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san_dra's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Suicide, and Grief
Minor: Cancer, Incest, and Vomit
savvylit's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
2.0
The good: relatively well written and empathetic towards very specific new adult feelings of anxiety and depression.
The bad: I found the book boring and naive. Mostly because I am certainly not the target audience at all. To begin, the initial trio of girls obsessed with death were full of intrigue. But Claire left the other "death girls" behind so quickly. Additionally, I didn't realize quite how young this entire book would feel. Wolitzer was twenty-one when she published Sleepwalking and it shows. I think I might have enjoyed this when I was somewhere around that same age. At 32, though, Sleepwalking just seemed like a shallow story striving too hard for meaning. I've read much better debuts by young authors.
The bad: I found the book boring and naive. Mostly because I am certainly not the target audience at all. To begin, the initial trio of girls obsessed with death were full of intrigue. But Claire left the other "death girls" behind so quickly. Additionally, I didn't realize quite how young this entire book would feel. Wolitzer was twenty-one when she published Sleepwalking and it shows. I think I might have enjoyed this when I was somewhere around that same age. At 32, though, Sleepwalking just seemed like a shallow story striving too hard for meaning. I've read much better debuts by young authors.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief
vera_nikolajevna's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief
Minor: Domestic abuse and Drug use
fatsss's review
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
You know when you’re sad or you want to cry so you listen to sad music? This book is the sad music. Good book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Terminal illness
hunkydory's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Pregnancy
noemieblue's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
My expectations were high due to everything I had heard about it over the years, so definitely wasn't expecting this. I thought it'd focus more on the college aspect, and the other death girls. I still really enjoyed Claire's unique relationship with Lucy (and her family). It's a very specific situation that somehow hit close to home, and for that I connected with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm and Grief
chiya's review against another edition
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
** character development isn't strong. there was a change to the characters but its not drastic. in my opinion there wasnt much of difference with them from when the story started, but there was a change and i feel like that counts for something.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Drug use and Vomit
thisissofiam's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
this is so NOT what i was expecting from this. i was kinda disappointed but i still thought the book was well written and made me think about my life and how i affect those around me <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt
_alittleliterary_'s review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Grief
definebookish's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I thought Sleepwalking might be my second favourite kind of story, twisted and heavy with darkness. Actually it’s the one I love even more; a story of an unspoken need or longing fulfilled.
This is Meg Wolitzer’s debut, written while she was an undergraduate and published in 1982. Initially it reminded me of that meme that goes around about the eighties being closer to the sixties than they are to now – those early chapters feel noticeably more Bell Jar than, for example, My Year of R&R.
Eighteen-year-old Claire Danziger is a ‘death girl’, one of a trio who haunt the halls of their university campus dressed in black and immersed in the verses of their respective favourite female poet. Laura’s obsession is Anne Sexton, Naomi’s Sylvia Plath, and Claire’s the fictional Lucy Ascher, who – like Sexton and Plath – died by suicide some years earlier. But Claire is carrying another loss, and a relationship with an older student prompts her to take her obsession with Lucy to a new level.
This wasn’t what I expected at all, really. Or perhaps the first fifty pages were – I could sense teen me reading the opening chapters over my shoulder, drenched in patchouli and approving *very* much. But it’s a surprisingly mature book for an undergrad, contemplative and wise and understated.
I had anticipated more ‘death girl’ action, when in fact Naomi and Laura are secondary characters; this is very much Claire’s story. I didn’t anticipate it being so moving, or so hopeful. It is dark at times, but in a dreamy way rather than a morbid one. I felt lulled and a little spellbound by it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Terminal illness