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Stay Awake

by Dan Chaon (Goodreads Author)

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 1,118 ratings · 311 reviews

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
The Washington Post • San Francisco Chronicle

Before the critically acclaimed novels Await Your Reply and You Remind Me of Me, Dan Chaon made a name for himself as a renowned writer of dazzling short stories. Now, in Stay Awake, Chaon returns to that form for the first time since his masterly Among the Missing, a finalist for th...more

Hardcover, 254 pages

Published February 7th 2012 by Ballantine Books

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Apr 11, 2012 Bill Kerwin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: weird-fiction

Chaon is not a writer of weird fiction, yet many of his stories are haunting in the way good weird fiction is haunting. When a talented writer--and Chaon is one--takes as his subject characters of limited awareness who are tried by extremity, and when he views those characters not only with irony but also with empathy, something surprising and disturbing often happens. Suddenly, the universe of the story may appear to expand and distort, as if to accommodate the immensity of the pain, and--if we...more
Chaon is not a writer of weird fiction, yet many of his stories are haunting in the way good weird fiction is haunting. When a talented writer--and Chaon is one--takes as his subject characters of limited awareness who are tried by extremity, and when he views those characters not only with irony but also with empathy, something surprising and disturbing often happens. Suddenly, the universe of the story may appear to expand and distort, as if to accommodate the immensity of the pain, and--if we find ourselves absorbed in the story and its characters--our universe may appear to expand and distort as well.

Flannery O'Connor's "hard Sophoclean light" can release an intensity of pity and terror that cries out for redemption, and that cry in turn seems to make redemption possible, not only for her characters but also for us. Denis Johnson's hallucinatory imagery enables the reader to identify strongly with the drug-addled consciousness of his characters, and as a result their universe--and ours too of course--becomes something porous and elastic, suggesting wondrous--and wounding--mysteries beyond the sordidness of daily life. Something similar happens in the short stories of Dan Chaon.

In his best work, Chaon makes us doubt the reality he describes, suggesting something sinister at its base, something that produces a shudder rather than an epiphany. What happens to his characters is often so horrible that neither they nor the we the readers can comprehend it, but as they focus on the details, putting one foot in front of the other, we have the leisure to look beyond, and through the darkness we glimpse not mercy but an abyss. The finest stories in this collection--"The Bees, "Patrick Lane, Flabbergasted," "Stay Awake," "I Wake Up," "To Psychic Underworld" and "Take This Briother, May it Serve You Well"--all have this haunting quality. The worst stories often sound like watered-down O'Connor, Johnson or Carver, but even they have their moments, and, at his best, Chaon delivers an authentic--and distinctive--metaphysical thrill.

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Dec 17, 2012 Jason added it

Shelves: read-2012

People must be warned: If you hate depressing stories, you should never, ever read Dan Chaon. I have heard him described as an author of Midwest Gothic, and I can think of no better term. This is a depressing collection, with stories that rear up out of their tragedy so that they may drag you deeper. The endings will leave you without satisfaction, either. They do not give you resolution, though they do point the way down the road where that resolution may lay (hint: you don't want to go there,...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Barry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, read-in-2012, favourites

This book is bleak, really, really bleak. Not for one paragraph will you read something that can possibly produce a feeling of hope in your heart. It could almost be enough to drive you to a life of loveless solitude, because if you believe in the universe Chaon creates here, something bad will inevitably happen to whomever you care about most and destroy your very being.

I bloody loved it.

Chaon brings darkness to the short story form like Carver, or a personal favourite of mine, Ron Rash’s Burni ...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-stories, to-read-in-2012

I was in the middle of the title story when I realized that Dan Chaon had written a collection of horror tales. In these stories, human beings perpetrate horrors such as abandonment, abuse, neglect upon each other. Relatives are left to clean up the emotional refuse after events such as a house fire, or parental suicide. I came across one review that labeled Chaon an "evil puppet master," and I suppose that is because he puts his characters through the wringer. Some stories in this collection ar...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Dustin Crazy little brown owl rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: amazing, read-in-2012, worth-reading-again-and-again, read-in-2013, disturbing

I had a dream I was awake and I woke up to find myself asleep.
-Stan Laurel

This amazing collection of stories provides readers with words and ideas to promote life reflection. I absolutely love Dan Chaon's magical ability :-)

One of my favorite books ever! So far, I have read it four times since it was published in February 2012 and I am excited for any new work by Dan Chaon. I highly recommend Dan Chaon's books especially Stay Awake and Await Your Reply - if you like stories that keep you thinki...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Sreevidhya rated it 2 of 5 stars

:P
:i
:O
....... Many more expressions came on ma face while I read this one...
obviously NIce.....
obviously touchy..
obviously good....
And..of course..obviously...well written..
But.. I JUST HATED THAT ONE...
Great lesson: All books with cool covers may not have the same effect inside....

