In the end though, it was very important to save this kid, even at the cost of sacrificing everyone else, including himself.

The author didn't know that a year after writing these things his life would take a turn that would throw those issues into such sharp focus. NOD is about what happens to the world, when for some unknown reason the vast majority of the worlds population can now, suddenly, no longer sleep. I can withstand the odd "fuck" here and there but when it's on every other page it starts to grate a bit. I think maybe this isn't helped by the fact that I'm not a massive fan of genres like this; the horror, zombie-esque type of story.

Otherwise, I didn’t really like the MC, and I didn’t like how his girlfriend was portrayed/how he viewed her at times.

The cast-- save for the homeless guy nobody likes and a bunch of similarly flat characters who get, at most, one or two scenes apiece-- is rounded out by the protagonist's girlfriend. While the logic of the plot may make this a necessary choice, the downisde of it is that the reader only gets to observe the effects of the plague; the narrative does not really convey the way it feels. Reality is distorted as the conceptual fiction of the world of Nod turns fact in the eyes of the Awakened.

In truth, Nod could have easily been a novel written by Jim Crace, or for that matter, the transgressive-guru Chuck Palahniuk. Because odds are a lot of readers won't be familiar with the effects and timeline of sleep deprivation psychosis, but you can bet your ass that a book marketed to the SF/fantasy/horror crowd will be read almost entirely by People Who Have Seen Star Wars. I’m giving Adrian Barnes‘ “Nod” 3 stars for its strange unanswered second half and perhaps, as I’ve heard they exist, I’m going to have a look into alternative sleep related apocalypses. Also, the characters are a bit lacking, there's no one really three-dimensionable or likable in there… even if the world's population becomes psychotic haters, character fleshing would have been a plus. Delizioso, per chi ama giocare con le parole e scoprire nuovi termini, pesante e spocchioso per chi non vuole partecipare al gioco.

It's a weird book, written in a very literary way (MC is an etymologist) with some deeply peculiar sequences that feel like dreams or madness, and plenty of stuff that makes no sense as part of the world or anything else. But the very act of not caring when people are dying is strange and Adrian could have made the character have more feeling (speaking from a loner who feels perspective) especially for his girlfriend. We're introduced to the idea that after a certain number of days, psychosis will set in for all those who cannot sleep, and they will eventually die, and the diary format kept this in the forefront of my mind throughout. The book opens with a glimpse into the eighteenth sleepless day and it’s clear this is heading into an Apocalypse style ending. I did like the little bits of end of the world stuff that happened, some of the imagery sprinkled through was cool and interesting, and I think the idea of it all was fantastic, but the execution just wasn’t for me unfortunately.Un saggio sulle parole, la loro origine e il mito di Nod (terra di sogno/incubo che biblicamente diede riparo a Caino) che diventa la nuova Regola per una parte dei sempre svegli (awakened) risvegliati (awakened) dalle predicazioni del folle. Paul does a great job of acting as though he doesn't care about those around him, well as a loner he would, wouldn't he. I learned today that the author died early this year, succumbing to the brain cancer he was diagnosed with around the time the book was released.