The Sleeping Father

The Sleeping Father

by Matthew Sharpe (Author)

Synopsis

At a Halloween party that neither Bernie or his two children really want to be at, Bernie collapses and falls into a coma bought on by the accidental combination of two anti-depressants. He emerges from the coma to find his son Chris, the perpetual smart-ass, and his daughter Cathy, a Jewish teen turned self-martyred Catholic, stumbling headlong toward trauma-induced maturity. His ex-wife, his nurse, his nurses's father and his son's best friend are also drawn into the bizarre, frustrating and touching world that surrounds the job of rehabilitating Bernie. The Sleeping Father is about the loss of innocence, the disorientating experience of a second childhood and the nature of love and meaning. But most of all its about the Schwartz's, a singular American family, making their way the best way they know how.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Sceptre
Published: 26 Jul 2004

ISBN 10: 0340837772
ISBN 13: 9780340837771
Book Overview: Chris Schwartz's father is in a coma. It's serious. In a funny kind of a way.

Media Reviews
An acute reflection on modern day America and its social and political views. However, it also manages to explore the relationships within a dysfunctional family in a touching and skilful way...The interactions between the key characters, especially between father and son, are surprising and compelling and this novel is an excellent read. Newcastle Upon Tyne Journal 'Smart, eccentric...generous...a rare find: an ironist who actually seems to like other people' New York Times Book Review 'Fresh, original and very funny, funny in the way that occasionally makes you sob, original in the way that makes you look at everything...in a new and kinder light' George Saunders Sharpe's writing style is imaginative, sharp and quirky. The highlight is the superb internal monologues that are used to illustrate the characters' neuroses. Country Evening Telegraph 'Fresh, funny, quirky' Anne Tyler, New York Times 'Fluent and funny, clever and wise...it slowly becomes sad without you noticing and then frightening and then funny again' Colm Toibin
Author Bio
Matthew Sharpe was born in New York city during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He grew up in a town in Connecticut not unlike Bellwether, the imaginary town in The Sleeping Father. He's held various jobs: bicycle messenger, door-to-door seafood salesman, carwasher, receptionist. Shortly after graduating from Oberlin College, in Ohio, he went to to New York and worked in the magazine production business for ten years. During this time he got a masters degree in writing from Columbia University and began teaching writing in various public schools in New York. He has also taught at various universities.