Stay Awake by Dan Chaon
by Jenners • 02/10/2012 • 4 Stars, C Authors, Fiction, Gothic/Horror, S Titles, Short Stories • 27 Comments
Stay Awake by Dan ChaonPublisher: Ballantine Books, 2012
Pages: 272
Genre: Fiction, Short Stories
Where I Got It: LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program
Why I Read It: Someone recommended Chaon’s Await Your Reply to me (which I still haven’t read) so I thought I’d try this as well
My Rating: 4 stars
Book Description
A collection of disturbing and unsettling short stories dealing mostly with death, loss and grief, Stay Awake is short on words but long on atmosphere, dread and strangeness. The tone of each story is like a horrible bad dream. In fact, the epigraph that begins the book sets the tone quite effectively:
I had a dream I was awake and
I woke up to find myself asleep.
— Stan Laurel
Here are some brief descriptions of the stories to give you a feel for the tone of the book. In Stay Awake, a young couple’s baby is born with two heads (one is considered the “parasitic” twin) and they must decide what to do about the second head. In The Bees, a father is haunted by the family he left behind years ago, in ways that are very dangerous to his current family. In Long Delayed, Always Expected, a divorcee faces a loneliness that is mitigated when her brain-damaged ex-husband comes to play a surprising new role in her life. In To Psychic Underworld:, a widowed man becomes a magnet for notes written by desperate people. In Patrick Lane, Flabbergasted, we meet a young man trapped in his family’s decaying home, haunted by the double suicide of his parents.
My Thoughts
This book was extremely unsettling. Most of the stories left me with feelings of dread and uneasiness. All of the characters are haunted—by their past misdeeds, loss, memories. Although the stories are not interconnected, I often found myself thinking “Wait … is this the woman with the pears from the other story?” It happened often enough that I began to think that perhaps the stories were intertwined in a loose way. Certainly, the stories are tied together by recurring themes and images: suicide, car accidents, falling from ladders, the death of children, loss, alcoholism. This is a bleak and dreary landscape that Chaon is working in, and he treads this ground like he is a regular inhabitant of this type of psychic place.
Although short stories often leave me wanting more, I found myself willing to leave these poor tortured souls at the end of each story. The endings always left me with a sense of melancholia. I was content to tiptoe away and return to my happy, sunny life. In a way, these felt like stories by Stephen King without the gore and supernatural elements. At King’s best, he captures the pain and horror of life in a way that feels inhabited and real. Chaon does the same, and I found myself glad I was reading these stories in short doses.
If you’re in the mood for highly atmospheric and unsettling stories filled with loss and dread, I’d highly recommend this collection. It would be a perfect RIP read. The writing is very good, but the subject matter is so dark and depressing that I’d wait to read these for when you’re in the proper mood. I will definitely be reading more of Chaon’s stuff, and I’ll be curious to see if his novel is as dark as these stories.
Recommended For
Readers who appreciate short stories dealing with unsettling emotions and dark themes such as death, loss, grief and loneliness.
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This sounds very intriguing to me and normally I’m not one for short stories. I do like dark and unsettling sometimes and I like the idea that this one comes in small doses. I saw this on my library site in either audio or book so I think I’ll check it out.
Yikes. I’m a little creeped out just from reading your review!
This sounds like a very disturbing book – one I would have to be in the proper mood to read – which as I think about it, what would be the proper mood? I don’t want to get even more morose if I read it while in a blue moment and I don’t know that I’d want a happy moment to turn so introspective and sad…sounds like THE perfect book for RIP. I will have to remember it for that challenge!
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I want to read this author and I wasn’t considering reading hisnew book yet until your review. Unsettling situations, dark, depressing atmosphere and challenging circumstances interest me. I think this book sounds fascinating and it’s intriguing to me how people cope when their lives take a dire turn due to death, loss, illness or some other troubling occurrence. I like that there is the option of putting this book down for a break after reading one or two stories because it’s a collection of short stories. This is a wonderful review, Jenners!
I enjoy short stories but not a fan of the unsettling variety.
This doesn’t sound like a book I would enjoy reading. I struggled through Miss. Peregrine’s home for Peculiar Children and that wasn’t even all that scary. Whether it’s a book or a movie I can never like it unless it’s a happy one or even a sad one with a happy ending.
I always look forward to reading your posts. Also, I hope it’s alright that I’ve nominated you for The Versatile Blogger award. I wasn’t sure whether you’ve received this award earlier or not, but you were one of the first people I thought of.
I have this one and after reading your review, I will wait for the right mood to pick it up. I had no idea these stories were so grim. I am a fan of Chaon’s after reading Await Your Reply. Great review Jenners.
I like dark stuff..but this sounds a bit too much for even me.
Sounds like good writing, but I have to be mentally strong to read such stuff.
BTW, have you tried The Giver by Lois Lowry – a short and very good children’s dystopian novel?
Your review has me intrigued, and I do love that cover…
Hmmmm. I should probably skip this one. I am a vivid, frequent dreamer (meaning EVERY NIGHT, at least one or two that I remember) and my dreams, while not usually nightmares, are seldom pleasant. They’re often the kind you wake and think, “gee I’m glad that was just a dream”. I don’t need anything to spur them on.
This does sound like the perfect read for RIP. I’ve been reading so many unsettling true crime books lately that I better wait on this one for awhile!
These do sound quite unsettling. Given my frame of mind recently, I don’t think I’d read them too eagerly. (I remember reading about a short story about the anxiety a person felt after mailing–or trying to mail–a letter; would it go down the chute, would it get lost, would it be delivered, etc.. I never read it, only about it. Interesting what people decide to write about.)
I heard a lot of great things about one of his other books and I’ve been meaning to check him out. Thanks for the reminder!
sounds kind-of creepy. I probably won’t be tempted to read this one.
I think I could do this, in the right mood. It is funny, I was just thinking to myself as I read the descriptions of some of the stories that it sounded a lot like something King could have written. He is a master at horror horror, but also really adept at communicating the horrors that live inside the average person’s heart as well.
Is it bad that I want to read this? Even after all the unsettling reviews? I have it from Library Thing and there is a tiny little piece of me that is looking forward to being disturbed. I know!! You are thinking… that Ti is a real whackjob!
Since I like to sweep my unsettling emotions under a rug….I do not think this book is for me. Thank you for saving me!
Not a bedtime read I suspect.
While reading your review I was thinking RIP and then of course you mentioned it. I’m not sure I’m ready for this kind of thing, I’m in a book now that I can’t seem to get through on this account, it’s good, just dark. I need a rib tickler just about now. Got any suggestions.
Oh, wow. It sounds like an incredible book, but one that I am not ready for right now. I need a little light in my life at the moment, and I am sure I wouldn’t be getting it with this one. It does sound rather interesting though, and I can imagine that when I am feeling more steady that I would love it. Very gripping review today, Jenners.
I’ve wanted to read this one for a long time and enjoy dark, twisty stories. Await Your Reply was given to me by a friend, but I’ve yet to read it. Excited to find a copy stories soon!
I’m not sure that’s for me. If I read it, I think I’d have to do it in small doses.
I have Await Your Reply by this author on my shelf somewhere to read. I’ve heard great things about that book. This one… it sounds well written, but I highly doubt I’m going to read it. I try to stay away from overt melancholy and things that cause me to feel dread and unease! (At least if I know ahead of time).
I’ve heard so much about this author, but based on your review of this, I think he’s not for me!