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We Shall Not All Sleep
"An utterly compelling novel from a brilliant new voice." --M.L. Stedman, author of The Light Between Oceans
For generations they've shared the small Maine island of Seven, but the Hillsingers and the Quicks have always kept apart, even since before Jim Hillsinger and Billy Quick married sisters. When Jim is ousted from the CIA under suspicion of treason, he begins to suspect that he has been betrayed--by his brother-in-law, Billy, and also by his own wife, Lila. In retaliation, he decides to carry out an old threat: to send their twelve-year-old son, Catta, to a neighboring island to test his survival skills.
Set over three summer days in 1964, Estep Nagy's debut novel moves among the communities of Seven--the families, the servants, and the children--as longstanding tensions become tactical face-offs in which love, loss, and long-held secrets become brutal ammunition. Vividly capturing the rift between the cold warriors of Jim's generation and the rebellious seekers of Catta's, We Shall Not All Sleep is a richly told story of American class, family, and manipulation, and a compelling portrait of a unique and privileged enclave on the brink of dissolution.
For generations they've shared the small Maine island of Seven, but the Hillsingers and the Quicks have always kept apart, even since before Jim Hillsinger and Billy Quick married sisters. When Jim is ousted from the CIA under suspicion of treason, he begins to suspect that he has been betrayed--by his brother-in-law, Billy, and also by his own wife, Lila. In retaliation, he decides to carry out an old threat: to send their twelve-year-old son, Catta, to a neighboring island to test his survival skills.
Set over three summer days in 1964, Estep Nagy's debut novel moves among the communities of Seven--the families, the servants, and the children--as longstanding tensions become tactical face-offs in which love, loss, and long-held secrets become brutal ammunition. Vividly capturing the rift between the cold warriors of Jim's generation and the rebellious seekers of Catta's, We Shall Not All Sleep is a richly told story of American class, family, and manipulation, and a compelling portrait of a unique and privileged enclave on the brink of dissolution.
288 pages, Paperback
First published July 3, 2017
77 people are currently reading
5926 people want to read
About the author
Estep Nagy
2 books95 followersWe Shall Not All Sleep is Estep Nagy's debut novel. His fiction and other work have appeared in Southwest Review, The Believer, Paper, Box Office, and elsewhere. He is also the writer and director of The Broken Giant, a 1998 independent feature film starring Will Arnett, John Glover, and Chris Noth that is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, and his plays have been produced across the U.S. and in the U.K. and Australia. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, attended Yale University, and now lives outside New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
February 21, 2017
The ocean salt-air smells of Maine are worth remembering.....
John was coming to Seven Island from New York after receiving an invitation by Billy Quick, his old friend from Princeton, whom he had not seen for fifteen years when they were trying to repair their damaged friendship.
Billy offered John a trip to Seven with the intention of spiritual reconciliation of sorts.
After his flight, John met at the boat dock, where the Island manager, Cyrus, would help him board 'Heron'......the Island boat.
"The boat moved out of the harbor into the bay, past a color wheel of lobster buoys,
past huge cloud formations, ever deeper, it seemed, into the salt air. Soon the island speck divided, clarified, gained contrast: from nowhere, miles of wood extended in two directions. He couldn't see where they ended, and it struck him that Seven Island was much bigger than he imagined".
"Two houses, one white and one yellow, sat high up on a grassy hill. Outbuildings and a barn were scattered around, all of them painted electric red that Wilkie had only ever seen in Maine.
The Hillsingers had built the first house not long after the Revolution. After the Civil War, the Quicks built the new house. Seven Island was jointly owned by both the Hillsingers and Quicks from the beginning. A farmhouse was expanded - and other quarters were built for farmers and staff.
The new house was white - taller and squarer, rather than yellow... grander volumes and modern furniture.
The Hill house was a pure product of its time.... elegant facade faced the water.
There was also a children's house where all the children stayed from both families.
This Island setup with these two families - kids - daily jobs to do - [sheep which needed to be hauled to the neighboring island - Baffin - for grazing their clover fields in preparation for the annual Migration, staff members: cook, caretakers, etc.], ... felt like an intentional community compound. The tensions between the adults felt exactly like I imagined joint families would be like. The way the different children - of different ages played and worked felt the same: community living!
Billy Quick, successful financier, married Hannah Blackwell
Jim Hillsingers, CIA operative, married Hannah's sister, Lila Blackwell.
Just one big happy family in the two main houses on Island Seven ---- NOT QUITE.
Wilkie was one of those friends - that had a connection with both families - he stayed in regular contact with Lila throughout many years. He liked Jim. He was inseparable friends with Billy at one time, and he knew more about Hannah than most of her family did because of political issues.
