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The Chosen and the Beautiful
Don't Sleep with the Dead
From award-winning author Nghi Vo comes Don't Sleep with the Dead, a standalone companion novella to The Chosen and the Beautiful, her acclaimed reimagining of The Great Gatsby.
"[Narrator Greg D. Barnett's] incisive performance enhances [Nghi] Vo's lush, lyrical prose and the novel's surreal settings..." — Library Journal
Nick Carraway―paper soldier and novelist―has found a life and a living watching the mad magical spectacle of New York high society in the late thirties. He's good at watching, and he's even better at pretending to be straight, pretending to be human, pretending he's forgotten the events of that summer in 1922.
On the eve of the second World War, however, Nick learns that someone's been watching him pretend and that memory goes both ways. When he sees a familiar face one very dark night, it quickly becomes clear that dead or not, damned or not, Jay Gatsby isn't done with him.
In all paper there is memory, and Nick's ghost has come home.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.
"[Narrator Greg D. Barnett's] incisive performance enhances [Nghi] Vo's lush, lyrical prose and the novel's surreal settings..." — Library Journal
Nick Carraway―paper soldier and novelist―has found a life and a living watching the mad magical spectacle of New York high society in the late thirties. He's good at watching, and he's even better at pretending to be straight, pretending to be human, pretending he's forgotten the events of that summer in 1922.
On the eve of the second World War, however, Nick learns that someone's been watching him pretend and that memory goes both ways. When he sees a familiar face one very dark night, it quickly becomes clear that dead or not, damned or not, Jay Gatsby isn't done with him.
In all paper there is memory, and Nick's ghost has come home.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.
Audible Audio
First published April 8, 2025
83 people are currently reading
15958 people want to read
About the author
Nghi Vo
41 books4,403 followersNghi Vo is the author of the acclaimed novellas The Empress of Salt and Fortune and When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. Born in Illinois, she now lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. She believes in the ritual of lipstick, the power of stories, and the right to change your mind. The Chosen and the Beautiful is her debut novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 453 reviews
November 17, 2025
every year nghi vo writes 2 wacky short gay fantasy books for me specifically.
but i guess not this one.
this claims to be a standalone companion to the author's retelling of the great gatsby. it is not standalone. to call it a companion would be more accurate than calling it a book, which it isn't. there is no plot or characterization to speak of — it's like a bloated bonus chapter for a story nobody but me even enjoyed in the first place.
i'm sad to say even i didn't enjoy this one.
it's rare to love a retelling of a book you adore, but i thought the last one embodied gatsby while making it its own. this one isn't gatsby, or 20s, or excess, or even any of the things the last one was.
bottom line: weird!
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
but i guess not this one.
this claims to be a standalone companion to the author's retelling of the great gatsby. it is not standalone. to call it a companion would be more accurate than calling it a book, which it isn't. there is no plot or characterization to speak of — it's like a bloated bonus chapter for a story nobody but me even enjoyed in the first place.
i'm sad to say even i didn't enjoy this one.
it's rare to love a retelling of a book you adore, but i thought the last one embodied gatsby while making it its own. this one isn't gatsby, or 20s, or excess, or even any of the things the last one was.
bottom line: weird!
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
May 16, 2025
♡ thank you so much, tor, for sending me a finished copy!
♡.) The Chosen and the Beautiful ★★★★
don’t sleep with the dead is a companion novel to the chosen and the beautiful , which is a reimagining of the great gatsby, yet in this story we follow nick carraway and his journey of coming to new york in 1922, where he is a columnist for a local paper. this book actually opens up with him in an alley, with a bunch of other queer people, while they are being held and harassed by police. but nick is able to escape thanks to a fire and maybe also thanks to jay gatsby, too. but that simply cannot be, can it?
this is a story about magic, both with paper and with life. this is a story about creating, and destroying, and how those things can sometimes feel just like one another. this is a story about choosing yourself, and the ones you love, for better or for worse, and continuing to choose over and over. i really adored this, the writing is beyond words beautiful, and i think i will always just be a sucker for a story with a deal with a devil.
trigger + content warnings: talk of war (wwii), talk of death, police brutality (targeted at queer folk), homophobia (negative light), fire, insomnia, blood, gore, vomit, hurting a wound more / self harm, one sentence mention of a pandemic, assault / physical abuse, abuse of power, talk of rape, talk of death of pregnant person, a lot of talk of suicide, and sexual content
blog | instagram | youtube | wishlist | spotify | amazon
♡.) Siren Queen ★★★★
1.) The Empress of Salt and Fortune ★★★★★
2.) When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain ★★★★★
3.) Into the Riverlands ★★★★
4.) Mammoths at the Gates ★★★★
5.) The Brides of High Hill ★★★★★
♡.) The Chosen and the Beautiful ★★★★
“It struck me as I looked over the injury, the print at the deepest part turned blurry and smudged with fluid, that it was a hopeful thing, tending to your wounds, assuming you would be around to enjoy a time after they healed.”
don’t sleep with the dead is a companion novel to the chosen and the beautiful , which is a reimagining of the great gatsby, yet in this story we follow nick carraway and his journey of coming to new york in 1922, where he is a columnist for a local paper. this book actually opens up with him in an alley, with a bunch of other queer people, while they are being held and harassed by police. but nick is able to escape thanks to a fire and maybe also thanks to jay gatsby, too. but that simply cannot be, can it?
this is a story about magic, both with paper and with life. this is a story about creating, and destroying, and how those things can sometimes feel just like one another. this is a story about choosing yourself, and the ones you love, for better or for worse, and continuing to choose over and over. i really adored this, the writing is beyond words beautiful, and i think i will always just be a sucker for a story with a deal with a devil.
trigger + content warnings: talk of war (wwii), talk of death, police brutality (targeted at queer folk), homophobia (negative light), fire, insomnia, blood, gore, vomit, hurting a wound more / self harm, one sentence mention of a pandemic, assault / physical abuse, abuse of power, talk of rape, talk of death of pregnant person, a lot of talk of suicide, and sexual content
blog | instagram | youtube | wishlist | spotify | amazon
♡.) Siren Queen ★★★★
1.) The Empress of Salt and Fortune ★★★★★
2.) When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain ★★★★★
3.) Into the Riverlands ★★★★
4.) Mammoths at the Gates ★★★★
5.) The Brides of High Hill ★★★★★
Read
August 3, 2025Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
***
I don’t quite know how to talk about this novella. Because, on the one hand, it’s Nghi Vo and she is one of my absolute favourite authors. She simply isn’t capable of writing something that doesn’t scintillate. That doesn’t fascinate. That doesn’t slice your heart open, only to re-shape it into something rarer, more tender, and more special.
And this holds true for Don’t Sleep With the Dead.
It’s just … the book feels unnecessary. And I guess that’s its own conversation about, like, is necessity even a vital component of art. Must art justify its own existence or is it okay simply to exist? I mean, I’m glad Don’t Sleep with the Dead exists because it’s Nghi Vo, and I will celebrate anything she puts in the world. But I fear, much like Nick himself, Don’t Sleep with the Dead might be a piece of beautiful nothingness.
