This was an extremely quick read, and the amnesia mythology was extremely interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't find myself connecting to any of the characters or their stories. Having no investment in them definitely overshadowed my enjoyment of the worldbuilding.

Ok, so I finally finished this one. It was only about a hundred pages or so, but for some reason, it took me several days to get through. The writing was very good, so it wasn't that, just a pretty deep material to consider as I read through it.There's a lot of pragmatism and the whole "do the ends justify the means" going on in this story. Do we really have the right to force people to donate in order to help others stay alive? That's the heart of this story, with pure sleep as the necessary it...

Man, I really, REALLY want to like Karen Russell's work. I mean, I found the plot of this e-novella (wherein what lies ahead for us is a world in which a strange, disturbing insomnia has gripped the nation, forcing people with healthy sleep patterns to donate their sleep to the less fortunate in a kind of futuristic blood bank of zzzs) to be fascinating.But about mid-way through, I hit a snag of sorts with Russell's writing that reminded me of why, despite the hoopla that surrounded it, her "Swa...

Three stars means "I liked it," right? Well, I liked it. So three stars. Bam.Synopsis all up in yo' face: America has fallen under the dark spell of insomnia, and we follow a worker at the Sleep Corps. The Corps siphon nice, peaceful sleep from thems than can, and inject it or something into thems that can't. A great idea for a story, yes? I concur.But the execution didn't "do it" for me. First-of-ly, the narration is the dialog kind of narration, which is I always find incredibly hit-or-miss. T...

A strange, weirdly fascinating story that definitely isn't what I typically read. Blurbed by Stephen King, it's primarily why I read it. I still have no clue how I feel about this book.

This short novella about a world in which sleep is rare and people are dying from being awake and not getting the recreational rest of a good night's sleep and dream could have easily been read in one sitting. It is only about one hundred pages long. Fittingly, this came to me when I spent a few days in some kind of tired haze because I didn't get enough sleep at night. So maybe I was already prone to like Sleep Donation before I even started simply because of the circumstances. Additionally, th...

NOW AVAILABLE as a print book, so i guess ignore all the parts of this review that are old-edition specific.this is the first title from the newly-launched atavist books, which looks like it is going to be an e-publisher for cool novellas from authors i like and makes me really glad i have come around on the whole e-reader thing, albeit reluctantly.it's a great piece of writing, about an insomnia epidemic that takes over the world, and slumber corps, a non-profit organization that forms to recru...

Beautiful prose. Fascinating concept. Felt like it ended too soon though.

Really enjoyed this but the ending was so abrupt. That works for short stories (those being Russell's strength), but when I invest in a novella-length story that is so engrossing, I want a little more resolution.

4 starsWhat if insomnia was an epidemic? And sleep could be donated to those in need?karen has written a stellar review for this novella which initially led me to pick this one up for my kindle.This book tells the tale of an insomnia epidemic, and Karen Russell writes very vividly what happens to our bodies when we don't sleep. Or we could just watch Christian Bale.But as we smart people know, going a year without sleep is physically and scientifically impossible. Trish's sister Dori only lasted...

Insomnia has become a rampant epidemic but luckily the Slumber Corps have crafted a device that harvests the sleep from others. The downside is that any dreams or nightmares that occur also get plugged into their new recipient's mind. The most apt source material are the very young. Their innocence allows for a depletion of nightmare activity to occur, but it makes Trish Edgewater's job a living one when forced to confront the ethics of her actions.This proved such a fascinating concept to explo...

Sleep Donation is the story of an American nation increasingly unable to sleep. We are never told the year, but the cultural references and the dollar sums made it appear to this reader to be in the not so distant future. Rarely at first, but now with steadily increasing frequency, Americans are afflicted with an insomnia so total, that death results. Our narrator, Trish Edgewood is a recruiter for Slumber Corp., the nation's non-profit sleep bank. Through science, sleep has taken on a blood lik...

"It is a special kind of homelessness to be evicted from your dreams."When I saw this on the list of anticipated books in 2014 from The Millions, I was shocked to find I had not heard of this novella by a favorite author or of the new Atavist Books, a new digital-first publisher that has some exciting titles coming out soon.In Sleep Donation, people have randomly started developing insomnia so bad they die from it. A company has discovered that people with pure sleep can sometimes jumpstart an i...

Apocalypse, the insomnia edition. A world where a certain percentage of the population is being driven mad, or even dead, by inability to sleep. A world where one can donate sleep and dreams that go with it. The scariest thing in the world like that is…what kind of dreams can be donatied? What if some of them are nightmares? Intriguing concept, literary execution, even excellent art panels…and yet, it didn’t quite work for me. I’m not sure why, being no stranger to nightmares, I should have prob...

I really wanted to love this. The "voice" of the story was good, and I enjoyed the flow, but there were also a lot of issues I just couldn't overlook.First, the set up. The idea that these Storch brothers would give up their million dollar business to perform a public service was a bit ridiculous. You know there's a catch. I guess I wanted the catch to be more original.The premise was good. I compared it to the need for blood and the idea of blood banks and mobiles. I remember when AIDS first ca...