Marie Darrieussecq is an insomniac. I am too on occasion, but nothing like her. Or the countless others who suffer from having such a hard time falling and staying asleep. In this collection of thoughts and ideas exploring the condition, Darrieussecq ranges far and wide and covers topics that actually have little to do with insomnia – like the destruction of animal species, where I felt she was ranging just too wide. She explores all the drugs and pharmaceuticals that are developed to “cure” insomnia while simultaneously making money for the drug companies. She examines the situation of migrants and the homeless – what happens when you simply have nowhere to sleep? She lists all the cures she has tried – although I found the inclusion of photos of all the hotel bedrooms she has tried to sleep in a solipsistic step too far. Overall I found the book a mixed bag. I enjoyed the first half more, as she keeps a narrower focus there, but the second half became too digressive and less focussed. The writing is intelligent and insightful but only narrowly misses being pretentious.

What is at first described as a medical-cultural history of insomnia rapidly becomes something else, as the under-structure of our sleepless world is laid bare in this exciting piece of nonfiction.

This was such an interesting collection of essays about the author's experience with insomnia. I particularly liked her quotes and analysis of insomnia in literature in the first essays. The Maria Darrieussecq's writing is strong and engaging, but I did feel a bit lost in the second half of the book. Still, this was well worth a read!

Sleepless is a difficult book to describe. It's a kind of meditation on insomnia, based on Marie Darrieussecq's own experiences, but also a very engaging cultural history of sleeplessness, which shows us how many writers have suffered from the problem. It's fragmentary form has some of the quality of the mind wandering when it can't sleep and if you like footnotes, lateral associations (everyone from Kafka and Kant to Proust and Tarkovsky), and the very French lightness of touch that easily combines philosophy, science and autobiography, and I do, this is a very engaging book. Just don't read it at the end of the day.

For two decades, insomnia has cast a relentless shadow over Marie Darrieussecq's nights. In an intimate exploration, she directs her focus toward the roots, meanings, and repercussions of this sleepless affliction—a nightly torment that crescendos at 4 a.m. only to shape the contours of the ensuing day. "Sleepless" serves as her confessional, weaving her personal ordeals with those of kindred insomniacs, a majority of whom are writers. This fraternity of sleep-deprived minds includes luminaries such as Ovid, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Marguerite Duras, Franz Kafka, Georges Perec, and others bound by their somnolent struggles.

Imbued with her trademark wit, Darrieussecq embarks on a candid recounting of her interactions with a somnologist and her quest for respite. A panorama of remedies unfurls—ranging from sleeping pills, cannabis, and alcohol to intricate bedtime rituals, acupuncture, yoga, hypnosis, psychoanalysis, the embrace of a gravity blanket, and an array of sleep-enhancing contrivances.

In this intricate narrative tapestry, Darrieussecq contemplates the realm of bedrooms and the allure of beds, delves into clinophilia—an inclination to linger in a horizontal posture devoid of slumber. She delves into her solitary need within the confines of her bed, the poignant plight of those bereft of this haven—be it the homeless or refugees. The grasp of trauma and capitalism's insidious contribution to sleeplessness are dissected alongside our ceaseless tether to the digital realm, an ever-wakeful existence in the online sphere. The forest emerges as a hypnagogic realm, and the intricate interplay between our connection with animals and our relationship with sleep—or lack thereof—unveils itself.

While the eBook immerses, there exists room for refinement to augment user-friendliness. Integration of navigational chapter links, mitigation of noticeable word spacing, and the addition of a captivating cover design would elevate the eBook's presentation from its current document-like demeanor to an immersive literary experience. Consequently, a minor deduction from my rating is merited.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

A superbly written collection of essays about something very close to my heart (and brain): insomnia. A fascinating collection which has been aptly translated into a highly readable - actually, I'd say 'compulsively' readable - collection. Even if sleeplessness isn't something that instantly inspires your reading, the quality of the writing is so good here that (and yes, here comes the joke...) you might find yourself burning the midnight oil to read it. I haven't read anything else by Darrieussecq, but I shall certainly look out for more, and Fitcarraldo Editions are definitely a publisher who only ever deal in high quality work. My thanks to them and to NetGalley for the copy - when I say I'll treasure it, I really do mean it.

Sleepless" - Marie Darrieussecq (translated by Penny Hueston)

🖋 I said to myself: Sleeping in a safe place should be a right, but so should sleeping pure and simple, sleeping through the night, the right to a nocturnal break, just like a winter break. Not to be dislodged, at least, from one’s sleep. From that place of one’s own that sleep should be.

🙏 My thanks to @Fitzcarraldoeditions and @netgalley for my copy of this one, published 16th August. As I'm currently sharing a dorm room with the loudest snorer in history, this one resonated with me...