The story picks up some twenty-something years after the end The Chosen and the Beautiful. Nick, still living the same stifled, shame-saturated half-life he was in Chosen, has published a successful book about Daisy, Gatsby, Jordan and himself (implied to be The Great Gatsby itself). But the world has changed in so many ways since that time. And, don’t get me wrong, it was fascinating to see Vo take her story beyond the boundaries of the original text. To see the implications of story and world elements only hinted at in Chosen. But Nick’s place in that world—his on-going pursuit of selfhood, self-destruction and Gatsby—was to me, unsatisfyingly unrevealing. Then again, we know from original book that Nick is a shit narrator. Though at least this version of Nick isn’t a shit person. I did feel a tremendous amount of sympathy for him (as I did in Chosen)--he’s literally the only version of Nick Carraway I can stand--but I missed Jordan. And while she does have a few scenes with Nick, each over the telephone, she felt diminished by them, though I think that was also about narration, rather than Jordan herself. After all, the version of Jordan Baker who exists in The Great Gatsby of Nick’s creation (whether it’s this Nick of Fitzgerald’s) presents us with a diminished version of Jordan Baker, even if he does also profess to love her, and even if that love is sincere.
I think the other reason why these glimpses of Jordan ended up making me slightly sad was because, with Chosen being somewhat open-ended, I had hopes of a better future for her. Maybe naïve hopes, given who she is and the world she lives in. Or perhaps some of those hopes had, in fact, been fulfilled for her and Nick was too partial, too self-absorbed narrator to witness them.
I did appreciate learning a little more about Nick, how and why he came to be, and the painfully conflicted nature of his identity (the original Nick Carraway is if anything, a piece of work more piecier and workier than even the Fitzgerald version--damnably plausible though). But I also think much of it was implied from what Jordan learned about him in Chosen, so it was more like a confirmation of things, than a revelation of them. As for Gatsby, I think the whole point of Gatsby is that he’s unchanging--unchanging and empty--so I found it hard to care, even for Nick’s sake.
The writing, it can surely go without saying when it come to Nghi Vo, is exquisite. Ditto the character-work. This is--necessary or not--a devastating portrait of the version of Nick Carraway she first introduced to us in Chosen--damaged, achingly lonely, imprisoned by shame and self-loathing, and still coherently connected to the original.
I’ve written before (in my review of Siren Queen most notably) that my pervading sense of Nghi Vo as a writer, even beyond her brilliance, is her kindness. My personal theory regarding Don’t Sleep With the Dead is that it is a story that exists, not because it was necessary, but because the author was too kind for it not to. I think, unlike Jordan, she could neither leave Nick with his new heart nor trust him with it. I’m not sure we leave him in better hands, or even a better place, by the end of this book, but he has, at least, dared to make some choices of his own. A gift from his writer.
So I guess while Don’t Sleep With the Dead doesn’t, ultimately, tell us much about Nick, Jordan or Gatsby that we didn’t a already know or couldn’t work out for herself, it does tell me something about Nghi Vo. Obviously texts are not authors, and authors are not texts, but I can’t not love an author who couldn’t leave one of her characters lost, irrespective of that character’s capacity to find himself.
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
***
I don’t quite know how to talk about this novella. Because, on the one hand, it’s Nghi Vo and she is one of my absolute favourite authors. She simply isn’t capable of writing something that doesn’t scintillate. That doesn’t fascinate. That doesn’t slice your heart open, only to re-shape it into something rarer, more tender, and more special.
And this holds true for Don’t Sleep With the Dead.
It’s just … the book feels unnecessary. And I guess that’s its own conversation about, like, is necessity even a vital component of art. Must art justify its own existence or is it okay simply to exist? I mean, I’m glad Don’t Sleep with the Dead exists because it’s Nghi Vo, and I will celebrate anything she puts in the world. But I fear, much like Nick himself, Don’t Sleep with the Dead might be a piece of beautiful nothingness.
The story picks up some twenty-something years after the end The Chosen and the Beautiful. Nick, still living the same stifled, shame-saturated half-life he was in Chosen, has published a successful book about Daisy, Gatsby, Jordan and himself (implied to be The Great Gatsby itself). But the world has changed in so many ways since that time. And, don’t get me wrong, it was fascinating to see Vo take her story beyond the boundaries of the original text. To see the implications of story and world elements only hinted at in Chosen. But Nick’s place in that world—his on-going pursuit of selfhood, self-destruction and Gatsby—was to me, unsatisfyingly unrevealing. Then again, we know from original book that Nick is a shit narrator. Though at least this version of Nick isn’t a shit person. I did feel a tremendous amount of sympathy for him (as I did in Chosen)--he’s literally the only version of Nick Carraway I can stand--but I missed Jordan. And while she does have a few scenes with Nick, each over the telephone, she felt diminished by them, though I think that was also about narration, rather than Jordan herself. After all, the version of Jordan Baker who exists in The Great Gatsby of Nick’s creation (whether it’s this Nick of Fitzgerald’s) presents us with a diminished version of Jordan Baker, even if he does also profess to love her, and even if that love is sincere.
I think the other reason why these glimpses of Jordan ended up making me slightly sad was because, with Chosen being somewhat open-ended, I had hopes of a better future for her. Maybe naïve hopes, given who she is and the world she lives in. Or perhaps some of those hopes had, in fact, been fulfilled for her and Nick was too partial, too self-absorbed narrator to witness them.
I did appreciate learning a little more about Nick, how and why he came to be, and the painfully conflicted nature of his identity (the original Nick Carraway is if anything, a piece of work more piecier and workier than even the Fitzgerald version--damnably plausible though). But I also think much of it was implied from what Jordan learned about him in Chosen, so it was more like a confirmation of things, than a revelation of them. As for Gatsby, I think the whole point of Gatsby is that he’s unchanging--unchanging and empty--so I found it hard to care, even for Nick’s sake.
The writing, it can surely go without saying when it come to Nghi Vo, is exquisite. Ditto the character-work. This is--necessary or not--a devastating portrait of the version of Nick Carraway she first introduced to us in Chosen--damaged, achingly lonely, imprisoned by shame and self-loathing, and still coherently connected to the original.
A new heart hadn’t freed me— that kind of surgery only gives you time unless you are willing to free yourself, and I had never wanted to. Even now, I still didn’t know if I did.
I’ve written before (in my review of Siren Queen most notably) that my pervading sense of Nghi Vo as a writer, even beyond her brilliance, is her kindness. My personal theory regarding Don’t Sleep With the Dead is that it is a story that exists, not because it was necessary, but because the author was too kind for it not to. I think, unlike Jordan, she could neither leave Nick with his new heart nor trust him with it. I’m not sure we leave him in better hands, or even a better place, by the end of this book, but he has, at least, dared to make some choices of his own. A gift from his writer.
So I guess while Don’t Sleep With the Dead doesn’t, ultimately, tell us much about Nick, Jordan or Gatsby that we didn’t a already know or couldn’t work out for herself, it does tell me something about Nghi Vo. Obviously texts are not authors, and authors are not texts, but I can’t not love an author who couldn’t leave one of her characters lost, irrespective of that character’s capacity to find himself.
