#19 – Sleeping Beauties

Plot

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, and the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep, they go to another place. The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices.

One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied, or is she a demon who must be slain?

Review

Sleeping Beauties was co-written with Stephen King by his son, Owen.  It’s been debated on reddit forums how much Stephen was involved with this novel.  Some have voiced that Owen King wrote the overwhelming majority, and then used his father’s name to sell more copies.  Personally, I could care less because this was just an outstanding novel that fits exactly what King (Owen and/or Stephen) does best.  

Sleeping Beauties is everything that Under The Dome should have been.  You have a compelling plotline centered around women who fall asleep, become cocooned and cannot wake up.  You have a complex – yet fully realized – cast of characters all under a small-town umbrella.  You also have the correct balance of realism and supernatural to create a tremendous reading experience.  

You could teach a collegiate class on this book because it touches on so many different subjects.  Are men more inherently violent than women?  If the world suddenly lost an entire gender, would chaos and violence rule the day?  Are small towns full of small-minded individuals, or are they representative of the entire country?  It’s fascinating the amount of discussion that could come after reading Sleeping Beauties.  

Details

Pages: 702

Dates Read: December 2018 – January 2019

Quote: “In a terrified world, false news was king.”

Best Part: The opening scene is a cross between Breaking Bad and Black Mirror.

Hint for #18: Stephen King’s first published novel.

 

Until next time, peace be the journey.