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Jan 10, 2012 Marilyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: not-sorted

This is a collection of 12 stories and a great book. Perfectly titled, I could not fall asleep while reading this book. Each story pulls you in. You are compelled to finish a story, after which you can dwell on the emotions and thoughts that each story evoked, or you can check the time and see if you might be able to finish another story before you have to put the book down. Each story is a gem. I won an uncorrected proof, but would love to add a hardcopy of this book to my collection. This is a...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Lisa D rated it 4 of 5 stars

There are some really great stories in this book. They make you think - Is what this person doing wrong? What would I do in this situation? Although some of them are so far out there that you really couldn't put yourself in that situation. Most of the stories ended without a clear ending - which is fine, I enjoy coming to my own conclusions. A few of them, though, never seemed to develop a story. One that really stuck with me was that of the 44 year old divorced January who starts (re-starts?) a...more

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May 16, 2012 Patrick Faller rated it 3 of 5 stars

In a piece on revision published in the May/June 2010 issue of Poets & Writers, Ben Percy mentions that at one time in his writing career he considered himself an "organic" writer who pieced together his stories through one "act of discovery" after another. Percy employs a gardening metaphor to further develop his definition, suggesting that the act of composing and the act of revising a piece were very close in nature: "I let the garden grow," Percy writes, equating composing to letting nat...more

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Mar 12, 2012 Everyday eBook rated it 5 of 5 stars

Critically acclaimed author Dan Chaon is back with an outstanding collection of short stories, Stay Awake. And if you think you don’t like short stories, this haunting collection will change your mind.

One of my favorites from the collection is Bees, in which a father’s life begins to spiral out of control with the onset of his child’s night terrors; this leads to his own inability to continue repressing the memories of his secret first wife and child, who he abandoned so long ago. It’s riveting....more

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Feb 17, 2012 Charlotte rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: advanced-readers-copy, nook

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....

It isn't the gory stuff that gets to me, it is the suspenseful building of a story, that gets my pulse racing. Dan Chaon has done just that with the short stories in his new collection, Stay Awake. Dan Chaon has got a heck of imagination and he sure knows how to use it for good instead of evil. Wait. Should that be the other way around?

He starts his collection out with a doozy of a story. When a Father's young son is having problems sleeping, it causes dea...more

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Feb 16, 2012 christa rated it 4 of 5 stars

The characters in Dan Chaon’s short story collection “Stay Awake” are quiet. They have experienced loss: a person, themselves or a ring finger that popped off after a nasty spill from a ladder. Maybe they are leaving something. Or maybe they aren’t even aware yet of the loss, like baby Rosalie, born with an additional head, part of another baby that did not form and has been surgically removed. Her father imagines for her a time in the future when the girl will wake and hear a voice in her head...more The characters in Dan Chaon’s short story collection “Stay Awake” are quiet. They have experienced loss: a person, themselves or a ring finger that popped off after a nasty spill from a ladder. Maybe they are leaving something. Or maybe they aren’t even aware yet of the loss, like baby Rosalie, born with an additional head, part of another baby that did not form and has been surgically removed. Her father imagines for her a time in the future when the girl will wake and hear a voice in her head say: “Hello. I’m still here. I’m still with you.” They are haunted.

In one, a man who was the first one on the scene -- so early he actually heard a clomp -- when his parents both commit suicide in their bedroom. They’ve left a note on the door instructing him to call the police, but not go into their bedroom. He holes up in a single room of the house, wrapped in his necessities, and in a rapid state of mental decline.

Teenagers lose a baby and all around them the grief of others is tinged with the relief that they have dodged a life-long anchor and a game changer. Except the couple, who had already re-imagined life in this new way, married, jobs, a child. A man, fresh from a heart attack, returns to all of his bad habits on a business trip and is caught in a lonely spiral. In another, a man kidnaps his meth-head girlfriend’s child.