July 20, 2025
I am so confused about my feelings having finished this. I enjoyed Vo’s use of language and thought the prose was lovely and it was really the highlight for me, but truly, I have come out the other side of this novella barely understanding what I read.
I don’t think I did myself or this book any favours though. I knew that this was marketed as a stand alone spin off of Vo’s other work ‘The Chosen and the Beautiful’ and went in to this having not read that first book (the premise of TCATB didn’t set me on fire). I had anticipated that given this was a stand alone, that I would be able to find my stride in the world by just jumping in (like I often find myself doing), and while I did to a point, I think the reading experience is impacted significantly and in a negative manner without having read TCATB first to gain that underpinning knowledge of the characters and world building that is really essential to getting the full experience. I have seen other reviews refer to this as more of a companion piece rather than a stand alone spin off and I have to agree.
Every now and again the vibes and some really curious and interesting world building and magic would peak out, but it never quite stuck the landing for me. Im going to be generous with my 3 stars though because I don’t think its the books fault I went into this blind to its companion piece, but if you give this a shot I wouldn’t recommend approaching it as I have.
I don’t think I did myself or this book any favours though. I knew that this was marketed as a stand alone spin off of Vo’s other work ‘The Chosen and the Beautiful’ and went in to this having not read that first book (the premise of TCATB didn’t set me on fire). I had anticipated that given this was a stand alone, that I would be able to find my stride in the world by just jumping in (like I often find myself doing), and while I did to a point, I think the reading experience is impacted significantly and in a negative manner without having read TCATB first to gain that underpinning knowledge of the characters and world building that is really essential to getting the full experience. I have seen other reviews refer to this as more of a companion piece rather than a stand alone spin off and I have to agree.
Every now and again the vibes and some really curious and interesting world building and magic would peak out, but it never quite stuck the landing for me. Im going to be generous with my 3 stars though because I don’t think its the books fault I went into this blind to its companion piece, but if you give this a shot I wouldn’t recommend approaching it as I have.
October 4, 2024
this was SO good and i'm not just saying that because this book was Made For Me (it really was, though). i had the highest possible expectations and it surpassed all of them. it's also an absolutely wonderful continuation of Chosen and the Beautiful (read that first for maximum effect). my singular gripe with this book is that the cover is ugly (sorry) but that doesn't even matter because i'll be buying this the second i can. it's just too fucking good. I cannot BELIEVE how good it is. delicious and angsty and bloody and burnt and full of queer longing and women made of wax like come ONNNNNNN i will never! ever! shut up about this! holy shit !!!
Nghi Vo, I will trade you my soul in an exchange for continuing to write whatever and whenever you want. thank you for this gift for Me Specifically. thank you also to edelweiss for the drc, never opened anything so fast in my life. 6/5 stars, I love these three so much I can hardly breathe
Nghi Vo, I will trade you my soul in an exchange for continuing to write whatever and whenever you want. thank you for this gift for Me Specifically. thank you also to edelweiss for the drc, never opened anything so fast in my life. 6/5 stars, I love these three so much I can hardly breathe
November 19, 2025
This companion novella to The Chosen and the Beautiful feels a like an extended epilogue - one you didn't realize you needed, but now you can't imagine not having!
There is something wildly magic about Nghi Vo’s writing. I find myself completely engrossed - even in the mundane or monotonous scenes. I typically find slice-of-life style narratives repetitive and boring, but Nghi Vo’s ability to weave magic into everyday life is like a shot of adrenaline to my brain. I can’t stop reading, and I’m always hungry for more.
Don’t Sleep With the Dead was no exception.
I loved the exploration of paper-soldier Nick Carraway's life, the absolutely stunning prose, the magic and mythology, and the contrast of paranormal horrors to that of the everyday horrors of life.
I do think this works best as a companion to The Chosen and the Beautiful, if you choose to read as a true standalone I think you’ll be missing out! I read this directly after finishing The Chosen and the Beautiful and throughly enjoyed getting an “extended” version of the story.
My only complaint is that I could have easily enjoyed a longer version of the story. The narrative progresses fairly quickly and I just wanted a little more time to sit with this new version of Nick.
Audio Narration: 5/5 I enjoyed the narration quite a bit! The perfect voice for our older mature Nick Carraway!
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Tor Books for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
4⭐️| IG | TikTok |
There is something wildly magic about Nghi Vo’s writing. I find myself completely engrossed - even in the mundane or monotonous scenes. I typically find slice-of-life style narratives repetitive and boring, but Nghi Vo’s ability to weave magic into everyday life is like a shot of adrenaline to my brain. I can’t stop reading, and I’m always hungry for more.
Don’t Sleep With the Dead was no exception.
I loved the exploration of paper-soldier Nick Carraway's life, the absolutely stunning prose, the magic and mythology, and the contrast of paranormal horrors to that of the everyday horrors of life.
I do think this works best as a companion to The Chosen and the Beautiful, if you choose to read as a true standalone I think you’ll be missing out! I read this directly after finishing The Chosen and the Beautiful and throughly enjoyed getting an “extended” version of the story.
My only complaint is that I could have easily enjoyed a longer version of the story. The narrative progresses fairly quickly and I just wanted a little more time to sit with this new version of Nick.
Audio Narration: 5/5 I enjoyed the narration quite a bit! The perfect voice for our older mature Nick Carraway!
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Tor Books for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
4⭐️| IG | TikTok |
June 10, 2025
Hearts can hold everything, if you let them.
It's said it is The Great Gatsby retelling. It was an interesting and fascinating take. Nick Carraway is a novelist deeply in love with one of his own characters—Jay Gatsby. The line, “Thank you. No one else could have done it, and I don’t believe anyone has ever loved me as well as you do,” captures my heartbreak at the story.
Nghi Vo beautifully explores the idea of living with imaginary loved ones—the people we create in our minds or on the page. One of the most striking reflections comes when Nick says: “I had made him real enough that I could not do it now. If he was real, he wouldn’t have loved me. If he loved me, he wouldn’t be real. I wanted him to love me. I wanted him to be real. I had thought I would have to choose one or the other, but now I understood, finally, that I couldn’t have either because I would always want both.”
It’s haunting, poetic, and heartbreakingly true—a story about love, longing, and the blurry line between fiction and truth.
My 2025 API order by page
1️⃣Don't Sleep with the Dead. You're not one of them, after all. ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
2️⃣Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame my first read by Neon Yang ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3️⃣The Blood Orchid (The Scarlet Alchemist, #2) by Kylie Lee Baker DNF
4️⃣The Scorpion and the Night Blossom by Amélie Wen Zhao DNF
5️⃣Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan ⭐⭐⭐
6️⃣The Floating World by Axie Oh could be better! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
7️⃣A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim DNF
8️⃣The Gods Below, a promising start to The Hollow Covenant, Andrea Stewart's new series. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
It's truly amazing sometimes, how well you can do if only you keep your idiocy to yourself.
It's said it is The Great Gatsby retelling. It was an interesting and fascinating take. Nick Carraway is a novelist deeply in love with one of his own characters—Jay Gatsby. The line, “Thank you. No one else could have done it, and I don’t believe anyone has ever loved me as well as you do,” captures my heartbreak at the story.
