The Book of Endless Sleepovers

by Henry Hoke

I love how Henry Hoke plays fast and loose with autobiography and genre. The Book of Endless Sleepovers is wry and finely-wrought, a philosophical fever dream studded with the pleasure of proper names and surprising turns of phrase, a lyric page-turner.
-Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts
 
In his atmospheric debut, Henry Hoke maps the wild country of adolescence, the murky realm of childhood and its mysterious stirrings, where the names of cities are always changing along with our own, as we swap them for those of our favorite characters: The Hardy Boys or Huck Finn or Peter Pan. A land where pet bunnies are eaten by owls in the night and cats change owners at their own will. The Book of Endless Sleepovers is beguiling and evocative and sometimes sad. It is not to be missed.
-Kate Durbin, author of E! Entertainment
 
"The Book of Endless Sleepovers is hot and cool, fine and blunt, new and ancient, puzzling and cannily revealing. Hoke's sharp, funny fictions are like shards of the books I hope to find lying around in Borges' garden of forking paths."
-Mark Childress, author of Crazy in Alabama

"Hoke's book dazzles. Beneath the surface of linguistic playfulness and narrative experimentation are real truths about love and brotherhood and especially about childhood: wild and thrilling and, as all childhoods are, full of terror. Worth reading for the brilliant reimaginings of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn alone, there is so much here that will astonish, surprise, and delight."
-Rahul Mehta, author of No Other World

Genres: Poetry, Fiction

156 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2016

About the author

Henry Hoke is an editor at The Offing and the author of five books, most recently the novel Open Throat (MCDxFSG / Picador), and the memoir Sticker (Bloomsbury).

Reviews

[Sara Gerot · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't read anything about what this book was like before I read it, so I was genuinely upset when the first Huck Finn section ended because I wasn't done with those characters. What was great about these micro-pieces was the way they pulled me forward, forcing me to let go of the last because the opening of the next was so good. Plus, Hoke harkens back to earlier pieces, which feels good. And though I prefer hefty dense books filled with lots and lots of words, this was an explosion of fast-paced satisfaction-- something I forget that small books can do so well when the writing is tight and deep. Just the philosophical flips in the stomach, one after the other, were enough to make this a fantastic book.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poetic and funny set of stories about childhood, family, homosexuality, and sex. There is a style debt to Anne Carson and to Maggie Nelson but y'know if you're going to borrow, borrow something great. My favorite was the brief and sarcastic "imagine static" that manages to capture the ache of life in the closet while pitching an escort service.

[Joe Sacksteder · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review in DIAGRAM, written in the style of Henry Hoke: http://thediagram.com/17_2/rev_hoke.html

Sample:

I told you you have to read Endless Sleepovers
if you like that chill you get hearing an embarrassing song you loved twenty years ago
for the first time since becoming smart

I told you you must avoid Endless Sleepovers and any friends who might have chanced across it
because then you'll have to start all over

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. "there was no excuse for not having homework / cats don't eat paper, they turn the pages at the wrong moment"

[Zoe]

i liked this a lot, did not know if it was short story or novella going into it & i still don't! my favorite were the huck and tom sections (which make me think it's a novella of sorts.....or just an awesomely weird short story collection w recurring threads) (maya i rlly want u to read the huck and tom stories, it made me think of ur capstone). i thought the dynamic between them was super interesting & alive. there's something about henry hoke's tone, especially in those sections, that allows for the absurd & allows for truth in a very open and surprising way that i will be thinking about...the linkage between absurdity & veracity....things can just be stated more openly, maybe? and symbols are truths (thinking of the two men coming out of the manhole cover at the very beginning, that knocked me off my feet). i also was impressed by all the different forms thrown together into one book, that felt emboldening. overall really liked this even if it didn't make sense to me a lot of the time - was very interior & personal, perhaps. also the part about the goldfish being named after the brothers was funny

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Henry Hoke's books out of publication order changed the meaning and experience of this book, I'd imagine. Having read Sticker previously, having gotten that more depthful glimpse into his life and his thoughts I think gave me an advantage (?) with Sleepovers in that I had a bit of an understanding of him and the 'characters'. I kept imagining what it would be like to have read this one first -- a dreamy, soupy swirl of an experience -- which could certainly be lovely, too.

[Hilary Eastmure · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entirely surprising and swoonworthy delight. It's not like anything you've read before, in the best possible way.