Juan José Millás

Wait For It ...

Seriously ... wait for it. This is one of these books that is building up to something ... quite shocking in the end. And I don't even know what I mean by "one of these books" because I give Let No One Sleep about 3 1/2 stars just for strange novelty alone (which I thought would be just strange novelty just for the sake of strange novelty as I was growing bored with the strange meandering about halfway through).

So wait for it.

I didn't think it worth the 14 bucks I paid for it, but it's still a pretty worthwhile read. I used to read a lot of short stories out of Bellevue Press, which touches on topics of mental health in literature. (Recommended for people with strange bird ideas or fantasies, or those with an ornithological bent) Good psychological cautionary tale of what happens when you take (artistic) liberties with and advantage of people with mental health issues.… (more)

Super bizarre book—I’m not sure what it all means, or how I’m supposed to interpret that ending. Is he about to die? Reveal to Lucía that he’s Ghost Butler? I find myself hoping for a happy ending for him, Lucía, and María. It would be a crazy, imaginative path for a character suffering from trauma and mental illness to follow in order to reach healing and a new life. That’s what I hope it is, rather than just the author trying to portray the mind of someone suffering from schizophrenia. Yeah, I’m going with the first idea.
I’m trying to think of who I would recommend it to—I guess someone who is looking for something really different. I’ve certainly never read a book like it. Damián, secretly living in a family’s house after being accidentally transported there in a wardrobe—that’s weird and creepy, yet I developed so much sympathy for him over the course of the book.
It didn’t take me long to read, but I’ll be thinking about it for a while.… (more)