In my favorite story Critter’s wife has died and he and his young daughter are staying with his sister. He keeps finding handwritten notes fluttering in the wind or left behind places He finds a note on the sidewalk after his wife’s funeral: “To psychic underworld: stop astral traveling to molest/deceive (animals too). Animals are not made of hate. Cease and desist.” This is just the sort of thing his wife would have enjoyed. His sister has a collection, too, including: “Hi. I had cyber sex!! With a guy named Eric! I love sex!!”

“Something had happened to him now that Beth was gone, he thought -- there was an opening, a space, a part of his brain that had been deaf before was now exposed, it was as if he were a long-dormant radio that had begun to receive signals -- tuned in, abruptly, to all the crazy note-writers of the world.”

These stories are all so similar in tone, a low level of creepy and the kinds of summer bonfire tales you sink into so hard you forget you’re reading and scenes just act out in your eyeballs. These characters seem all seem a little bit related, like distant cousins different towns with the same shaped nose and vaguely recognizable mannerisms.

They are tinged with good humor and intrigue and unpredictable wrenches. And they are all a little psychologically eerie if not downright spooky: like ghost faces in the window or hearing a nose in another room of your empty house. (less)

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Feb 01, 2012 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stories to keep you awake, thinking
Dan Chaon's incredibly smart, captivating "Await Your Reply" was one of my 2009 Top Ten books. I admired it for being taut, for its plotting and for its ability to throw a new surprise at you in almost every new chapter.

With its worn-torn cover it's the one book I've been handing to friends with the directive: read this.

I've been anticipating "Stay Awake," Chaon's latest, a collection of short stories that turns out to be about people living isolated, disconne...more Stories to keep you awake, thinking
Dan Chaon's incredibly smart, captivating "Await Your Reply" was one of my 2009 Top Ten books. I admired it for being taut, for its plotting and for its ability to throw a new surprise at you in almost every new chapter.

With its worn-torn cover it's the one book I've been handing to friends with the directive: read this.

I've been anticipating "Stay Awake," Chaon's latest, a collection of short stories that turns out to be about people living isolated, disconnected lives. Something real or imagined plagues each of the main characters. They live with menace and dread, loss and longing. These are people marooned, their world unbalanced where the past becomes a threatening presence.

In "To Psychic Underworld," Critter, a widowed electrician in Toledo, Ohio keeps finding notes seemingly addressed to him in the strangest places, on dollar bills, in magazines, inside a tree. In "The Bees," a young boy Frankie screams with night terrors that torment his father who has buried memories of another son he abandoned.

In the profoundly disturbing title story, Zach and Amber's baby is born with a deformity, craniopagus parasiticus - two heads, the second one vestigial but "perfectly formed with a lovely little face." The young parents ask themselves do they give the other head a name?

The story that caused the most jitters is the last one, "The Farm, The Gold, The Lily-White Hands." Sydney is one of three sisters afflicted by premonitions of death.

Beth, Brooke and especially Sydney are each tormented in varying degrees by memories of their past and their violent father who becomes a metaphor for something haunting. In a way that's fascinating and masterful, Choan layers on the suspense by getting inside the heads of these characters, including "Daddy." We see what they see, know what they're thinking. It's unnerving in the extreme.

As Harold Pinter plays around with silences in his works for the stage, Choan in this story fools around with gaps in word spacing that adds to the overall sense of eeriness and dread.

"Stay Awake" consists of a dozen stories. You might want to parcel out the collection, read the stories in a number of sittings over a period of days. They're hypnotic, disturbing and scary. One story at a time is enough. Each becomes almost a fable with lessons to be learned, potent issues to be considered and inner demons to be dealt with. Take your time. I think you're going to find yourself troubled by things unexpected and unsettling enough to keep you awake, thinking.
[4.5 stars]
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May 07, 2013 Lydia Presley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, fiction, short_stories

There are short stories that are uplifting, thought-provoking, and leave the reader to walk away feeling as if life has somehow become a bit richer for reading them. Then, there are short stories that horrify,depress, and awaken a person to the harsh realities of life with a slap to the face. Stay Awake by Dan Chaon is one of those latter type of collections.

I only became a fan of short story collections a relatively short time ago. I've been an avid reader for most of my life, but it wasn't unt...more There are short stories that are uplifting, thought-provoking, and leave the reader to walk away feeling as if life has somehow become a bit richer for reading them. Then, there are short stories that horrify,depress, and awaken a person to the harsh realities of life with a slap to the face. Stay Awake by Dan Chaon is one of those latter type of collections.

