Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars.

A Novel

By: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Cheryl Smith

The bonds of family are tested in the wake of a profound tragedy, providing a look at the darker side of our society by one of our most enduringly popular and important writers.

Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. is a gripping examination of contemporary America through the prism of a family tragedy: When a powerful parent dies, each of his adult children reacts in startling and unexpected ways, and his grieving widow in the most surprising way of all.

Stark and penetrating, Joyce Carol Oates’s latest novel is a vivid exploration of race, psychological trauma, class warfare, grief, and eventual healing, as well as an intimate family novel in the tradition of the author’s best-selling We Were the Mulvaneys.

©2020 Joyce Carol Oates (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

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Another masterpiece by Joyce Carol Oates.
Her writing is subtle and engrossing. Great Characters

Moving Character Study

I choose this selection because I have read most of Joyce Carol Oates work. I did not realize it would be a character study of a widow and her family.

It is an unblinking look at a large family and how each member copes with grief. It became personal to me as I am currently taking care of my own terminally ill husband. So much of the story could have been me, talking to myself!

I highly recommend this book for it's deep content and moving story. You won't be disappointed!

Fascinating, unpredictable twisting plot

I liked the voice, the underlying racial issues between people of color and the police.
It kept me interested all he way through.
What was hard to be w/ wAs the constant racial prejudices that never got resolved w/ some characters. And the irony of Tom taking matters into his own hands and the settlement. It was a bit sappy but sweet when Hugo showed up. I loved the look into The life of Virgil and I came to love him and understand Josylin mote through him. Overall it was a beautifully woven novel of different people’s lives through a tradgedy.

Bad ending

A lot of the parts I wanted to fast forward through but I kept waiting for something to happen it never did especially at the end

Awful, awful people.....

I enjoyed the book. I mean, it's well written as everything by Oates is, and it kept my attention though it is quite a long book. But I have to say some of these characters are the worst, most selfish, malicious, paranoid, self-deluded people I've ever come across in a novel. Consequently I spent a good bit of time swearing under my breath at the three eldest McClaren children. I give the prize for worst human being to Loreen, the high school principal who is the epitome of every small minded, mean-spirited dictator. And Thom? I wanna meet him in a dark alley some night with my own baseball bat.
And if I had to hear any of them say one more time, "Oh, what would Whitey say?"....... The book was, basically, a kind of torture that I kept inflicting on myself because I kept hoping someone would get their sh*t together and grow a soul.
Okay, Jessalyn, Sophia, Virgil and Hugo were decent people. Oh, and Mackie. Mackie the cat was also a decent human being.

Characteristic Joyce Carol Oates

Depth and complexity of emotion, relationships, and family dynamics. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing myself in some of the characters and will not soon forget them.

The narrator

I absolutely loved the story, and characters. However because of the narration it drove me crazy. It was like she never relaxed. A very uptight voice which took so much from the story. She never settled in to the great story she was responsible for delivering. Great story… unfortunate delivery.

An intimate view into the human heart.

The narration was excellent.
The characters developed beyond compare. She is such a genius writer, I can’t do her justice. You will not be disappointed.

Was sadly disappointed

Struggled to finish, felt like the ending was incomplete. So many questions of what is next?

May be long, but worth the listen!

This book had so many moments that were so timely. Was not going to get it because it was so many hours, but so glad I did.