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gzofian's review against another edition
4.0
Four stars for the intensity of the writing but this was not an easy or enjoyable read. Of course, books don't need to be either to be compelling or important but this was rather dreary. You will relish it if, unlike me, you enjoy hearing, at great length, about other people's dreams, or like talking with the gravely depressed.
robforteath's review against another edition
3.0
This book is mainly long ultra-descriptive dream sequences, separated by short explanatory prose that gives some context.
I soon became weary of plowing through the pages of detail that is often an entire chapter, and settled into speed-reading it, which meant I missed the point of some pieces. You are required to read the very detailed descriptions, imagine the dream in your head, then ponder it to see its meaning. This is asking a lot of the reader.
I think I would really enjoy this if it was in the form of dream sequence videos, with the autobiographical prose page between each left as text to read.
I soon became weary of plowing through the pages of detail that is often an entire chapter, and settled into speed-reading it, which meant I missed the point of some pieces. You are required to read the very detailed descriptions, imagine the dream in your head, then ponder it to see its meaning. This is asking a lot of the reader.
I think I would really enjoy this if it was in the form of dream sequence videos, with the autobiographical prose page between each left as text to read.
lee_foust's review against another edition
4.0
Morpheus, the Greek god of sleep, gave his name to the drug Anna Kavan long worshiped. And, despite the obvious dangers the drug threatens to one’s health, it’s not difficult to see why the drug’s effects, tied as they are to sleep, dreaming, and imagination, have long been alluring to artists—from De Quincey to Trocchi, Holiday to Hendrix, Reed to Cobain. In this interesting, experimental suite of prose pieces, Kavan explores sleep’s house, the images of her retreat through childhood and into young adulthood from the daylight world of objectivity into her own interior dream world.
The book has all of the beauties and difficulties of dreaming and madness, I guess. It’s alluring most of the time and startling occasionally. The novel’s originality draws you in but of course doesn’t quite hold your attention the same way that a traditional narrative does. So, whether its our fault from being trained to appreciate standard narrative technique through familiarity, or because dream-logic texts disjointed sequential images and free associations actually aren’t as compelling as straight narrative, it’s jus a lot harder to follow than a more traditional story. It’s a little tougher to stay engaged for the duration. So, the odd charms but also, by defying logic, contributes more toward entropy than cohesion in the long run. However, at a mere 190 pages, I was still interested and enjoying Sleep Has His House up to its conclusion even if the very nature of the text encourages one’s mind to wander somewhat.
Kavan’s beautiful and terse descriptive prose style is fabulous throughout, helping to hold the different dream narratives together stylistically. Also, the short seemingly autobiographical introductions to each dream-narrative help to frame them into something slightly more traditionally logical and coherent. While this could be something of a betrayal of the surrealist credo, I think it helped here. So we’re not actually—as the authorial voice seems to be—utterly locked into the house of sleep. Rather we’re peeking in through a window, watching the narrator disappear out of the sunlight deeper and deeper into that dark house of her personal dreams and nightmares.
The book has all of the beauties and difficulties of dreaming and madness, I guess. It’s alluring most of the time and startling occasionally. The novel’s originality draws you in but of course doesn’t quite hold your attention the same way that a traditional narrative does. So, whether its our fault from being trained to appreciate standard narrative technique through familiarity, or because dream-logic texts disjointed sequential images and free associations actually aren’t as compelling as straight narrative, it’s jus a lot harder to follow than a more traditional story. It’s a little tougher to stay engaged for the duration. So, the odd charms but also, by defying logic, contributes more toward entropy than cohesion in the long run. However, at a mere 190 pages, I was still interested and enjoying Sleep Has His House up to its conclusion even if the very nature of the text encourages one’s mind to wander somewhat.
Kavan’s beautiful and terse descriptive prose style is fabulous throughout, helping to hold the different dream narratives together stylistically. Also, the short seemingly autobiographical introductions to each dream-narrative help to frame them into something slightly more traditionally logical and coherent. While this could be something of a betrayal of the surrealist credo, I think it helped here. So we’re not actually—as the authorial voice seems to be—utterly locked into the house of sleep. Rather we’re peeking in through a window, watching the narrator disappear out of the sunlight deeper and deeper into that dark house of her personal dreams and nightmares.
ugly_neko's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
james2529's review against another edition
3.0
Easily the weakest of her books that I've read.
I loved the autobiographical parts but there are only so many dream sequences you can read any still enjoy.
There is a lot of influence from asylum piece and other writers here.
I loved the autobiographical parts but there are only so many dream sequences you can read any still enjoy.
There is a lot of influence from asylum piece and other writers here.
sadiereadsagain's review against another edition
2.0
This wasn't an easy read. At times I got utterly lost as to what was happening in the dream sequences & often couldn't find their meaning. I think these sequences serve to illustrate her state of mind during various parts of her life, a biography of feelings rather than details. But, regardless of the fact that she was a very talented writer, I felt most of the time like I was wading through random prose which really amounted to nothing & made little sense. I don't suppose the fact she was a long term heroin addict helped translate her ideas to those of us not so illuminated, or maybe the fact I'm not a fan of fantasy just made it too hard for me to penetrate. As I said, she was very talented as a writer, & I did like the approach in theory. But I just felt I was reading purely to get to the end, & at times read whole chunks without digesting any of it. I preferred her more structured work.
serpentineraindodger's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Hey Anna. The tension between day and night would work better if you just wrote one thing that was both day and night simultaneously, not bracketing them off. Anyway, have a good holiday, hope the nightmares return.
literatureaesthetic's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 ☆
read for uni — it's a modernist book, so naturally it's very abstract and difficult to grasp. i'm not even entirely sure i understood majority of it (which is the entire point, tbf). there's so many layers to this novel, i feel like i could spend an entire year analysing it. but for now, it was fine, i guess??
virginia woolf and anaïs nin fans are probably the only people i'd recommend this to lmao. it's such a specific type of novel, extremely ambiguous, it definitely won't appeal to the masses.
read for uni — it's a modernist book, so naturally it's very abstract and difficult to grasp. i'm not even entirely sure i understood majority of it (which is the entire point, tbf). there's so many layers to this novel, i feel like i could spend an entire year analysing it. but for now, it was fine, i guess??
virginia woolf and anaïs nin fans are probably the only people i'd recommend this to lmao. it's such a specific type of novel, extremely ambiguous, it definitely won't appeal to the masses.
wetherspoonsgf's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
In the seminar for this book there was a great moment where me and the girl next to me suddenly realised not everyone else had connected with it like we had, which is fair when you consider Anna Kavan is a woman who had a heroin-adjacent psychotic break that caused her to rename herself after one of her own characters.
SHHH (an ironically appropriate acronym) is 200 pages of the kind of panic attack-esque questioning you ask yourself falling asleep as a kid too inquisitive for the adults around them, rendered in some of the best constructed and theorised dream sequences I’ve ever read. When a book is so good it makes you consider the academic value of Surrealist Dream Theory that’s gotta be worth something.
SHHH (an ironically appropriate acronym) is 200 pages of the kind of panic attack-esque questioning you ask yourself falling asleep as a kid too inquisitive for the adults around them, rendered in some of the best constructed and theorised dream sequences I’ve ever read. When a book is so good it makes you consider the academic value of Surrealist Dream Theory that’s gotta be worth something.