Andrew Smith's Reviews > The Sleepwalkers

In an unusually constructed tale, we follow a period in the lives of two people, just married. We catch up with Richard and Evelyn while they’re honeymooning on a small Greek island, close to the Turkish coast. They seem an ill-matched pair: he rather straight and somewhat pompous, and she sharp, self-deprecating, and funny. We’re to follow their already disintegrating relationship and their various other travails through a number of documents, starting with a long (very long!) letter written by Evelyn and addressed to her husband. In future we’ll be presented with more letters as well as entries in a hotel’s guest book and even a transcript of a recorded conversation.

The honeymoon is already a strange affair as they’re joined for the first part by Richard’s best friend and his current girlfriend. For the second half of their stay, the married couple will transfer to what’s billed as more upmarket accommodation, booked and paid for by Richard’s mother. Their initial accommodation is rough and ready, and it’s clearly the end of the season. Everything is closing down. Nonetheless, everything seems relatively calm – until the pair transfer to their new accommodation, that is. Evelyn quickly becomes suspicious of the attractive girl who greets them and seems to be in charge here. Richard, on the other hand, is clearly taken with her. There are a few other people hanging around the place, but there are no other guests at this stage.

A mystery will begin to surface, something that’s been in the background but not yet openly talked about. It’s clearly a cause of some tension between the newlyweds. But here, the structure of the story started to bug me somewhat. The length of the first letter was irrationally long, and then I started to spot sentences that were unfinished in the documents presented. It irritated me as I assumed I’d downloaded a damaged version of the book to my Kindle. I even downloaded it a second time to check if it was a problem in the transfer – no, they were both the same. I carried on, but a series of similar issues cropped up, nearly always at the most inconvenient points. Later, I checked some reviews of the book, and it seems that this might well be intended, a quirk or feature of the storytelling. Some readers liked this. They thought it clever, but it just frustrated me and nearly persuaded me to give up on the book.

I did finish the book, and I’m now conflicted in my view of it. There are some great passages and sections I thought were hilarious or brilliantly described feelings, particularly when it comes to jealousy or frustration with one’s partner. But I didn’t like the fractured way the story was told. Also, I’m not sure I fully believed in the story: there are elements that, to me, seemed too co-incidental or just unrealistically extreme; there’s some really strong writing here, but very average storytelling. I think this is a book that will divide opinions, I’ve already seen some very positive reviews, but I think other readers will share my discontentment with some elements. It’s a three star offering for me.

My thanks to Simon and Schuster UK for providing an ARC of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.