Sleeping Beauties by Stephen & Owen King
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, if 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, a better place, where harmony prevails and conflict is rare. One woman, the mysterious “Eve Black,” is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Eve a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?
Abandoned, left to their increasingly primal urges, the men divide into warring factions, some wanted to kill Eve, some to save her. Others exploit the chaos to wreak their own vengeance on new enemies. All turn to violence in a suddenly all-male world. Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a woman’s prison, Sleeping Beauties is a wildly provocative, gloriously dramatic father-son collaboration that feels particularly urgent and relevant today.
ANOTHER Stephen King book, yall.
I know I just continue to amaze you, don’t I? 😆
I just keep on evolving errrrrry day.
To be honest, I did not enjoy this book as much as I did the other of his I read recently, “Fairytale”.
But I did think this was a good book…just not GREAT.
The narration is SUPER though…I looked her up and she won an Audie Award in 2020 for Best Female Narrator. Not for this book, but for another on my TBR list, “Nothing To See Here” by Kevin Wilson.
Anyway, the gal is a WONDERFUL narrator so I am super glad she got accolades for her talent in this area!
Her Southern accents are SPOT ON and I LOVED the way she adjusted her cadence and tone with every single character in the entire book.
Quality narration is KEY to the enjoyment of an audiobook, yall.
The premise of this story captivated me from the moment I read the summary…I know I added this to my list at the recommendation of a friend but as usual, I can NOT remember who that was 😬 If it was you, THANK YOU for the suggestion!
One day women start entering into this cocoon type situation as soon as they fall asleep. They don’t die or become harmed, they enter into something like a coma. Just DO NOT REMOvE THEIR COCOONS or things do NOT go well.
WEIRD AF, right?
And also SCARY AF if you are one of the women who tries very hard to stay awake.
As the “Aurora” phenomenon spreads worldwide (as a Disney nerd, I completely enjoyed the name choice they created here), the women who are NOT asleep do everything they can to prevent themselves from entering slumber.
I kept thinking about how HORRIBLE it would be to do that….I know how legit awful I feel when I get bouts of anxiety insomnia and go days with just a few scattered hours of sleep…I can not IMAGINE how dreadful it would be do force your body to not rest for days on end.
The women resort to all kinds of “aids” to stay awake like insane amounts of caffiene and narcotics…and the authors did a fantastic job of describing the decline and distortion of their mental and emotional states. You could just FEEL the struggles as you read their words.
Eventually there are only a few women awake besides the “chosen one”, Evie. And men start freaking out and acting all ridiculous and violent….wish I could say that was surprising. 😑
And yes, I know that is stereotyping and probably isn’t fair of me…but whatever.
The book shines a light on gender roles in a unique way, conquering the whole “nature vs nuture” concept in an unlikely manner.
Do our chromosomes REALLY impact our behaviors as much as we think they do? Is it science or just society that has placed those ideas into our head?
The parallel “world” the cocooned women end up in WITHOUT men seems to be one with less violence and more harmony…I know that sounds horribly cliche and sexist, but I can COMPLETELY see that happening.
Whether it is because of science OR society, so be it.
This story was pretty captivating and had me super attentive…but the last 1/4 of it just kinda went on and on and on.
And while all the metaphors and social commentary had my interest peaked, a lot of it felt like it’s been done before. I saw a reviewer say it all felt “familiar” and I have to agree with that.
Good and interesting read, but kinda predictable.
Not a waste of time but not my most favorite book ever either.
I’d say 3.5/4 out of 5 stars. I can’t decide about that half star piece 😆