Review: A Long Long Sleep ~ by Anna Sheehan

Review by Shellie for: A Long Long Sleep (ARC and Audio) ~ by Anna Sheehan

A young adult science fiction novel that examines some of the moral issues around the ability to put humans to sleep for extended periods of time.

About:  Rosalinda (Rose) has been in “stas” (chemically induced sleep inside a tube) for 62 years. She was “forgotten” in a basement and awakes to a world very different from the one she left. Of course she doesn’t quite fit in. Understandably Rosalinda is weak, thin, and has difficulties relating to other teens because her mannerisms and language are old-fashioned.

Even more complicated is that there appears to be an unknown force that is stalking her and wants her dead. Rosalinda does not quite understand why and also doubts her perceptions that it could actually be happening. As she discovers who she really is and attempts to capture the heart of her “not so available prince charming” (there is a thin thread linking it to the fairy-tale sleeping beauty), the reasons become clear as to why she has remained asleep for so many years. Worse yet, perhaps it was not a mistake.

Thoughts:  First I want to mention that I particularly liked this little snippet from the book. It is where the main character Rose is conversing via a tablet of sorts to a friend, which allows a form of texting. She is asking this genetically altered male Otto (who has blue skin) about his girl friend Nabiki:

Is Nabiki interesting?

Very. She has many layers of thought. Which is why she can feel hostility and sympathy for you at the same time. ~ page 105

It was really fun to read a novel that has the blog name in it!

Interestingly, I read the first half of this book from Net Galley in its ARC ebook format. I finished it in audio which is the cover you see above. I also took a look at a paper copy and read several chapters that way too. I liked seeing the differences in the versions and will have to say that I enjoyed the first half of the novel in the ARC format the most. The published version had been changed a bit from the ARC and the audio version had a reader which presented Rosalinda as depressed, and whiney. I understand why this characteristic was used to depict her, however, it is one that I did not like listening to in audio.

All in all this book is one of the meatier young adult dystopian books that I read during the 2011 year. I liked that it had real science as a basis for the world’s technological advancements and that the author addresses some interesting issues, moral and legal, around the ability to be able to put someone to “sleep” for long periods of time. Most importantly and unusually she addresses what may happen when the sleeping beauty does not get the so called prince.

I give this young adult book 3.5 stars. I liked it a lot and wonder how it would have felt if I had completed the ARC version in the time allotted with the expire-able version. Conversely, reading these several versions made me curious about the differences between them and why publishers and editors make the changes they do.

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Bio:  Anna Sheehan’s A Long Long Sleep is her first novel. She lives in rural Oregon. For more information link to her website.  http://annasheehan.com/

Audio Edition Stats: Unabridged; read by Angela Dawe; Publisher: Brilliance Audio; 9 hours, 8 minutes; Release date: Aug 2011

This book was read mostly in 2011 and completed in 2012. It will be included in the Basics Challenge where I explore speculative fiction, and where I really need to update with a post for both blogs… sheesh!

Happy Wednesday.