Nghi Vo beautifully explores the idea of living with imaginary loved ones—the people we create in our minds or on the page. One of the most striking reflections comes when Nick says: “I had made him real enough that I could not do it now. If he was real, he wouldn’t have loved me. If he loved me, he wouldn’t be real. I wanted him to love me. I wanted him to be real. I had thought I would have to choose one or the other, but now I understood, finally, that I couldn’t have either because I would always want both.”
It’s haunting, poetic, and heartbreakingly true—a story about love, longing, and the blurry line between fiction and truth.
My 2025 API order by page
1️⃣Don't Sleep with the Dead. You're not one of them, after all. ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
2️⃣Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame my first read by Neon Yang ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3️⃣The Blood Orchid (The Scarlet Alchemist, #2) by Kylie Lee Baker DNF
4️⃣The Scorpion and the Night Blossom by Amélie Wen Zhao DNF
5️⃣Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan ⭐⭐⭐
6️⃣The Floating World by Axie Oh could be better! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
7️⃣A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim DNF
8️⃣The Gods Below, a promising start to The Hollow Covenant, Andrea Stewart's new series. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
It's truly amazing sometimes, how well you can do if only you keep your idiocy to yourself.
May 24, 2025
✰ 3.25 stars ✰
Don't Sleep With the Dead was not quite perfect, but it was deliciously immersive in how the writing swiftly moved through the pages, immersing you into the mystical otherworldly world of Nick Carraway, and how he desperately chased after the memory of Jay Gatsby, when a glimpse of him at a club forever shattered his wayward existence - 'dead men weren’t free, but I wasn’t dead' he had set up for himself in New York, twenty years after the summer of 1922 that he would never forget. ✨
“If you don’t search, you don’t find, and abruptly I could not take not finding. I could not bear it. Something was hanging over me.”
It is on that search that leads him to visit beyond the veil that separates the living from the dead - a unique fusion of Spirited Away/Natsume Yuujinchou of yokai and ayakashi, that guide him to his whereabouts, all the while recalling parts of himself that forged into existence on the lapels of the real Nick Carraway. 👹 A creation crafted from paper - a soldier carrying on his family name - a part of a memory that belongs to his original namesake that unsettled and troubled me, which I don't know why the author included such a take, but it's been awhile since I've read the original so I can't say for sure if such a tragic and unfortunate event did occur. 😥
I did not find Nick to be an unreliable narrator; although I was a bit unclear of how exactly he came into existence - but his longing for Jay was so believable, even when he doubted his sanity over imagining him. 'I was gone on you too.' 😢 Caught between the lies he was living, it all became too much when he was confronted by the haunting image of Jay's Ghost. And it was only by actually seeking out the truth of where Gatsby now was, was he finally able to put at ease so much of his heart that had been troubled by for so long.
“I wanted him to love me. I wanted him to be real.”
The guilt of his death, the shame of not being straight, the joy in writing real art, it culminated in his desperate search for him that became tangible in the vivid description that the author captured with rich sensory detail of his surroundings. 👍🏻 The pacing was swift in keeping time to how much time he would lose if he did not find Gatsby before his time living within the shadows would run out.
An air of longing with a hint of pleading that conflicted with how he knew the wrong in what he was hoping to find, much like how his mind struggled with accepting the part of himself he fought so hard to keep hidden. In that sense, Gatsby's ghost served in the way the author captured the desperation, if not the same blinded-desire Nick had that compelled him to seek out Gatsby. That fervent yearning that even unto death still lays claim to his heart and his mind.
“It was only him, and it was only me, and it was August 7th, 1922.”
I know it could be dismissed as fanfiction iteration of their canon relationship, but it was still entrancing. Their reunion gave me all the feels. ❤️🩹 💓 It carried subtle tells to their personalities - him talking, me adoring - and still so wistful, and yet so sensual - the hunger for more, but the restraint enacted by both not to cross the limits. It was painstaking and heartbreaking, it was kissing memory and longing and regret - Nick's thoughts that echoed my own for a love long lost, but overwhelmed with the happiness of finding someone you missed so much. 🥺
It was an ending, but also a bittersweet awakening that gave him a chance to grieve and finally address the denial that he was channeling - one that Jay wasted no time in giving Nick respite from that burden, reminding him of the passion and ability he possessed, with his mere presence reigniting in him that 'ember, some spark... telling me that I need never be cold again, if only I would let it burn.' 🔥
“Be a little kind to yourself, please. If you can be whoever you want, wouldn’t it be nice to be someone you liked?”
It made me sad to see them part; I wanted to spend more time with them, for them to have more time with each other, a forbidden liaison that could exist solely for the two that were 'as real as each other and as false as well, what a pair we were.' 🤝🏻 But, it was that pivotal closure that rang with sincerity and heart, but with his usual snark that Nick dearly missed, that touched me and moved Nick to find it in his heart to accept that part of himself that he had kept trapped for so long and was so afraid to embrace openly. ✍🏻
“Hearts can hold everything, if you let them.”
Don't Sleep With the Dead was not quite perfect, but it was deliciously immersive in how the writing swiftly moved through the pages, immersing you into the mystical otherworldly world of Nick Carraway, and how he desperately chased after the memory of Jay Gatsby, when a glimpse of him at a club forever shattered his wayward existence - 'dead men weren’t free, but I wasn’t dead' he had set up for himself in New York, twenty years after the summer of 1922 that he would never forget. ✨
“If you don’t search, you don’t find, and abruptly I could not take not finding. I could not bear it. Something was hanging over me.”
It is on that search that leads him to visit beyond the veil that separates the living from the dead - a unique fusion of Spirited Away/Natsume Yuujinchou of yokai and ayakashi, that guide him to his whereabouts, all the while recalling parts of himself that forged into existence on the lapels of the real Nick Carraway. 👹 A creation crafted from paper - a soldier carrying on his family name - a part of a memory that belongs to his original namesake that unsettled and troubled me, which I don't know why the author included such a take, but it's been awhile since I've read the original so I can't say for sure if such a tragic and unfortunate event did occur. 😥
I did not find Nick to be an unreliable narrator; although I was a bit unclear of how exactly he came into existence - but his longing for Jay was so believable, even when he doubted his sanity over imagining him. 'I was gone on you too.' 😢 Caught between the lies he was living, it all became too much when he was confronted by the haunting image of Jay's Ghost. And it was only by actually seeking out the truth of where Gatsby now was, was he finally able to put at ease so much of his heart that had been troubled by for so long.
“I wanted him to love me. I wanted him to be real.”
The guilt of his death, the shame of not being straight, the joy in writing real art, it culminated in his desperate search for him that became tangible in the vivid description that the author captured with rich sensory detail of his surroundings. 👍🏻 The pacing was swift in keeping time to how much time he would lose if he did not find Gatsby before his time living within the shadows would run out.
An air of longing with a hint of pleading that conflicted with how he knew the wrong in what he was hoping to find, much like how his mind struggled with accepting the part of himself he fought so hard to keep hidden. In that sense, Gatsby's ghost served in the way the author captured the desperation, if not the same blinded-desire Nick had that compelled him to seek out Gatsby. That fervent yearning that even unto death still lays claim to his heart and his mind.
“It was only him, and it was only me, and it was August 7th, 1922.”
