The Shapeless Unease

Paperback Published on: 07/01/2021
Price: £9.99
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Bookseller Reviews

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The Shapeless Unease
A truly magnificent writer...
Samantha Harvey is the kind of writer who could turn her hand to pretty much anything. Her prose, be it fiction or non-fiction, tends to lean into an intim... READ MORE
Jen
The Shapeless Unease
How do you review something that resonates so deeply with you?
Blending essay, memoir, and fiction, Harvey’s fragmented prose reflects that of her sleepless state: she meanders through memories, existential anxieties a... READ MORE
Amber at Peterborough

Synopsis

Sleep. Sleep. Like money, you only think about it when you have too little. Then you think about it all the time, and the less you have the more you think about it. It becomes the prism through which you see the world and nothing can exist except in relation to it.

Samantha Harvey's insomnia arrived, seemingly, from nowhere; for a year she has spent her nights chasing sleep that rarely comes. She's tried everything to appease it. Nothing is helping.

What happens when one of the basic human needs goes unmet? For Samantha Harvey, extreme sleep deprivation resulted in a raw clarity about life itself. Original and profound, The Shapeless Unease is a startlingly insightful exploration of memory, writing and influence, death and grief, and the will to survive.

Publisher information

  • Publisher: Vintage Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781529112092
  • Number of pages: 192
  • Dimensions: 197 x 130 x 12 mm
  • Weight: 142g
  • Languages: English

Customer Reviews

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The Shapeless Unease
The million-petalled flower of being
A wonderful blend of autobiography, poetry, prose and insight, The Shapeless Unease is novelist Harvey’s stark memoir of insomnia-and so much more. One of ... READ MORE
Edward Woods
The Shapeless Unease
Just keep swimming...
I have been a fan of Harvey's writing since her first novel. While I have suffered many a sleep-deprived night her experience is by no means the same as my... READ MORE
H Rose
The Shapeless Unease
Thoughtful gem
An utterly engaging, witty, ironically-dreamlike memoir. Thought on life, death and everything in between during a year of insomnia. Honest, equal parts da... READ MORE
Graham Wood
The Shapeless Unease
Confident voice
As someone struggling to sleep these days, this is probably the last book I should've picked up, but I found it a really rewarding read. A bleak, playful a... READ MORE
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