Starts with good intentions, but gets losts in a repetitive rut of paranoia, promises of an answer, and an emotionally detached person who is utterly incapable of feeling what it really means the last creature alive.
The story doesn't evolve. Nothing changes. No compelling feelings or thought provoking reflections. The writing is acceptable but not worth the effort of read all 375 pages. ( )

Virginia Woolf may have advocated for a room of one’s own, but what if you had a world of one’s own instead? Jonas, a thirty-something living in Vienna, inherits just that when he wakes up on July 4 and finds that he may be the last person on Earth. In Night Work by Thomas Glavinic, Jonas is not only the last person left, but the last living creature. There is no one to be found in Vienna—not a person, not a dog, not a cockroach.

The crux of Night Work doesn’t rest on finding out what happened to everyone else. Night Work is an intense study of how one survives, though certainly not thrives, on one’s own. What happens when you are left to your own devises, your own thoughts—both of your conscious and subconscious mind?

Glavinic deftly and subtly conveys Jonas’s growing paranoia. When Jonas is confronted by such things as his conjured wolf-bear and an intensely creepy character called The Sleeper, his brain realizes he is only paranoid, but it is a constant struggle to keep that paranoia in check. “He must cling at all costs to what existed. To what was definitely verifiable and beyond dispute.” If he can’t do that, there is no way to survive in this new world.

One of the ways Jonas copes with this new world is to examine his life through deeply existential questioning. As he goes through old photographs and visits places from his past, he constantly compares his past self to his current self. There is at once a longing to return to the past, as played out when Jonas recreates his childhood home, and an almost remorseful sense of fulfillment at what he has experienced and accomplished since that past time.

Night Work may leave many readers unsatisfied. Those looking for a resolution to what happened to the world will not find one. It is an existential book following one man into the depths of despair. If readers can keep that in mind, they will find Night Work to be a gratifying, if not deeply disturbing, read. ( )

Night Work held my interest for about 90 pages but I had to work at it. I kept hoping. I like the idea of awaking one morning and discovering you are the one and only human left on earth. No animals, birds, or bugs. "What would I do in such a situation" kept popping into my mind. Not what the character did! As far as I'm concerned the only thing positive about the story is that it created a probably unintended revelation about humanity. Without humankind how would anyone make any progress at all? Without another person to take risks with, bump up against or trial an idea, how could you perceive your own faults and errors in thinking? Self improvement? Becoming more like the Creator? How? I would say it's not good to be alone.... ( )

Wow.

I read this one after Alex, a colleague, recommended it. Another proof that I can really trust him when it comes to books.

It's the story of Jonas, who wakes up on July 4 only to find that everyone else is gone. No other living being, no people, no animals, are left anywhere. He tries to find out what happened, tries to make a connection to someone, something, anyone. Strange things are starting to happen.

It's not exactly easy to read. I found it extremely disturbing and felt quite horrible while reading it. I made the mistake reading most of it while I was already rather depressed, and the book only added to that. This sheer loneliness, and Jonas' desperation, are really "beklemmend".

And yet, it's a beautiful book, too. His observations are often noteworthy, and I could have underlined many more sentences than I have. And I loved the ending. I was quite afraid of it, actually, and I made sure I wouldn't accidentally see what was on the final page when I turned the page for the last time. i don't think I have ever done this before. And it was perfect. ( )

This could probably be described as a high concept novel: Jonas, an Austrian man, wakes up one morning to find that everyone else has disappeared. That’s pretty much it. Thomas Glavinic spends the novel exploring how Jonas deals with his sudden isolation, rather than focusing on the mystery of what happened to the rest of the world.

After trying to contact another human being, searching Vienna and the villages and towns around it, Jonas occupies himself with various strange tasks. He begins recreating his childhood home, he sets up cameras around the city and films himself driving a one-man grand prix and he plots a trip to Scotland, where his girlfriend was holidaying at the time when everyone disappeared.

But something strange is happening. He finds himself waking up in a different place from where he went to sleep, for example. So he turns the cameras on his nighttime self and discovers The Sleeper, a sinister version of himself who spends the night doing bizarre and menacing things.

Full review: http://www.26books.com/?p=283