I know it could be dismissed as fanfiction iteration of their canon relationship, but it was still entrancing. Their reunion gave me all the feels. ❤️🩹 💓 It carried subtle tells to their personalities - him talking, me adoring - and still so wistful, and yet so sensual - the hunger for more, but the restraint enacted by both not to cross the limits. It was painstaking and heartbreaking, it was kissing memory and longing and regret - Nick's thoughts that echoed my own for a love long lost, but overwhelmed with the happiness of finding someone you missed so much. 🥺
It was an ending, but also a bittersweet awakening that gave him a chance to grieve and finally address the denial that he was channeling - one that Jay wasted no time in giving Nick respite from that burden, reminding him of the passion and ability he possessed, with his mere presence reigniting in him that 'ember, some spark... telling me that I need never be cold again, if only I would let it burn.' 🔥
“Be a little kind to yourself, please. If you can be whoever you want, wouldn’t it be nice to be someone you liked?”
It made me sad to see them part; I wanted to spend more time with them, for them to have more time with each other, a forbidden liaison that could exist solely for the two that were 'as real as each other and as false as well, what a pair we were.' 🤝🏻 But, it was that pivotal closure that rang with sincerity and heart, but with his usual snark that Nick dearly missed, that touched me and moved Nick to find it in his heart to accept that part of himself that he had kept trapped for so long and was so afraid to embrace openly. ✍🏻
Read
April 3, 2025This is Nghi Vo’s fun companion novel to The Chosen and the Beautiful, a queer reimagining of The Great Gatsby from Jordan Baker’s point of view. This time, Nick Carraway is the Fitzgerald character leading the story. It’s twenty years after the events of The Great Gatsby, events that have haunted him. But now he may actually really be haunted by the past…
—Liberty Hardy, 11 Awesome New SFF Books Out April 2025
—Liberty Hardy, 11 Awesome New SFF Books Out April 2025
March 31, 2025
firstly, thank you to the publisher for an alc!
i hadn’t realized that this was a companion to nghi vo’s the chosen and the beautiful, which is a great gatsby retelling. i think it’s rather fitting (and probably part of the reason) this novella is being published during the 100th anniversary of the classic novel.
i really enjoyed this queer, magical reality following the ending of the great gatsby, in which nick stumbles upon jay one night at a club despite jay being dead. i think i would have enjoyed it a bit more if i had read the chosen and the beautiful, but it was not hard to follow at all.
as for the narrator, i think he did a fine job!
i’ll definitely be reading the rest of nghi vo’s backlist!
i hadn’t realized that this was a companion to nghi vo’s the chosen and the beautiful, which is a great gatsby retelling. i think it’s rather fitting (and probably part of the reason) this novella is being published during the 100th anniversary of the classic novel.
i really enjoyed this queer, magical reality following the ending of the great gatsby, in which nick stumbles upon jay one night at a club despite jay being dead. i think i would have enjoyed it a bit more if i had read the chosen and the beautiful, but it was not hard to follow at all.
as for the narrator, i think he did a fine job!
i’ll definitely be reading the rest of nghi vo’s backlist!
February 18, 2025
Although, I enjoyed the premise and poetic nature of this novella, I don't think it should be advertised as a standalone. I felt lost at times and think I would have enjoyed this story more if I had been introduced to the characters properly in the previous novella. If you've read her previous work, I think you'll love this one!
I will be checking out more of Nghi Vo's work, as I did enjoy her writing style.
I will be checking out more of Nghi Vo's work, as I did enjoy her writing style.
January 24, 2025
A companion novella to The Chosen and the Beautiful (an excellent queer fantasy take on The Great Gatsby!), this follows Nick many years later. Don't Sleep with the Dead being the title really says it all.
A story told from an admittedly unreliable narrator about weird things happening in New York near the advent of WWII. It's got loads of angst and longing, dark and strange people and places, and big reveals that may or may not be true...
If you liked The Chosen and the Beautiful this is definitely one to pick up!
A story told from an admittedly unreliable narrator about weird things happening in New York near the advent of WWII. It's got loads of angst and longing, dark and strange people and places, and big reveals that may or may not be true...
If you liked The Chosen and the Beautiful this is definitely one to pick up!
June 10, 2025
DNF at 40%
Absolutely not what I signed up for nope nope nope
Absolutely not what I signed up for nope nope nope
February 20, 2025
⋆.˚✮ 4 stars ✮˚.⋆
⤿ Thank you to Tor Books and Tordotcom for the arc through netgalley and a physical arc in exchange for an honest review!
this was an excellent novella addition to The Chosen & The Beautiful by Nghi Vo, adding a bit more depth to what that ending means. instead of following Jordyn, this novella follows Nick years after the summer that they all spend together, at the eve of World War 2. he’s struggling with the material world that means to tear him apart, and the magical world that may just destroy him and his hope anyway.
instead of sitting quiet, Nick is following a lead that Gatsby, while in Hell may not actually be dead. he has visions of him, and visions of a devil-like creature and so he goes and tries to find out what happens. is this because of his love for Gatsby? or his own untethered need to be involved with something? that is for the reader to find out.
even just the snippets of Jordyn & Nick content we got too filled my heart, they have such an interesting ‘almost’ type of relationship. even Nick confesses in this book there may be a part of him that’s never quite over her, but it’ll never happen. even just seeing Nick struggle with what’s happening in the world and turn to the magic was super fun, as the feeling of magic just barely brushes past the reader in the first book, but now that world is on full display and I think it was a welcome addition to the novella.
↬ trigger warnings: blood and gore, death of a friend mentioned, abuse of power
˖ ࣪ ⋆୨୧⋆ ࣪ ˖ quotes ˖ ࣪ ⋆୨୧⋆ ࣪ ˖
✧ “The good thing - the only good thing - about the worst finally happening is that it has happened” (1)
✧ “I started forward not sure what I was going to do, but it was the devil who looked over his shoulder at me, nothing human, never human, and my nerve broke into a thousand pieces.” (57)
✧ “Jordyn had a way of existing harder than everyone else around her, even when she was sitting in the corner and watching everyone make fools of themselves.” (74)
⤿ Thank you to Tor Books and Tordotcom for the arc through netgalley and a physical arc in exchange for an honest review!
this was an excellent novella addition to The Chosen & The Beautiful by Nghi Vo, adding a bit more depth to what that ending means. instead of following Jordyn, this novella follows Nick years after the summer that they all spend together, at the eve of World War 2. he’s struggling with the material world that means to tear him apart, and the magical world that may just destroy him and his hope anyway.
instead of sitting quiet, Nick is following a lead that Gatsby, while in Hell may not actually be dead. he has visions of him, and visions of a devil-like creature and so he goes and tries to find out what happens. is this because of his love for Gatsby? or his own untethered need to be involved with something? that is for the reader to find out.
even just the snippets of Jordyn & Nick content we got too filled my heart, they have such an interesting ‘almost’ type of relationship. even Nick confesses in this book there may be a part of him that’s never quite over her, but it’ll never happen. even just seeing Nick struggle with what’s happening in the world and turn to the magic was super fun, as the feeling of magic just barely brushes past the reader in the first book, but now that world is on full display and I think it was a welcome addition to the novella.