I only became a fan of short story collections a relatively short time ago. I've been an avid reader for most of my life, but it wasn't until I hit my 30's that the short story began to make an impression on me. It amazes me that so much information can be packed into so few pages. Also, that the characters feel as if they began before and continue to live after.

The theme of staying awake for me was two-fold throughout these stories. First, it made me think that not all nightmares come when they we are sleeping. Every story in this collection features some horrific event, be it physical, spiritual, or psychological, that happens while the characters are awake. The other thing this theme brought out in these stories was the idea that we have to push through those times - we have to stay awake, stay alert, and really look at what is happening and the cause of it.

One story, in particular, that had an effect on me was "Thinking of You in Your Time of Sorrow." I don't know if it was the second person narrative, the subject matter, or just the sheer vulnerability of the characters (due to their youth), but this one hit home. I think it, along with a few others, really shine in this collection and are the glue necessary to hold the stories together.

This is not a collection for the faint of heart. If you get depressed easily, dislike reading darker fiction, or are looking for a happy ending, then I would not advise you to pick this one up. However, if you are wanting to explore darker subject material or are just looking for solid, fascinating writing that doesn't hesitate and has no boundaries, then this is one I'd highly recommend.(less)

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Mar 11, 2012 Cayleigh rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2012

This is my first time reading Dan Chaon and I was pleasantly surprised…and a little scared later that night. These stories are CREEPY and I enjoyed that, they remind me of The Twilight Zone mixed in with Tales from the Crypt. Most of the stories are not outright hit you in the face scary, but psychologically it creeps up on you scary. If you are the faint of heart, you should probably skip this book.
My favorite part about this book was that all the stories were interconnected. You’d read a lin...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is a series of short stories by Dan Chaon. These stories are not for the faint of heart/the sensitive. Themes throughout the book include [family] tragedy and death, and can sometimes be difficult to read. The first two stories, "The Bees" is a poor introduction to the rest of the book, as it is, in my opinion, one of the most depressing. Others, such as "To Psychic Underworld" were lighter and thought-provoking. The title story, "Stay Awake" is the most cerebral, literally. About a yo...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Larry Hoffer rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was first introduced to Dan Chaon when I started getting interested in short stories in the late 1990s. I remember being blown away by several of his stories, and over the years I eagerly devoured both of his novels, You Remind Me of Me and Await Your Reply, which was one of my favorite books I read in 2009. Stay Awake is Chaon's return to short stories, and while I didn't feel that any of the stories in this collection packed the power of some of his older stories, they are still tremendously...more

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Feb 08, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, short-story-collection

A Memorable Exploration of the Darkest Corners of Contemporary American Life

Critically acclaimed American writer Dan Chaon’s latest short story collection, “Stay Awake”, chronicles some of the darkest corners of modern American life, exploring love, grief, and loneliness as though each tale was a “Twilight Zone” episode. In simple, yet vivid, prose, Chaon demonstrates his ample gifts as both a riveting storyteller and fine prose stylist in the dozen stories collected here. “The Bees” is a riveti...more A Memorable Exploration of the Darkest Corners of Contemporary American Life

Critically acclaimed American writer Dan Chaon’s latest short story collection, “Stay Awake”, chronicles some of the darkest corners of modern American life, exploring love, grief, and loneliness as though each tale was a “Twilight Zone” episode. In simple, yet vivid, prose, Chaon demonstrates his ample gifts as both a riveting storyteller and fine prose stylist in the dozen stories collected here. “The Bees” is a riveting example of psychological horror as one man revisits his past, wondering what has become of the wife and young son he left behind, even as he realizes that he has finally found happiness with his second wife and their young daughter. In “Patrick Lane, Flabbergasted”, a young man ponders his past and uncertain future alone in the house where he has lived all his life and where his parents opted to commit suicide by imagining the past life of a former employee of his employer. A man recuperates in a hospital from a severe auto accident that has left him crippled in the title story “Stay Awake”, as his infant daughter awaits a life threatening operation that is her only hope for survival from an exceedingly rare in utero-acquired deformity. In “To Psychic Underworld” a man seeks meaning in his life from mysterious notes he discovers haphazardly at random. In “Long Delayed, Always Expected”, a woman revives unexpectedly, a rather passionate love life with a man she divorced years ago now mentally impaired from an auto accident that occurred soon after their divorce. “Thinking of You in Your Time of Sorrow” revolves around two adolescent lovers drifting quickly apart after the girl gives birth in a hospital to a severely deformed baby that dies soon thereafter. In a rain-soaked Portland, Oregon night (“Take This Brother, May It Serve You Well”), a lost and drunken lawyer stumbles upon a good Samaritan, a fortune teller barely out of her teens, who promises him shelter from the storm. These and the other stories in “Stay Awake” straddle all too often, the thin line between realism and fantasy, offering readers exceptional fiction compelling enough to keep them awake at night that reaffirms Chaon’s status as one of our most gifted short story writers.