🥱 Sleepless is a series of connected essays and photos talking about insomnia from various different angles - literary, medical, cultural, and personal. The author mixes her own struggles with sleep with those of famous authors such as Proust and Kafka, and how this problem seeped into their literature, while also examining sleep deprivation as torture and also in religious practices. All very interesting areas to read about.

🛏 I thought it was a quick and enjoyable read, though not as substantial a work as you might expect. There are definitely difficult points in the book to read in terms of subject matter - the author talks fairly candidly about her reliance on medication at points, and there is an episode in Cameroon which is just baffling at best.

💭 That said, I feel I came away moved and enlightened by the book, and it helped he get through a long bus ride in Azerbaijan, and for that it will always receive my appreciation. A well-written collection, worth your time if you’re interested in memoir, literary works or just insomnia in general, I suppose.

Sleepless by Marie Darrieussecq is a fascinating and thought-provoking book about the experience of insomnia. Darrieussecq, a French novelist and essayist, writes with wit and insight about the physical and psychological effects of sleeplessness, as well as the cultural and historical meanings of sleep.

The book is divided into three parts. In the first part, Darrieussecq describes her own experiences with insomnia, from the early days when she would lie awake for hours at night worrying about everything under the sun, to the more recent years when she has developed a kind of hypervigilance that makes it difficult for her to relax enough to fall asleep. She also discusses the different treatments she has tried for insomnia, including medication, therapy, and lifestyle changes.

In the second part of the book, Darrieussecq explores the cultural and historical meanings of sleep. She discusses the different ways that sleep has been viewed throughout history, from the ancient Greeks who believed that sleep was a time for the soul to travel to the underworld, to the modern world where sleep is often seen as a luxury that we can't afford. She also looks at the different ways that sleep is portrayed in literature and film.

The third part of the book is a meditation on the nature of sleep itself. Darrieussecq asks questions about what sleep is, why we sleep, and what happens when we don't sleep. She also discusses the relationship between sleep and creativity, and the ways that sleep can be both a source of inspiration and a hindrance to productivity.

Sleepless is a beautifully written and thought-provoking book that offers a unique perspective on the experience of insomnia. Darrieussecq's writing is clear, engaging, and insightful, and she does a masterful job of capturing the physical and psychological effects of sleeplessness. The book is also full of interesting insights into the cultural and historical meanings of sleep.

I've not read any of Marie Darrieussecq's work so her name was new to me. This is not a work of fiction but a discourse of the problem of insomnia which she has suffered from for many years.

The book covers the experiences of other insomniacs eg Proust, Woolf, Kafka wondering if it is the act of writing that causes the insomnia; Ms Darrieussecq herself says she used to sleep well until children came along but even after the initial exhausting feeding stages sleep continued to elude her.

Another idea is that sleeplessness becomes a habit as taking sleeping tablets or alcohol eventually lose their efficacy.

Towards the end is a whole section about our relationship with the animal world and perhaps our knowledge that we destroy everything we come into contact with is disturbing our sleep.

Thankfully I've only suffered sporadic bouts of insomnia at stressful times in my life. This book wouldn't provide any solutions but the contemplation of why is just as fascinating.

Thanks to Netgalley and Fitzcarraldo for the advance review copy.

SLEEPLESS is a collection of essays that muses on the state of insomnia. Marie Darrieussecq (translated by Penny Hueston) recounts her own experiences alongside those of fellow insomniacs, weaving endless literary references to insomnia throughout her writing, as she ponders its possible causes and its possible cures.

Collections of essays don't always work for me, as I find it can be difficult to strike a balance between fragments and cohesion, personal experience and broader applicability, but SLEEPLESS makes it look easy. I love the idea of centring an entire collection of essays on sleeplessness, and Darrieussecq takes the topic to places I couldn't have imagined, tackling some hard-hitting themes, including suicide, post-traumatic stress, and anthropocentrism. The range she covers is phenomenal, and yet the writing always feels purposeful, deliberate, and cohesive. I was particularly struck by how many writers suffered from, and wrote about, insomnia. I love the way Darrieussecq uses insomnia to write about writing, and she has made me rethink so many works of literature.

I liked how readable SLEEPLESS is, the writing broken down into chunks without ever feeling fragmented, and supplemented with some powerful images. There is also a streak of black humour running through the book that I appreciated, which especially surfaces in Darrieussecq's anecdotes of her attempts at insomnia cures. I gulped down SLEEPLESS in two sittings, haunted by its words and images in the moments in between. This is one of those books that I wanted to start rereading as soon as I had finished it, and I will definitely be seeking out more of Darrieussecq's and Hueston's writing.

Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me. I hope a different reader might like this better. I couldn't appreciate it in any way. I found the way she write rather 'problematic', to say simply.