* This review contains spoilers. *

So one fine summer day in Vienna, Jonas wakes up and finds all humans, animals, and insects gone, replaced by only dead silence and stillness under the cloudless blue sky.

Now if you're the type of reader who looks forward to a big revelation at the end, this is not the book for you. I will tell you up front that we never find out what happened to everyone, as the exact cause of the mass disappearance is irrelevant to the story Glavinic wants to tell. "Night Work" is acutely psychological, focusing on Jonas's memories and his relationships to the now-vanished people. It is also paranoid and even vaguely grotesque, recalling that famous image of the last man on Earth, sitting alone in his room and suddenly hearing a knock at the door. There is another version of that, which imagines the last man on Earth, sitting alone in his room, with a LOCK on his door. Against what? The loneliness closing in on all sides? Or. . . ?

When there are no fellow humans to contend with, what are other potential sources of conflict? Who or what could be your enemy?

In essence: the point of "Night Work" is not so much what does happen but what could happen, especially once the line between the internal and the external has been blurred, and it turns out that conflict with yourself can be as intense as clashing with other individuals, especially in a world gone horribly wrong. The juxtaposition of a massive, sudden trauma (everyone on the planet is mysteriously gone) and the subsequent lack of any human interaction whatsoever eventually leads Jonas to turn on himself. His personality splits between "Jonas" and "the Sleeper" - the nickname he gives his own sleeping image on the camera he set up after noticing unsettling changes in the apartment, despite the locked doors and windows. All Jonas remembers of the nights are haunting, surreal dreams, but the Sleeper is clearly challenging him, thwarting his plans and engaging in bizarre and increasingly menacing behavior.

Jonas's waking hours, meanwhile, are dominated by mounting paranoia driven by both his nightmarish situation and his own fevered imagination. He thinks he hears sounds or notices movement out of the corner his eye. At one point, walking down a street, he envisions a woman waiting for him behind a nearby van, wearing a nun-like wimple and having no face. Then he develops his own version of ManBearPig.

Glavinic's book is ultimately a study on the power of fantasy. Jonas often meditates on a world - revealed by his many video cameras - that exists even when there are no humans around to see it. (If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound?) He recreates his family and friends out of his memories of childhood, travel, dating, and ordinary moments. ("These fragments I have shored against my ruin. . .") Do humans make the world or does the world make humans? Jonas watches film after film of empty scenery, and yet his own subconscious concocts threats and hazards - physical and imagined - that do not exist.

"Night Work" is by far one of the creepiest books I have ever read. It has a couple of irritating plot holes in that the water and electricity continue to function perfectly; plus, a world without insects is ecologically impossible. But none of that detracts from the overall story, which is gripping and fast-paced, despite its complete lack of action. It probably isn't the post-apocalyptic book for everyone, especially not readers more interested in Matheson-style monster-whacking But I found Glavinic's subtle, understated atmosphere far, far scarier than any shambling corpse or pessimistic war/environmental cautionary tale. "Night Work" is both an awesome book and an original take on the post-apocalyptic genre. ( )

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. ( )