↬ trigger warnings: blood and gore, death of a friend mentioned, abuse of power
˖ ࣪ ⋆୨୧⋆ ࣪ ˖ quotes ˖ ࣪ ⋆୨୧⋆ ࣪ ˖
✧ “The good thing - the only good thing - about the worst finally happening is that it has happened” (1)
✧ “I started forward not sure what I was going to do, but it was the devil who looked over his shoulder at me, nothing human, never human, and my nerve broke into a thousand pieces.” (57)
✧ “Jordyn had a way of existing harder than everyone else around her, even when she was sitting in the corner and watching everyone make fools of themselves.” (74)
October 12, 2024
the chosen and the beautiful is the wicked, queer, and incisive the great gatsby reimagining that i always wanted, and to say i was excited about don't sleep with the dead is an understatement. this standalone* companion novella follows nick carraway on the eve of world war ii as he searches the streets of new york and the depths of hell's influence for gatsby, who he's certain he just witnessed help him out of a raid, even though he died that fateful day in 1922.
vo's prose is as gorgeous here as it always is and though don't sleep with the dead is just over a hundred pages long, she makes use of every line. i loved being in nick's head for this, feeling his longing and frustration and witnessing just how deep his desperation was, what he was willing to offer hell in return for the man he loves. as dark and sharp as the air when you wake from a nightmare, don't sleep with the dead was a gorgeous love letter to desire and identity that you don't want to miss, especially if you loved the chosen and the beautiful.
* this novella does stand alone, but it is made so much richer for having read the chosen and the beautiful beforehand—please do that, if you can.
vo's prose is as gorgeous here as it always is and though don't sleep with the dead is just over a hundred pages long, she makes use of every line. i loved being in nick's head for this, feeling his longing and frustration and witnessing just how deep his desperation was, what he was willing to offer hell in return for the man he loves. as dark and sharp as the air when you wake from a nightmare, don't sleep with the dead was a gorgeous love letter to desire and identity that you don't want to miss, especially if you loved the chosen and the beautiful.
* this novella does stand alone, but it is made so much richer for having read the chosen and the beautiful beforehand—please do that, if you can.
March 15, 2025
Received from NetGalley and the publisher, thanks!
Can I give this 10 stars?
I really loved The Chosen and the Beautiful and this one is a sequel, what's happened to Nick Carraway in the 20-some years since Gatsby's death, and it absolutely lived up to my hopes and dreams for it, and then some.
The book is dedicated to all the unreliable narrators out there, and that is just so perfect. I loved that Vo added some meta-type aspects to the story without drawing much on the original story. It was also great to get more information about Nick from himself, to find out more about his past and the fact that's he's a paper boy and what's become of his paper heart since Jordan fixed it at the end of Chosen.
I will admit, that I absolutely devoured this little book. There's just something about starting a new book where the writing is just absolutely top notch that compels me to just read read read. So, I will likely go back and read it again, maybe take a bit more time with it, really savour it the second time around.
Can I give this 10 stars?
I really loved The Chosen and the Beautiful and this one is a sequel, what's happened to Nick Carraway in the 20-some years since Gatsby's death, and it absolutely lived up to my hopes and dreams for it, and then some.
The book is dedicated to all the unreliable narrators out there, and that is just so perfect. I loved that Vo added some meta-type aspects to the story without drawing much on the original story. It was also great to get more information about Nick from himself, to find out more about his past and the fact that's he's a paper boy and what's become of his paper heart since Jordan fixed it at the end of Chosen.
I will admit, that I absolutely devoured this little book. There's just something about starting a new book where the writing is just absolutely top notch that compels me to just read read read. So, I will likely go back and read it again, maybe take a bit more time with it, really savour it the second time around.
May 26, 2025
Audiobook (3 hours) narrated by Greg D. Barnett
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Greg D. Barnett is a skill narrator, actor, and storyteller:
https://www.gregdbarnett.com/
The audio is flawless.
Don't Sleep with the Dead is an interesting novella.
There isn't a lot of character building, but it is more of an encounter than a broad spectrum story.
The issue for me is that one of the characters in the encounter is annoying as 💩, and I feel like I am as stuck in the conversation/encounter as the other character... which in one way is fantastic writing as the moment and feeling is palpable, but on the other hand being and feeling annoyed isn't my destination while reading.
I did finish the book, it was only 3 hours. It was well written and felt very up close and personal. Nghi Vo did a fantastic job of somehow making me feel as if I was in the story. It may have been partly due to the skill of the narrator, but I felt part of the story for the majority of it, until the ending where there was a separation, at which time I felt as if I was looking over his shoulder.
If the story sounds interesting, it is definitely worth a look. I may look for something else by the author as if the characters were more appealing to me personally, this would have been exquisite.
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Greg D. Barnett is a skill narrator, actor, and storyteller:
https://www.gregdbarnett.com/
The audio is flawless.
Don't Sleep with the Dead is an interesting novella.
There isn't a lot of character building, but it is more of an encounter than a broad spectrum story.
The issue for me is that one of the characters in the encounter is annoying as 💩, and I feel like I am as stuck in the conversation/encounter as the other character... which in one way is fantastic writing as the moment and feeling is palpable, but on the other hand being and feeling annoyed isn't my destination while reading.
I did finish the book, it was only 3 hours. It was well written and felt very up close and personal. Nghi Vo did a fantastic job of somehow making me feel as if I was in the story. It may have been partly due to the skill of the narrator, but I felt part of the story for the majority of it, until the ending where there was a separation, at which time I felt as if I was looking over his shoulder.
If the story sounds interesting, it is definitely worth a look. I may look for something else by the author as if the characters were more appealing to me personally, this would have been exquisite.
April 14, 2025
Nearly twenty years following the events of the her first book in this series, The Chosen and the Beautiful, Nghi Vo returns us readers to her version of Gatsby’s New York through the perspective of magical paper novelist, Nick Carraway. Carraway has found success selling his version of Gatsby’s story but in doing so, finds himself estranged from Jordan Baker who has moved to Paris, which finds itself and the world on the brink of the Second World War.
This should’ve just been an extended epilogue to the first book. It adds an unnecessary backstory to Nick and tries to draw out an even darker side of Jay but I think loses the house of cards extravagance that made the first book and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby so enjoyable to experience.
I don’t think the new backstory really fits Nick unlike how I enjoyed how Vo focused on Jordan in the first story and gave an often overlooked character a voice. I would have preferred Vo returned to Baker, and the left the world of Nick and Jay in the past.
This should’ve just been an extended epilogue to the first book. It adds an unnecessary backstory to Nick and tries to draw out an even darker side of Jay but I think loses the house of cards extravagance that made the first book and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby so enjoyable to experience.
I don’t think the new backstory really fits Nick unlike how I enjoyed how Vo focused on Jordan in the first story and gave an often overlooked character a voice. I would have preferred Vo returned to Baker, and the left the world of Nick and Jay in the past.
June 9, 2025
Nghi Vo can write an ending! Out of nowhere I was tearing up, like damn. Loved the winter New York setting, love the weird demonic magic of this world, loved it all. Nick’s story 17 or so years later, one war over and another war just beginning, is melancholy and frightening and hopeful.