(Reposted from my 2012 Amazon review.)(less)

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Apr 01, 2012 Corny rated it 4 of 5 stars

This collection of short stories, very poetic and beautifully written, describe people who are living with despair, depression or both, people whose lives have deadended and who are trying to cope with loss. I did not read them all at once but came back to them over a period of time, because they were so difficult to read. A man who had gathered his possessions in a circle around him in the living room of his house and who moves outside the circle only to eat or relieve himself. A man who has lo...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Rosa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dan Chaon,

Yours is always one of the first names that pops into my head when I ponder who my favorite writers are. I love the subtlety, depth, and intelligence of your writing - most of all, I love the surprising flashes of sly humor, which often get overlooked because of the immense sadness that pervades your work. You always have such great opening paragraphs that I'm immediately drawn in... you love depicting characters who are "stuck," and I usually can't stand reading about stasis or passiv...more Dan Chaon,

Yours is always one of the first names that pops into my head when I ponder who my favorite writers are. I love the subtlety, depth, and intelligence of your writing - most of all, I love the surprising flashes of sly humor, which often get overlooked because of the immense sadness that pervades your work. You always have such great opening paragraphs that I'm immediately drawn in... you love depicting characters who are "stuck," and I usually can't stand reading about stasis or passivity - but then again, your characters typically aren't passive (if they are, really weird and/or macabre things start happening around them) - they usually do something so fantastically self-destructive that all we can do is keep reading while wanting to shield our eyes at the same time. I enjoyed this collection immensely, despite the fact, as the negative reviews have commented, that it's kind of a downer (but didn't you notice it was often funny, people?), and that many of the endings have us turning back to see if we missed something. I must say, though, that as a fan who's read most of your work, I'm really, really curious to see what an uplifting or even remotely hopeful story might look like from you, because off the top of my head, I can't think of a single example. What would a happy Dan Chaon story read like? I swear I'm not a huge fan of the Oprah triump of the human spirit type genre, but that's the whole point - how would a writer as nuanced and as attuned to genuine tragedy and absurdity, how would a writer like you pull that off? The other thing I've often thought as I've read your work is that your protagonists seem way too feeling and intelligent to be caught in the predicaments that they get ensnared in; I'm not sure if that's your hopeful element (that even the most screwed up people have thriving inner lives), or if that's the most depressing aspect of your work of all (their deep intelligence and sensitivity is often what leads your characters down their fatalistically self-destructive paths)... anyway, uplift - think about it! I'm curious. But either way, I'll definitely be along for the ride; you had me a few books back, probably at the misogynistic talking bird and subsequent offstage avicide....(less)

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Feb 18, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

As I've said earlier, Chaon is one of my favorite contemporary writers. I looked forward to this collection. Overall, it's a satisfying read. Chaon appears to be thought of, first and foremost, as "the bleak guy". I don't mind bleak; the way he writes about that territory, there's often something I feel a kinship towards. (And I know how that must sound, but it really has a lot to do with being preoccupied with what it means to be human.) This collection starts off rather forcefully, esp. with t...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars

After a two year post-university hiatus where I was more inclined to pick up a copy of 90 Minutes or Melody Maker than a book, it was Irvine Welsh's The Acid House that reignited my interest in reading back in the early nineties. So, it's perhaps surprising that I have rarely returned to the short story format.

But, by the evidence of this masterful collection of modern American tales from Dan Chaon, there is plenty of life left in this way of doing things - perhaps more than that given peo...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was a book of short stories that were very, very dark in tone--all of them. Which I liked because it was kind of different and almost fun to revel in the gruesomeness and in the dark aspects of the human spirit. These were unapologetically negative people and situations--car crashes, deformed babies, abandoned children, coffins, suicides, etc. Don't read this book after you've had a bad day! But in the right mood, it was interesting.

