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Black Moon: A NOVEL
Author:
Calhoun, Kenneth
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Class:
Fiction
Age: Adult
Language: English
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LC: PS3603.A
Print Run: 40000
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ISBN-13: 9780804137140
LCCN: 2013025651
Imprint: Hogarth
Publisher: Random House
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Pub Date: 03/04/2014
Availability: Out of Print Confirmed
List: $24.00
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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277 pages ; 22 cm
H 8.6",
W 5.9",
D 1.05",
0.99 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's Insight Catalog: Adult
Brodart's TOP Adult Titles
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Bibliographies:
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Awards:
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Library Journal Starred Reviews
Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews
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Starred Reviews:
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Library Journal
Publishers Weekly
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TIPS Subjects:
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Science Fiction
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BISAC Subjects: |
FICTION / Literary
FICTION / Dystopian
FICTION / Science Fiction / General
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LC Subjects:
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Epidemics, Fiction
Insomnia, Fiction
Science fiction
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SEARS Subjects: |
Epidemics, Fiction
Insomnia, Fiction
Science fiction
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Reading Programs: |
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Adult Titles | 12/01/2013 |
| When an inexplicable wave of sleeplessness turns the world into a sea of half-crazed insomniacs and his wife runs off, Matt Biggs, one of the few who still finds a way to sleep, faces a strange new world. He is not alone; a lovestruck sleeping-pill dealer and somnologist fight to keep their love alive, while a young girl has no choice but to brave the unknown. Debut Novel, 288pp., 40K, Auth res: Bostona, MA |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Library Journal | 01/01/2014 |
| In the midst of an epidemic of terminal insomnia of unknown origin, sufferers become confused and incoherent, turning on the few remaining noninsomniacs with murderous blind fury, even when catching their own loved ones in the act of sleeping. Debut novelist Calhoun, whose work has appeared in the Paris Review, Tin House, and the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2011, follows several characters through multiple story threads as they try to survive in this brave new world. Biggs is on a quest to find his wide-awake wife, who disappeared from their apartment, and in the process of seeking out her childhood home discovers uncomfortable truths about their relationship. Felicia is barricaded inside the sleep lab where she works as alert scientists rush to find a cure before they lose their wits; meanwhile, her besotted ex-boyfriend Chase falls in with an old friend who has been stealing and stockpiling sleeping pills from a local pharmacy since before the widespread disease took hold. VERDICT Calhoun's literary dystopia, which features beautiful writing, arresting imagery, and powerful metaphors, will appeal to fans of Karen Thompson Walker's The Age of Miracles. It is not sf as much as a deeply lyrical exploration of humanity at the extremes. [See Prepub Alert, 9/23/13.]. Lauren Gilbert, Sachem P.L., Holbrook, NY. 288p. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2014. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 01/13/2014 |
| Even amid a glut of apocalyptic novels that imagine everything from nuclear meltdown to zombies, Calhoun's debut presents one of the most terrifying disaster scenarios of all time, perhaps because it's somehow plausible: a worldwide insomnia epidemic turns people into the real living dead, making them prone to hallucinations and fits of anger. In the wreckage of America, where life and dreams are indistinguishable, several characters struggle to find each other while battling insanity and the encroaching nightmare. A onetime ad exec named Biggs, one of the last people still capable of sleep, searches for his wife Carolyn in the pandemonium. Another sleeper, Lila Ferrell, is among the first to see the epidemic coming thanks to her therapist father's research; after her parents succumb to wakeful fever and threaten her life, she takes to the streets wearing an owl mask. Eventually, she meets Felicia, a lab assistant at a sleep research center determined to reverse the epidemic. Finally, there's Felicia's scofflaw lover, Chase, who attempts to take advantage of the situation by stockpiling sleeping pills, only to wind up embroiled in a surreal adventure involving a truck of stolen sheep. The characters and their intersecting narratives are largely a showcase for the author's almost unspeakably dark vision of a restless world. Calhoun's depiction of the collapse of language, reason, and love in a world without sleep is unflinching, and--scariest of all--it feels brilliantly contemporary. Agent: Claudia Ballard, WME Entertainment. (Mar.). 288p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2014. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| BookPage | 03/18/2014 |