April 13, 2025
This was so weird, so sharp, so very Nghi Vo—in all the best ways. Don't Sleep with the Dead is a companion novella to The Chosen and the Beautiful, which I haven’t read yet (though now I definitely will), and it still worked perfectly on its own. If you're into surreal, speculative storytelling with queer characters, metaphors that bite, and a dreamlike atmosphere, this is your next read.
The world here is smoky, slippery, and a little grotesque in the most compelling way. There are women made of wax, men made of paper, and shadows of the past that refuse to stay buried. It’s imaginative and haunting and doesn't bother with hand-holding—you're just dropped into this strange, magical version of New York in the late '30s where people pretend to be what they're not: straight, alive, human. At the center of it all is Nick Carraway, older now, still haunted by Gatsby, and trying very hard to pretend otherwise.
This novella has teeth. It’s got that aching, messy queerness threaded through every interaction—characters who long and hurt and lie to themselves just to survive. It plays like an extended epilogue to The Great Gatsby (and more directly, to Vo’s retelling), but what I love is how well it stands as its own beast: part ghost story, part love story, part reckoning.
A haunting Gatsby-adjacent tale released during the novel’s 100th anniversary? There’s something beautifully intentional about that.
It’s short, strange, and stunning. Just enough to give you chills and make you want to dive headfirst into Vo’s other work. Loved this one.
Thanks so much to MacMillan Audio, Colored Pages Book Tours, TorDotCom Pub, and the author for the complimentary copies. I adored being able to read along to the amazing audiobook. Highly recommend this format, in particular, because the narrator is top tier.
This review is voluntary and all opinions are my own.
The world here is smoky, slippery, and a little grotesque in the most compelling way. There are women made of wax, men made of paper, and shadows of the past that refuse to stay buried. It’s imaginative and haunting and doesn't bother with hand-holding—you're just dropped into this strange, magical version of New York in the late '30s where people pretend to be what they're not: straight, alive, human. At the center of it all is Nick Carraway, older now, still haunted by Gatsby, and trying very hard to pretend otherwise.
This novella has teeth. It’s got that aching, messy queerness threaded through every interaction—characters who long and hurt and lie to themselves just to survive. It plays like an extended epilogue to The Great Gatsby (and more directly, to Vo’s retelling), but what I love is how well it stands as its own beast: part ghost story, part love story, part reckoning.
A haunting Gatsby-adjacent tale released during the novel’s 100th anniversary? There’s something beautifully intentional about that.
It’s short, strange, and stunning. Just enough to give you chills and make you want to dive headfirst into Vo’s other work. Loved this one.
Thanks so much to MacMillan Audio, Colored Pages Book Tours, TorDotCom Pub, and the author for the complimentary copies. I adored being able to read along to the amazing audiobook. Highly recommend this format, in particular, because the narrator is top tier.
This review is voluntary and all opinions are my own.
May 14, 2025
2025 reads: 107/300
i received a complimentary audio copy from the publisher as part of their influencer program. this did not affect my rating.
in this standalone companion novella to the chosen and the beautiful, nick carraway has gotten much better at pretending: pretending that he’s straight, that he’s a human, and that he’s forgotten the events of summer 1922. when he sees a familiar face at a club one night, he realizes that someone’s been watching him since then—jay gatsby isn’t done with nick quite yet.
i really enjoyed the chosen and the beautiful when i read it a couple years ago, so i was very eager to read this book when i heard about it! whereas that book follows jordan, though, this one follows nick. while this is listed as a standalone to that book, i’d still recommend reading the chosen and the beautiful first for a bit of background (and because that book is so good!). overall, this was a great novella, and i’d highly recommend it to people who liked the first book, the great gatsby, or both.
narration: greg d. barnett narrated this audiobook. i enjoyed his narration and felt it added to the story. i’d highly recommend this audiobook to anyone interested in this novella.
i received a complimentary audio copy from the publisher as part of their influencer program. this did not affect my rating.
in this standalone companion novella to the chosen and the beautiful, nick carraway has gotten much better at pretending: pretending that he’s straight, that he’s a human, and that he’s forgotten the events of summer 1922. when he sees a familiar face at a club one night, he realizes that someone’s been watching him since then—jay gatsby isn’t done with nick quite yet.
i really enjoyed the chosen and the beautiful when i read it a couple years ago, so i was very eager to read this book when i heard about it! whereas that book follows jordan, though, this one follows nick. while this is listed as a standalone to that book, i’d still recommend reading the chosen and the beautiful first for a bit of background (and because that book is so good!). overall, this was a great novella, and i’d highly recommend it to people who liked the first book, the great gatsby, or both.
narration: greg d. barnett narrated this audiobook. i enjoyed his narration and felt it added to the story. i’d highly recommend this audiobook to anyone interested in this novella.
May 2, 2025
I liked this!!
There were a lot of unique, interesting plot elements and the twists from the original story felt both meaningful and well-done.
This book was also quite boring and confusing at times. As for confusing, I will take some of the blame for that as I thought this was a standalone and have not read the companion novel. But for such a short story, I was almost surprised by how often I had to stop my mind from wandering and focus on the book again.
Overall, this was nice. It's got a lot of really neat, well-crafted elements; but I probably won't think of it again.
There were a lot of unique, interesting plot elements and the twists from the original story felt both meaningful and well-done.
This book was also quite boring and confusing at times. As for confusing, I will take some of the blame for that as I thought this was a standalone and have not read the companion novel. But for such a short story, I was almost surprised by how often I had to stop my mind from wandering and focus on the book again.
Overall, this was nice. It's got a lot of really neat, well-crafted elements; but I probably won't think of it again.
September 1, 2025
i— well. if Nghi Vo knows how to do something, it’s how to write whimsically weird stories.
this reads like a closure to The Chosen and the Beautiful -- and i would recommend it for those who already read that book and want more of that world. i would have a hard time saying you can read this without reading the previous book as there would be too much context and references loss to fully grasp what's going on in the story as it drops the reader into the plot more than make an effort to introduce the characters/setting
a constant feeling i find myself in with Nghi Vo is that i love the first 50% and then get confused with the switch up in the second half (except with Siren Queen, her other novel), it's most likely a me problem.
*ARC sent by the publisher for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
-----
pre-read:
A standalone companion to The Chosen and the Beautiful? I'm in.
It's funny that although I didn't rate that book 5 stars, I still remember the things that went down years after reading it. Excited.
this reads like a closure to The Chosen and the Beautiful -- and i would recommend it for those who already read that book and want more of that world. i would have a hard time saying you can read this without reading the previous book as there would be too much context and references loss to fully grasp what's going on in the story as it drops the reader into the plot more than make an effort to introduce the characters/setting
a constant feeling i find myself in with Nghi Vo is that i love the first 50% and then get confused with the switch up in the second half (except with Siren Queen, her other novel), it's most likely a me problem.
*ARC sent by the publisher for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
-----
pre-read:
A standalone companion to The Chosen and the Beautiful? I'm in.
It's funny that although I didn't rate that book 5 stars, I still remember the things that went down years after reading it. Excited.
May 28, 2025
I am shocked that this wasn’t as good as I’d hoped for! There is an incredible uniqueness to this story, but it wasn’t as dreamy as The Chosen and the Beautiful. It felt a bit lost and maybe that’s the point and it sailed right over my head?