I did not, however, think it was very compelling or any k...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Jodi rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: short-stories

I don't normally pick up a collection of short stories but somehow this book caught my eye on the library shelf. Of course, I liked some of the stories better than others but the ones I remember the most are "The Bees," "Long Delayed, Always Expected," and "Stay Awake." "The Bees" probably stands out the most in my mind because the ending so so horrific and unexpected - I wanted to cry at such horrible loss of a wife and son by the man's older son that he had written off to a former life. So sad...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Caro Clark rated it 4 of 5 stars

Many have often described Chaon as a horror writer, and I agree. He writes a suburban gothic, stories infused with death that feel both otherworldly and completely possible. In this book even the living have ghosts, whether it's the memory of a mother long in jail, the part of you that died when your father unloaded an empty gun on your entire family, or notes that seem to mysteriously appear, notes you don't remember writing yourself. What I find so horrific about Chaon's stories are their plau...more

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May 28, 2012 Melanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love Dan Chaon. This is the fourth book of his I've read; two novels, two collections of short stories. And the stories in this collection, most of which take place in Ohio and elsewhere in the midwest--it's not so "regular" out there in middle of the country. A couple tries for years and finally uses available technology to have a baby; their daughter is born with an extra head fused to her head. A father of a five year old finds himself experience intensifying guilt and flashbacks, now that...more

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May 04, 2012 Tom Baker rated it 3 of 5 stars

In the past five years, I haven't read a better novel than Dan Chaon's Await Your Reply, an utterly engrossing story of identity in a modern, digital age, at once a mystery, thriller, and much more. So I eagerly tore into his story collection Stay Awake, hoping to experience more of what made his novel so memorable for me. Unfortunately, while there is some astonishing writing on display in Chaon's short stories, the experience was ultimately only partially as fulfilling as I'd hoped.

The proble...more In the past five years, I haven't read a better novel than Dan Chaon's Await Your Reply, an utterly engrossing story of identity in a modern, digital age, at once a mystery, thriller, and much more. So I eagerly tore into his story collection Stay Awake, hoping to experience more of what made his novel so memorable for me. Unfortunately, while there is some astonishing writing on display in Chaon's short stories, the experience was ultimately only partially as fulfilling as I'd hoped.

The problem, for me, is that the majority of these stories simply end at a point where little if anything is resolved. Of course, that is in some part a problem presented naturally by the short story form. And as an avowed fan of ambiguity, I realize it's a bit hypocritical to criticize an indefinite resolution - skillfully deployed, an ambiguous approach can make a story live on, taking a reader outside of a self-contained experience and into something that resonates long after being put down. But over time, and over multiple stories, this seemingly stubborn refusal to provide any type of closure grew more and more frustrating for me. As much as I enjoyed what was written, many entries felt either like remainders, or felt like a prelude to something bigger, and Chaon was either unable or (more likely in my mind) unwilling to go further.

The other issue is that the stories here are almost unremittingly bleak, if not (like the denouement of the first story, "The Bees") downright horrifying. Chaon's world is populated by two- and three- (or more) time losers who just want to catch a break but somehow can't, or by couples who can't navigate their own failings and fall into resentment and sorrow. There's very little, if any, redemption possible for any of these characters, and we are seeing them right as their downfalls seem to achieve terminal velocity. It's a lot to take in a single volume, and it would be good to leaven the sorrow with at least a hint of lightness here and there. Unfortunately, Stay Awake doesn't provide that. It's a challenging, unique, and even intermittently gripping collection, but one that ultimately feels incomplete. (less)

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Mar 01, 2012 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

“Thinking of You in Your Time of Sorrow”

Death and sadness in the heartland. Mortality is a constant presence in this collection of stories, sometimes crouching in a distant corner or looming over every perfectly framed sentence. This is a gallery of troubled souls, dealing with a parasitic baby, a brain-damaged husband, suicide, infanticide, various car wrecks, capital punishment and the forlorn parade shuffles on.
Spread out, through various towns and cities, from Ohio to Nebraska, these charact...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Stu Sherman rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the most haunting short story collections I can recall reading since being an adult (I read a lot of creepy stuff and Poe as a kid but that was of a different kind). Overall a very solid collection of short stories that I would classify as existential horror. They all involve characters that have lost someone or something and how that has haunted them in ways both literal and figurative. Many of the stories seem incomplete, which works well to add to the sense of foreboding, however for s...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Felix Zilich rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ghost-story

Главная радость поздней осени – появление первых списков “лучшего за уходящий год”: книги, фильмы, музыка. Обязательно находишь в этих списках много полезного – что-то пропустил, о чем-то не знал или просто забыл. Сборник новелл Дэна Чэона “Stay Awake” из этой же рубрики, я нашел его в голосовалке на Гудридзе в номинации “лучший хоррор 2012 года”. Я понятия не имею, кто такой Чэон, читать мелкую прозу попросту не люблю, поэтому более случайной книги для чтения придумать было сложно.

Герой первог...more Главная радость поздней осени – появление первых списков “лучшего за уходящий год”: книги, фильмы, музыка. Обязательно находишь в этих списках много полезного – что-то пропустил, о чем-то не знал или просто забыл. Сборник новелл Дэна Чэона “Stay Awake” из этой же рубрики, я нашел его в голосовалке на Гудридзе в номинации “лучший хоррор 2012 года”. Я понятия не имею, кто такой Чэон, читать мелкую прозу попросту не люблю, поэтому более случайной книги для чтения придумать было сложно.

Герой первого рассказа – мужчина тридцати с лишним лет, женатый, с ребенком. Сыну по ночам снятся кошмары, будто какие-то насекомые ползают у него в черепе, их даже можно прощупать пальцами сквозь кожу на лице. У ребёнка кошмары, поэтому отец по ночам не спит и сидит возле его кровати, вспоминая свой предыдущий неудачный брак. Он в те годы много бухал, вел себя как мудак, бросил семью. Правда, с тех пор ничего не слышал ни про жену, ни про первого ребенка. Пытался найти – не смог. Наверное, умерли - всякое бывает. У сына кошмары, у отца – бессонница. Долго не может заснуть, а потом просыпается на полу. Что делал, где был – не знает. Жена говорит: звонил какой-то незнакомец, говорил, вчера ночью вы пили c ним в местном баре. Герой отнекивается, но замечает: у незнакомца имя его сына от первого брака. Следующей ночью герою снится бар, у стойки старший сын, ему почему-то 18. Он улыбается: привет, батя; знаешь, я умер, но теперь знаю как тебя, сука, достать. Герой просыпается в горящем доме. Пытается пробиться в спальню, но теряет сознание от дыма в легких. Приходит в сознание на улице возле кареты “скорой помощи”, рядом на лужайке носилки с обгоревшими трупами жены и сына. Вот и весь рассказ.

На самом деле, из двенадцати рассказов сборника сверхъественное есть только в первом и последнем, и это очень сильный авторский ход. Когда высшие силы вмешиваются в твою жизнь, можно списать любые ошибки на чужие козни, списать и пожалеть себя несчастного. Но если чужих козней не было и ты сам создатель собственного ада – это страх, отчаяние и безнадёга. Сам автор, объясняя концепцию сборника, говорит очень просто. Представьте себе, вы идёте по темной улице, на часах - три часа ночи, и вдруг вы замечаете, что у кого-то в многоэтажном доме горит свет на кухне.

Мои рассказы именно про это – почему люди иногда не могут заснуть ночью.

Как уже было сказано, в сборнике почти нет мистики. Пиздостраданий и грязной рефлексии на пустом месте, как у классического Стивена Кинга, там тоже нет, но некоторые рассказы просто нечеловечески вымораживают и штырят. Настолько, что перебить сон читателю и вытащить его на кухню – вопрос пары страниц. Вполне естественно, что некоторые рассказы работают, другие – не работают (это штука субьективная). Есть рассказы универсальные, крутые и очень мощные (“Пастушка” и “Медленно открывая глаза”), есть такие, где потенциал до конца не раскрыт, но он есть (“В ожидании отложенных рейсов” и “Патрик Лэйн, уже в ахуе”). Очень сильный сборник. (less)

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About Dan Chaon

Dan Chaon is the author of Among the Missing, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and You Remind Me of Me, which was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications. Chaon’s fiction has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Best Ame...more

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“A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.” — 19 people liked it

“There is a stage you reach, Deagle thinks, a time somewhere in early middle age, when your past ceases to be about yourself. Your connection to your former life is like a dream or delirium, and that person who you once were is merely a fond acquaintance, or a beloved character from a storybook. This is how memory becomes nostalgia. They are two very different things - the same way that a person is different from a photograph of a person.” — 7 people liked it

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