The House of Sleep: Jonathan Coe - Softcover

Coe, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241967740 ISBN 13: 9780241967744

Publisher: Penguin, 2014

Synopsis

The House of Sleep - Jonathan Coe's comic tale of love and obsession

Sarah is a narcoleptic who has dreams so vivid she mistakes them for real events; Robert has his life changed for ever by the misunderstandings arising from her condition; Terry, the insomniac, spends his wakeful nights fuelling his obsession with movies; and the increasingly unstable Dr Gregory Dudden sees sleep as a life-shortening disease which must be eradicated. . .

A group of students sharing a house. They fall in and out of love, they drift apart. Yet a decade later they are drawn back together by a series of coincidences involving their obsession with sleep - and each other. . .

Winner of the 1998 Prix Médicis Étranger, The House of Sleep is an intensely moving and frequently hilarious novel about love, obsession and sleep.

'Moving, clever, pleasurable, smart...one of the best books of the year' Malcolm Bradbury, The Times

'There are bits that make you laugh out loud and others that make your heart ache' Guardian

'Fiercely clever, witty, wise, hopeful...a compellingly beautiful tale of love and loss' The Times Literary Supplement

Jonathan Coe's novels are filled with biting political satire, moving and astute observations of life and hilarious set pieces that have made him one of the most popular writers of his generation. His other titles, The Accidental Woman, The Rotters' Club (winner of the Everyman Wodehouse prize), The Closed Circle, The Dwarves of Death, What a Carve Up! (winner of the 1995 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) and The Rain Before it Falls, are all available as Penguin paperback.

About this title

Review:

"Intricately plotted and ingeniously constructed. . . . A deft satire . . . a strange and poignant love story." --The Wall Street Journal

"Often disconcerting, sometimes moving, frequently funny. . . . Coe eviscerates the bottom-liners with hilarious bare-toothed ferocity." --The Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Jonathan Coe has written a witty, engaging romance that reinvigorates the old saw that life is a dream." --The New York Times Book Review

"An epic farce fueled by romance and satire. . . . It is also a hilarious and deeply touching tale. . . .Love, tenderness, affection: The House of Sleep glows with these qualities, and exalts them." --San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author:

Jonathan Coe is the author of thirteen novels, all published by Penguin, which include the highly acclaimed bestsellers What a Carve Up!, The House of Sleep,The Rotters' Club, Number 11 and Middle England. He is also the author of a biography of B.S Johnson, Like a Fiery Elephant, and The Broken Mirror, a children's book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0241967740
• ISBN 13: 9780241967744
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352