Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars.

A Novel

By: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Cheryl Smith

Length: 30 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

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

F Read this one

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.

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.

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

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.

A New All Time Favorite

Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. is everything a great book should be. It is the story of a widow whose husband dies tragically and her family. Readers have to stay with this long sombre book, as it tells of widowhood, tells of a tragic death, and includes some rather insufferable (but surprising) characters. Those who have experienced a death in their family may find this resonates deeply There are chapters, paragraphs, and lines that can take your breath away or bring tears. Also some (few) are very funny. The ending is subtly spectacular. You will see everything that makes Joyce Carol Oates today's finest author.

This isn't a book you can go through quickly or with half attention. It's one to read carefully and mull over. The plot includes some events of police brutality and other forms of bigotry/hate as Oates portrays a range of characters we often meet in any given town. But masterfully, the author does not use those as a bandstand of any sort. People who are politically sensitive or wish to ignore those things would perhaps not like the book. But I'm so grateful I didn't miss it. I'm ordering a hard copy to have on my bookshelf and share.

An exquisite story read beautifully

I love Joyce Carol Oates and have enjoyed every single story through several decades. There is no one, in my opinion, who understands how people “work” so deeply. And this was my favorite so far.The performance was perfect, phenomenal, just catching the exact right tone. When a reader is able to help one believe that there are many people!
Thank you so much

If you reallllly like to hate on characters

Then this is the book for you. Oates did an incredible job of making me hate each pathetic person in this family. They are awful terrible people. At times I almost stopped listening, as their thoughts and behaviors were so horrifying.