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The Shapeless Unease
A Year of Not Sleeping
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The Shapeless Unease
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
βEasily one of the truest and best books Iβve read about what itβs like to be alive now, in this countryβ Max Porter
Sleep. Then you think about it all the time, and the less you have the more you think about it. For Samantha Harvey, extreme sleep deprivation resulted in a raw clarity about life itself.
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Description
A poignant, urgent memoir about insomnia; the non-fiction debut by one of our finest novelists.
FROM THE AUTHOR OF 2024 BOOKER PRIZE WINNING ORBITAL
'Easily one of the truest and best books I've read about what it's like to be alive now, in this country' β Max Porter
Sleep. Sleep. Like money, you only think about it when you have too little. Then you think about it all the time, and the less you have the more you think about it. It becomes the prism through which you see the world and nothing can exist except in relation to it.
Samantha Harvey's insomnia arrived, seemingly, from nowhere; for a year she has spent her nights chasing sleep that rarely comes. She's tried everything to appease it. Nothing is helping.
What happens when one of the basic human needs goes unmet? For Samantha Harvey, extreme sleep deprivation resulted in a raw clarity about life itself. Original and profound, The Shapeless Unease is a startlingly insightful exploration of memory, writing and influence, death and grief, and the will to survive.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Samantha Harvey's The Shapeless Unease is described as a remarkable, hypnotic journey through themes like grief, memory, and survival. Reviewers highlight its mesmerising and poetic prose, likening it to a fable that is both soothing and bracing. The book is praised for its dazzling precision, offering readers a unique perspective and a sense of time slowing down. Harvey's exploration of sleeplessness and the human mind is seen as both intricate and emotional, capturing the essence of writing with clarity.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781529112092
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 07 January 2021
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Vintage
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 12.0mm
Width: 130.0mm
Height: 199.0mm
Weight: 141g
Pages: 192
About the Author
Samantha Harvey is the author of the novels Orbital, The Wilderness, All is Song, Dear Thief and The Western Wind and a work of non-fiction, The Shapeless Unease- A Year of Not Sleeping. Orbital was the winner of the Booker Prize 2024, and her other work has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Award, the Women's Prize, the Guardian First Book Award and the Walter Scott Prize. The Wilderness was awarded the Betty Trask Prize. She is a tutor on the MA course in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.
Also by Samantha Harvey
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Booker PrizeOrbital
Winner of the Booker Prize 2024. Chair of the judges, Edmund de Waal, describes the winner as 'a book about a wounded world' adding that the panel's 'unanimity about Orbital recognises its beauty and ambition'. Life on our planet as you've never seen it before. A team of astronauts in the International Space Station collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Western Wind
An ingenious medieval mystery with an unforgettable narrator, by one of the UK's most acclaimed and daring writers. FROM THE AUTHOR OF 2024 BOOKER PRIZE WINNING ORBITAL SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE 2019 15th century Oakham, in Somerset; a tiny village cut off by a big river with no bridge. When a man is swept away by the river...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Dear Thief
A novel about female friendship, betrayal and imagination from the prize-winning author of The Wilderness and All is Song. Shortlisted for the 2015 James Tait Black Memorial Prize Longlisted for the 2015 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction Longlisted for the 2015 Jerwood Prize FROM THE AUTHOR OF 2024 BOOKER PRIZE WINNING ORBITAL Shortlisted for the 2015 James Tait Black Memorial...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Wilderness
An extraordinary debut novel by a young writer of remarkable gifts. From the author of 2024 Booker Prize winning Orbital It's Jake's birthday. He has lost his wife, his son is in prison and he is about to lose his past. Jake has Alzheimer's. As the disease takes hold of him, the key events of his life shift, and what...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
All is Song
A fiercely intelligent and moving second novel from the author of the acclaimed The Wilderness. FROM THE AUTHOR OF 2024 BOOKER PRIZE WINNING ORBITAL Leonard is alone and rootless, returning to London after his father's death. He moves in with his distant brother William and his family, hoping to renew their friendship but learning to drop his expectations of brotherhood....Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Orbital
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024 - A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER New York Times Book Review Book Club Pick Stephen Colbert's The Late Show Book Club Pick Winner of the 2024 Hawthornden Prize Shortlisted for the 2024 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction Shortlisted for the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction Shortlisted for the 2024 Climate Fiction...Paperback$4900Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Orbital
Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft contemplating the world below. LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024 'Stunning... An uplifting book' β SUNDAY TIMES Life on our planet as you've never seen it before β in this spellbinding and uplifting novel, six astronauts rotate in the International Space Station. They are there to do vital work, but slowly they begin to...HardbackSold Out
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