“Everything impresses in this darkly iridescent, utterly captivating flight.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“Deftly blurs the line between reality and the absurd. . . . Coincidences are plentiful and may remind American readers of Paul Auster’s mode. Millás tips his cap to his Latin American literary cousins in his fantastical denouement in which he returns to a scene akin to the punishment of Prometheus.”
On the Seawall
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“Continuously surprising and entertaining, offhandedly funny and deconstructive of many forms of social preposterousness.”
North of Oxford
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“Masterly. . . . A disquieting fantasy of the Kafkian variety.”
Library Journal
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“Memorable. . . . A strange and often transgressive exploration of art and intimacy.”
Kirkus Reviews
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“Lovers of quirky, fantastical tales will delight in this offering from Madrid, Spain. . . . What a tale! . . . Grand translation by Thomas Bunstead.”
Linda Bond, Auntie’s Bookstore (Spokane, WA)
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“Offers as much unexpected, whirlwindish fun as its predecessor [From the Shadows]. Let No One Sleep is darkly funny, unabashedly weird, and charmingly playful.”
Jeremy Garber, Powell’s Books (Portland, OR)
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“Unsettling and masterful. . . . Distinctions between art and reality, truth and pretense, friend and foe all blur as the story builds to a true, powerful crescendo.”
Keith Mosman, Powell’s Books (Portland, OR)
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“Quirky, darkly humorous, a stunning translated work . . . with smart and nuanced characters.”
Andrienne Cruz, Azusa City Library (Azusa, CA)
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After Lucía loses her job at an IT firm, she has a vision of her future career as a taxi driver, brought on by the intoxicating opera floating through her apartment’s air vent. She obtains her taxi license and meets the neighbor responsible for the music. Calaf is the man’s name, which also happens to be the name of the character in Puccini’s Turandot and the bird Lucía received on her tenth birthday from her long-since-dead mother. When he moves out of her building, Lucía becomes obsessed, driving through Madrid and searching for him on every corner, meeting intriguing people along the way. What follows is a phantasmagoria of coincidence, betrayal, and revenge, featuring Millás’s singular dark humor.
Let No One Sleep is a delirious novel in which the mundane and extraordinary collide, art revives and devastates, and identity is unhinged by the treacherous forces of contemporary society.
Let No One Sleep is translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead.
Big Other Book Award Finalist
TorNightfire.com “Books We’re Excited About” selection
Bookshop.org “New Releases” selection
Malvern Books “Book of the Day” selection
Powell’s Books Staff Pick
