure and I look forward to further work from this author.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Different take on apocalyptic disease outbreak

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The basic premsise is nice, but from the interesting start the story just drags on. There is never any explanation whatsoever about where the disease started, what it does, why some people are immune etc. While in some novels mysteries like that feel as if the are deliberately left to the reader, here it just feels as if the author had no explanation and did not bother do come up with one. Also the end is very sudden and there is little emotional payoff at the end.

Would you be willing to try another book from Adrian Barnes? Why or why not?

The writing style is ok, though I prefer books with more than one narrator/POV character. Interesting idea to start the story off, underwhelming expansion and conclusion.

Did Tim Beckman do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

There are few characters in this novel, but one can tell them apart from the intonations of the voice. I found them sounding different, but not by much.

Was NOD worth the listening time?

I would not say it is a waste of time, but if properly worked out the story would have been more satisfactory.

Any additional comments?

The characters in this novel are not very engaging, the main protagonist I feel is supposed to be relatable, but in the end I found him uninspired and sometimes it was tedious to listen to his inner monologue.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

flawless

Where does NOD rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

really high!!!

What was one of the most memorable moments of NOD?

The poignancy of loosing Tanya throughout the book.
Also the end sequence made me gasp then cry!

Have you listened to any of Tim Beckman’s other performances? How does this one compare?

no, but he did a great job on this one.. pitch perfect... and i think he brought out unexpected humour and made the subtle poetic moments more resonant with his reading.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes!!

Any additional comments?

brave and vivid writing perfectly delivered by a strong narrator-a great overall experience, highly recommended.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

The death of sleep

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yeah, but only in the sense that I could follow it while getting on with essential household tasks. If I'd been reading it as a book I doubt I would have finished it.

If you’ve listened to books by Adrian Barnes before, how does this one compare?

There aren't any others, at least not any that are available from Audible.

Which character – as performed by Tim Beckman – was your favourite?

The protagonist. He' an etymologist, so his love of words kept the book interesting - for a while.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

I doubt it would be filmed. There are loads of apocalyptic books out there, and in visual terms this story does not stand out.

Any additional comments?

I found it very disappointing. The premise is amazing - indeed, it's why I bought it - but Barnes doesn't do anything interesting with the idea. At no time did I sense the horror of being deprived of sleep; instead, the sleepless just came across as a bunch of annoying idiots. Granted, sleep deprivation probably does that to you, but it just resulted in random, directionless unpleasantness. Nor did I get any sense of what it must be like to be one of the very few remaining people able to sleep, at least not on an emotional level. The dream of a golden city (mentioned in the blurb) never really goes anywhere.

I've read too many apocalypse stories that turn into tales of religious fanatics, commentary on faith, materialism and so on. I don't feel this book does anything new, and I'm astonished it was a contender for the Arthur C. Clarke award.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful

Odd but interesting.

Vancouver is a big character in this book, and words and their meanings, past and present usage are utilised and played with to deepen the book, it is better than most books of this kind, and has a raw edge that makes it though but more real in its feelings. The main character is a realist and in an unreal world. I only wish the writer had expanded the story a bit more.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful

Another Apocalypse

NOD starts out intelligently with meta levels to the story and characters. Unfortunately, it takes a turn down the Alley of Cliches. It ends up like just another "zombie" apocalypse - but with sleep-deprived people taking on the roles as bad guys. Adrian Barnes borrows a little of the crassness of Chuck Paluhniak here and there, but it never gets really dangerous...

The performance of the novel didn't help much. Most of the time it sounded like a computer reading text aloud, lacking emotion and conviction. Punctuation and pauses CAN be very effective, but not in this performance.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful