Sleepless Nights (New York Review Books Classics)

by Elizabeth Hardwick
Sleepless Nights (New York Review Books Classics)  
published 2001 by New York Review Books
binding Paperback
isbn 0940322722   (isbn13: 9780940322721)
pages 176
literary awards 1979 National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee
description In Sleepless Nights a woman looks back on her life—the parade of people, the shifting background of place—and assembles a scrapbook...more
date added
03-14-07



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Vicki
Vicki rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/10/08

bookshelves: infinite-love-for, my-nyc-library
recommends it for: Kelsey Hays; Krestyna Lypen; Ryan Chapmen
A novel in tangents, love’s nuances, and the effects of expectation, Sleepless Nights is fragmentary in its telling; but complete in its perfection. Joan Didion described it best when she referred to it as “less a ‘story about’ or ‘of’ life than a shattered meditation on it.” The language is poetic and elliptical and every word feels in perfect harmony with the ones that follow. A few favorites…

“A genuine nihilism; genuine, look twice. Infatuated glances saying, Beautiful b...more
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Katie
Katie rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
01/09/08

Read in January, 2008
Much has been made of the success of this book as a genre-bender (highly autobiographical, yet a novel, yet essay-like), but what interested me most, and drove me to finish it in one night, was Hardwick's sharp observations of her characters and the running theme of the upheavals love makes on a life, and the quietness you're left in afterward. The writing bothered me a little at first, since it tended toward the abstract, and because the story is described as that of a woman looking back on her...more
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Lincoln
Lincoln rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/18/07

Read in October, 2006
recommends it for: Sure, it is a good quick read
In this "novel," Hardwick writes a series of highly autobiographical vignettes tied together by... well nothing except her voice. The prose is, for the most part, excellent and this is a great book to pick up and read for a few pages to get your juices flowing. However, reading all these mostly unrelated fragments together gets repetitive and leaves you wanting something a little more coherent. If its going to be this loose and thin, why not just make it a series of prose poems instead...more
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Elaine
Elaine rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
11/05/07

Read in November, 2007
this book blew my mind. released as a novel, but tricky in the same way "feather on the breath of god" is - definitely playing with the genre, commenting on it. and the writing is just... wow. no plot, really, but definitely a sense of story and movement; a woman is looking back on her life, and the content shifts and changes as memory does, seemingly without reason but in hindsight with accumulating association and meaning. such a close observer, and an exacting wordsmith.
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Inga
Inga rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
01/03/08

Read in May, 2007
LOVED IT! Little pieces of memory that are always beautiful but not always chronologically cohesive. So so good, the descriptions are detailed and poetic.

I also enjoy the cover. Look at it. Of course you want to read this book (preferably in a shabby paint-chipped apartment in Greenwich Village, with bad heat, blankets piled upon you, and coffee in hand).
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Teresa
Teresa rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
02/03/08

Hardwick died last year and I hadn't yet finished this gem of a novel I'd picked up in 2004. I took the opportunity to remember why Lowell's better half should be remembered in her own right. Memory, music, loneliness and youth in New York City. Need I say more?
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Noreen
Noreen rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
06/17/08

Read in June, 2008
recommended to Noreen by: read it for the Literarians
recommends it for: no one
I know I should say I loved this book--Elizabeth Hardwick is such an important writer of criticism and a key figure in the New York literary world. But I hated it. HATED IT. Way too precious and contrived. What can I say; I'm a philistine, I guess . . .
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Lostinanovel
Lostinanovel rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
07/21/08

hartwick is an excellent writer. great imagery and vivid portraits, but the lack of plot made this rather short book hard to get through. very disjointed. in the end, the life she portrays isnt all that different our exciting. felt something lacking.
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Ellen
Ellen added it
05/21/08

bookshelves: want-to-read
As seen in The Believer.
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Nellie
Nellie rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
03/14/08

Read in March, 2008
eh. she's a good writer, but the lack of story or plot made it hard for me to sustain interest.
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Janice
Janice rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/11/07

Read in August, 2007
I posted about this book on my Reading Diary

http://blogdelivre.blogspot.co...
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Mercantile
Mercantile added it
03/13/08

bookshelves: fadiman-medal-winners
Read in January, 2000
Winner of the 2000 Clifton Fadiman Medal.
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Richard
Richard rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
08/03/07

Read in January, 2005
A real page-turner. Loved this.
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Ana
Ana rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
07/01/08

Read in July, 2008
 

Mlygng
Mlygng rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
08/20/07

bookshelves: notmycupoftea
 

Jenny
Jenny added it
05/10/08

Read in May, 2008
 

Erin
Erin added it
06/24/08

 

Fleur
Fleur rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
01/27/08

bookshelves: all-time-best
 

Katie
Katie marked it as to-read
12/21/07

bookshelves: to-read
 

Hala
Hala marked it as to-read
07/11/07

bookshelves: to-read
 


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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 3.89 (64 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 3.89 (64 ratings)
number of reviews: 14






other editions

Sleepless Nights (Hardcover)
Sleepless Nights (Hardcover)









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