Nod

The high concept is great, and sometimes the prose too, but it's all wasted on a tedious wanker of a main character. Why would the plot revolve around this guy? Why should I care about his Deep Thoughts™? Pretentious misanthropic writers are a bore in real life and in fiction. The story's two cornerstone devices of sleep and etymology don't fit together in any conclusive way. On the plus side, it's short. I'd love to see a better sleep-apocalypse book.