Either way this is my first 3 star rating for Nghi Vo so it was always bound to happen that a favorite author would have something I wouldn’t love.
Either way this is my first 3 star rating for Nghi Vo so it was always bound to happen that a favorite author would have something I wouldn’t love.
July 4, 2025
3.5
follows up on Nghi Vo’s Gatsby reimagining, this time with Nick 20 years later. I love her writing so much but I think I liked the first book better - Jordan Baker is simply more interesting to read about, sorry!
follows up on Nghi Vo’s Gatsby reimagining, this time with Nick 20 years later. I love her writing so much but I think I liked the first book better - Jordan Baker is simply more interesting to read about, sorry!
February 3, 2025
Sometimes reading a book feels like witnessing a miracle: a voice coming out of a burning bush, a saint being bodily lifted up into heaven. That's how I felt as I was finishing Don't Sleep with the Dead. How can anyone create a world like this with words, pull us into it, then leave us outside on the other side of a closed door trying to understand the magic we've just experienced? I don't know how, but Nghi Vo does exactly that.
The publisher calls this title "a reimagining of The Great Gatsby." It is that. Don't Sleep with the Dead gives us key characters from that title: Nick Carraway, Jordan Baker, and even (maybe?) Gatsby himself. And the portrayal of this characters is utterly unexpected and yet deeply true to the original novel.
Besides being an utterly remarkable novel, Don't Sleep with the Dead is a perfect book for our time. Readers will see pieces of our current experiences in the novel, utterly transformed, but true to our historical moment. The blessing of being able to let that understanding sink in and to see our world from a place so very unlike it is a gift.
I'm not saying much about the specifics of the book. That's because, as with miracles, anticipating what happens drains the event of its color. Miracles need to surprise.
Don't Sleep with the Dead is a short book at only 112 ages, yet it provides such richness. It isn't coming out until April 4. Put that date on your calendar and make a special trip to buy it or pre-order a copy from your local independent bookseller. Seriously.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own.
The publisher calls this title "a reimagining of The Great Gatsby." It is that. Don't Sleep with the Dead gives us key characters from that title: Nick Carraway, Jordan Baker, and even (maybe?) Gatsby himself. And the portrayal of this characters is utterly unexpected and yet deeply true to the original novel.
Besides being an utterly remarkable novel, Don't Sleep with the Dead is a perfect book for our time. Readers will see pieces of our current experiences in the novel, utterly transformed, but true to our historical moment. The blessing of being able to let that understanding sink in and to see our world from a place so very unlike it is a gift.
I'm not saying much about the specifics of the book. That's because, as with miracles, anticipating what happens drains the event of its color. Miracles need to surprise.
Don't Sleep with the Dead is a short book at only 112 ages, yet it provides such richness. It isn't coming out until April 4. Put that date on your calendar and make a special trip to buy it or pre-order a copy from your local independent bookseller. Seriously.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own.
October 10, 2025
2.25⭐
Um, I guess?
This book had such a strong promising concept. A queer, fantastical iteration of the world of "The Great Gatsby" with Nick Carraway being in love with Jay Gatsby? Sign me up! But, what started as such a strong concept, got lost in the sauce, I fear.
I love a good short story/novella. Clocking in at a solid ~100 pages, I love a quick jaunt that scratches an itch and (if well-done) leaves me wanting more. However, what makes novellas so powerful (and hard to accomplish is their ability to do everything a standard size novel can do, in a condensed but effective format. This book, sadly, does not accomplish this.
The worldbuilding is there, characters are solid; where it loses me is the execution. I felt there were too many elements that I was juggling and I didn't have a strong coherence of what the actual story was about. Maybe I messed up in reading this one, considering there is another book in this universe that focuses on Jordan Baker, but I don't think I have a desire to read the other book if it's anything like this one.
(Side note: I saw in the Author's Note that they mentioned the "unreliable narrator" and maybe that's the main driving force of the work, but I must have missed the train on this one. I also can't tell if they are referencing the narrator of their own story as being an unreliable narrator, or if they are saying that the canon Nick Carraway is an unreliable narrator. I feel discombobulated.)
Um, I guess?
This book had such a strong promising concept. A queer, fantastical iteration of the world of "The Great Gatsby" with Nick Carraway being in love with Jay Gatsby? Sign me up! But, what started as such a strong concept, got lost in the sauce, I fear.
I love a good short story/novella. Clocking in at a solid ~100 pages, I love a quick jaunt that scratches an itch and (if well-done) leaves me wanting more. However, what makes novellas so powerful (and hard to accomplish is their ability to do everything a standard size novel can do, in a condensed but effective format. This book, sadly, does not accomplish this.
The worldbuilding is there, characters are solid; where it loses me is the execution. I felt there were too many elements that I was juggling and I didn't have a strong coherence of what the actual story was about. Maybe I messed up in reading this one, considering there is another book in this universe that focuses on Jordan Baker, but I don't think I have a desire to read the other book if it's anything like this one.
(Side note: I saw in the Author's Note that they mentioned the "unreliable narrator" and maybe that's the main driving force of the work, but I must have missed the train on this one. I also can't tell if they are referencing the narrator of their own story as being an unreliable narrator, or if they are saying that the canon Nick Carraway is an unreliable narrator. I feel discombobulated.)
August 16, 2025
I was intrigued to read this standalone companion novella. I have not read the reimagined Great Gatsby telling the author published first but I did request it from the library. This novella was a somewhat strange journey of a resurrection story. It includes demons and paper heart's and stolen lives. It is beautifully written and evokes great imagery. I completed it in one short sitting at 101 pages. I loved it's otherworldly atmosphere mingled with historical aspects sprinkled in. I look forward to reading the actual novel and other work by this talented author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 2, 2025
I love when an author writes a novella that goes along with a standalone book, especially when it contributes to the world building and lore. A companion to The Chosen and the Beautiful (a Gatsby reimagining from the perspective of Jordan), this novella takes place decades later and from the PoV of Nick-who-isn’t-truly-Nick.
What starts as a fleeting glimpse of someone long dead turns into a spiral down into the depths, as Nick tries to discover what really happened to Gatsby after he died. What follows is a sometimes surreal fever dream of a journey, with devilish deals and a woman made of wax and a covered up scandal.
I was here for this one and will gladly read any other companion novels Nghi Vo writes about this world she has borrowed and remade, infusing it with gritty magic and paranormal darkness. Thanks so much to Tor/Forge and Netgalley for the advanced copy!
April 18, 2025
Bayley loved a Nghi Vo book is the most 'fork found in kitchen' statement. But oh boy did Bayley love this Nghi Vo book.
Want to return to flesh out my thoughts, but I am unreliable at this task. The Bayley elements of this story were: WWI, Ghosts , Partial lack of a name, NYE, People actually doing bad things, Faustian bargains, creating your own lover, and a Circular ending.
Want to return to flesh out my thoughts, but I am unreliable at this task. The Bayley elements of this story were: WWI, Ghosts , Partial lack of a name, NYE, People actually doing bad things, Faustian bargains, creating your own lover, and a Circular ending.
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