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Dickinson, Peter - Sleep and His Brother
Inspector Jimmy Pibble, recently laid off, managed to stumbled into the McNair House for cathypnic children, courtesy of a tip from his wife. Cathypnic children tend to be sluggish and very, very sleepy, with low body temperatures; some of the staff call them dormice. They seem to be vaguely creepy and yet loveable and tend to inspire obsession in people for some reason.
The atmosphere of this book is great; it's slow and creepy and draws you in little by little. I particularly liked the portrayal of the cathypnic children; some of the characters in the book become enamoured of the idea that they are somehow telepathic and that Pibble may be a telepathic sender.
Unfortunately, I seem to do very badly with any sort of mystery when they don't involve characters that I like or find myself drawn to. That, plus my current inability to keep track of complex plot (or possibly I was always unable to do so?), made reading this very difficult.
The plot honestly isn't that complex, but the small hints and tips that make a mystery are entirely too subtle for me, and I ended up not picking up on any of them. I ended up having to reread the entire middle of the book because I had no idea what was going on, but I lost track of who was who and what their motivations were on the second time round as well.
I'd probably rec this to people who were a fan of claustrophobic mysteries in which nothing is quite solved, but alas, I don't seem to be one of those fans.
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rachelmanija's review
The atmosphere of this book is great; it's slow and creepy and draws you in little by little. I particularly liked the portrayal of the cathypnic children; some of the characters in the book become enamoured of the idea that they are somehow telepathic and that Pibble may be a telepathic sender.
Unfortunately, I seem to do very badly with any sort of mystery when they don't involve characters that I like or find myself drawn to. That, plus my current inability to keep track of complex plot (or possibly I was always unable to do so?), made reading this very difficult.
The plot honestly isn't that complex, but the small hints and tips that make a mystery are entirely too subtle for me, and I ended up not picking up on any of them. I ended up having to reread the entire middle of the book because I had no idea what was going on, but I lost track of who was who and what their motivations were on the second time round as well.
I'd probably rec this to people who were a fan of claustrophobic mysteries in which nothing is quite solved, but alas, I don't seem to be one of those fans.
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rachelmanija's review
no subject
I'm hoping this won't deter you from trying some of Dickinson's other mysteries. I don't think this is one of his best - I own it, but I've only re-read it maybe 3 times, which is a bad sign, because I'm a compulsive re-readers.
My favorite Dickinson mysteries are One Foot in the Grave (where Pibble ends up in a nursing home - the best bits IMO are his conversations with a couple of aging crimelords - one male, one female - who have interesting views on life); King and Joker (an alternative U.K. with a totally different royal family; the story is told with viewpoints alternating between 13-year-old Princess Louise and aging, bedridden Nurse Durdon, nanny to about 4 generations of royals); and The Poison Oracle (where a psycholinguist who works for an eccentric oil emirate sultan is in charge of a symbol-using chimp who is the only witness to a murder - loads of tasty fictional anthropology bits about a marsh-living tribe on the borders of the sultanate).
You might like any of those better than Sleep.
- Cho
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With Dickinson, for me, the draws tend to be the characters and his use of language. I like both his dialog and his own authorial voice. Sometimes I just get in a Dickinson mood and have to start reading through all my favorites of his work, without regard to genre: his YA historical novel The Dancing Bear, for example, and Heartsease, which is my favorite of the YA SF/F "Changes Trilogy," and The Ropemaker, as well as my favorites of his mysteries.
Enjoy!
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Eva is an Important Book about Serious Things. I have never gone back to re-read it.
To do Dickinson credit, I think he was just doing a "thought experiment" when he wrote it. I don't imagine he ever envisioned that it would become a classroom staple, and how many study guides etc. would be written about it. But the subject matter is so very, very grave, with such serious implications, that the book seems to me to lack his usual pleasantly wry, dry undercurrent of humor.
Just my $0.02, of course. Many people love the book. But you'd probably feel happier after reading, say, The Dancing Bear.
- Cho