| As a literary thought experiment, Kenneth Calhoun's Black Moon has an exceedingly elegant trigger for the end of it all. No aliens, mutating viruses or celestial cataclysms are needed. All it takes is the removal of one basic yet profound capacity every single human has: the ability to sleep. It turns out prolonged insomnia is an insidious, horrific fate for anyone. Calhoun's narrative focuses on four protagonists, each caught in a separate pocket of the rapidly disintegrating society. (The four only briefly intersect.) Biggs and Lila still have the ability to sleep. While Biggs tries to find his missing wife, Lila, a teenager, lacks any such mission, instead floating amongst the hordes of increasingly erratic, dangerous insomniacs. Chase is not so fortunate, and as Black Moon progresses, his altered perceptions provide readers a potent window through which to view the blossoming horrors of the sleepless mind. Finally, Felicia, an intern cloistered at a sleep studies institute, represents the closest we come to a solution narrative, as scientists strive to circumvent the enveloping plague. It turns out prolonged insomnia is an insidious, horrific fate for anyone. In many ways, the tone and story progression of Black Moon mirrors that of the traditional zombie narrative. (Have zombie stories now been around long enough to use the word "traditional"?) With each passing moment, the protagonists are more isolated, their straits more dire--a moment's inattention can prove fatal. Yet, befitting its subject, Black Moon may be the most dreamlike apocalypse ever presented. Even as Calhoun recounts the struggles of a few to survive a truly horrific fate for the human race, he spends most of his time in the memories and reflections of his protagonists. The result is a thought-provoking meditation on the importance of human interaction and our reliance on the sleep-fed, rational mind. At a time in pop culture when the zombie trope remains ascendant, Calhoun's story seems less a calculated attempt to cash in on a fad than a concurrently generated work, with its own unique themes and authorial preoccupations, that just happens to be a nice addition to the genre. And frankly, if wouldn't matter if it were a calculated trend-hopper. Either way, Black Moon flows through and over all those shambling, decaying genre expectations. Its themes may well haunt your dreams long after the book is laid down, but count yourself lucky--you can still dream. BookPageXTRA Online Review. BOOKPAGE, c2014. |
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| Booklist | 02/01/2014 |
| When a deadly insomnia epidemic descends upon the earth, populations become overwhelmingly afflicted, and infrastructures shut down. Gangs of the sleepless roam the streets, confused and disoriented, seeking sleep aids and attacking anyone still capable of nodding off. As the number of zombie-like sufferers increases, mere survival becomes imperative for sleepers and sleepless alike. Chase and Jordan try to secure their future by raiding a drug store for sleeping pills. Lila, still a sleeper, is sent away by her dangerously sleepless parents. Biggs, also a sleeper, feigns sleeplessness to wander the streets looking for his missing, sleepless wife. Felicia goes into hiding with doctors seeking a cure at the university sleep center. As each seeks a means of coping in this apocalyptic world, their paths cross in surprising and unpredictable ways. In his first novel, Calhoun paints an all-too-believable landscape, where dreams are a commodity, and immunity is as dangerous as the disease. His dark tale is allegorical and relevant in today's zombie-infatuated zeitgeist. This clever twist on the dystopian formula is a standout. Ophoff, Cortney. 288pg. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2014. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 01/15/2014 |
| A novel about insomnia and dreams, and thus, almost by definition, it's surreal. Calhoun's premise is brilliant, and he follows it to its logical (and psychological) conclusion. What if, gradually, everyone lost the ability to sleep? What would the world look like? How would contemporary culture shift on its axis? In this narrative, we follow a series of characters drastically affected by this shift, most of them pathological insomniacs, though a few retain their ability to sleep and thus become pariahs to the multitudes of the sleepless. At the center of the novel are Biggs (a "sleeper") and his wife, Carolyn, who's given over to the telltale signs of insomnia, including physical symptoms like red-rimmed eyes and psychological symptoms resembling dementia. Over time, Biggs has watched her gradual deterioration, and part of the novel involves Biggs' quest to find her after she goes missing and to share with her an elaborate dream he's had, one Carolyn eventually tries to re-create and film. Another symptom of cultural and personal breakdown can be seen in college students Chase and Jordan. Since prescription sleep aids become extraordinarily valuable in a world populated by insomniacs, Chase and Jordan develop a scheme to rip off the pharmaceutical industry by stealing pills from the containers in which sleep medicines are kept. Chase's ex-girlfriend Felicia works as a lab assistant at a Sleep Research Center, where doctors are desperately trying to find a cure--and where their research sometimes has lethal consequences. Another narrative thread involves high school student Lila, who, like Biggs, has retained her ability to sleep, but she finds she must leave her parents, whose insomnia is leading them toward madness. Calhoun writes beautifully, though the novel is occasionally slow-moving--and thus, ironically, becomes a cure for insomnia. 288pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2014. |
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| Library Journal Prepub Alert | 09/23/2013 |
| In Calhoun's awful new world, folks have lost the ability to sleep-a scary conceit with which today's overworked masses can truly identify. Matt Briggs is among the few who can still enjoy some shuteye, but his wife has lost her mind from sleeplessness and vanished. Briggs goes after her, encountering as much craziness as one might expect after the dropping of a bomb. What recommends this first novel especially is Calhoun's track record, which includes publication in the Paris Review, Tin House, and the 2011 Pen/O. Henry Prize Collection. 288p. LJ Prepub Alert Online Review. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013. |
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9780804137140,dl.it[0].title
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