I thought his character in this story was vital --There was more than one reason he was an invited as a guest for 4 days.
We learn early into the story that Hannah died.....yet will learn more about her death later.
The one year anniversary of her death is the same weekend as the migration. She was living in New York with Billy.....a young married couple. She was teaching Elementary school.....when trouble began.
John Wilkie knocked on their door to speak to Hannah about a letter she received from the Board of Education. His orders came from his father, Peregrine Wilkie.
Hannah was in serious trouble for having once been a member of the communist party while she was in college… Not an active member… And no longer a member… However
once a member at 'any' time - no matter how short - made her a forever communist with severe ramifications for she, her husband, extending family members, and her father. Everyone could lose their jobs. This Supreme Court affirmed the "Feinberg Law" ... ( prohibits communists from teaching in public schools), ALREADY GUILTY IN THE EYES OF THE LAW. No trial, no investigation, no debate, it is a public hanging.
The part of the story about Hannah made my head swim. There was so much unfairness to the story I wanted to scream. So, what did I do? I visited my friend google -- to see how many other people - FOR REAL - have suffered - been accused wrongly? How many activist have gone FOREVER SOUR??
I learned that the law does set standards for hiring teachers.... but it ignores the possibility that a person might have joined out of ignorance, or social pressure. There is little room for mistake ..... making for an unjust law.
Jim Hillsinger was also falsely accused of treason....
There were some heavy crisis going on in the story, including infidelity. I learned a lot about the historical communism accusations.
We have many Joyful moments too ... Martha's homemade biscuits- yummy meals -
games the kids play -and try to get away with - debate of weather OWLS are on the island....and outside summer adventures.
Added pleasure was the children. Don't children just add lightness at the best of times - when we need it most? The most precious scene is with Lila's youngest six-year-old daughter.
"Little Isa had asked why they built fairy houses only out of things that were on the ground. The things they used, Isa said, like bark and pinecones, fell apart too quickly;
The fairy house they built just yesterday had already collapsed".
"Fairies, Lila had said to her daughter, are different from us. They are so pure that they don't see dirt. All they see is a pinecone that had once been part of their friend the pine tree, or bits of soil shaken loose from their friend the earth. Above all things, she said, fairies wanted to be among their friends".
"But what do fairies eat?" Isa said for the thousandth time".
"Fairies eat the sunlight", Lila said yet again.
Isa paused.
"What if it rains?" up to that point. Lila felt they were in the domain of ritual, and she was content to answer, as many times as necessary, and that spirit. But this was a new question.
"If it rains, Lila said hopefully, "then they eat clouds."
"Is that way the sun comes back again?" Lila smiled, but chose not to answer. The logic of fairies, if pursued too far, could end up in a scary place."
WONDERFUL DEBUT NOVEL!
Thank You Bloomsbury, Netgalley, and Estep Nagy
John was coming to Seven Island from New York after receiving an invitation by Billy Quick, his old friend from Princeton, whom he had not seen for fifteen years when they were trying to repair their damaged friendship.
Billy offered John a trip to Seven with the intention of spiritual reconciliation of sorts.
After his flight, John met at the boat dock, where the Island manager, Cyrus, would help him board 'Heron'......the Island boat.
"The boat moved out of the harbor into the bay, past a color wheel of lobster buoys,
past huge cloud formations, ever deeper, it seemed, into the salt air. Soon the island speck divided, clarified, gained contrast: from nowhere, miles of wood extended in two directions. He couldn't see where they ended, and it struck him that Seven Island was much bigger than he imagined".
"Two houses, one white and one yellow, sat high up on a grassy hill. Outbuildings and a barn were scattered around, all of them painted electric red that Wilkie had only ever seen in Maine.
The Hillsingers had built the first house not long after the Revolution. After the Civil War, the Quicks built the new house. Seven Island was jointly owned by both the Hillsingers and Quicks from the beginning. A farmhouse was expanded - and other quarters were built for farmers and staff.
The new house was white - taller and squarer, rather than yellow... grander volumes and modern furniture.
The Hill house was a pure product of its time.... elegant facade faced the water.
There was also a children's house where all the children stayed from both families.
This Island setup with these two families - kids - daily jobs to do - [sheep which needed to be hauled to the neighboring island - Baffin - for grazing their clover fields in preparation for the annual Migration, staff members: cook, caretakers, etc.], ... felt like an intentional community compound. The tensions between the adults felt exactly like I imagined joint families would be like. The way the different children - of different ages played and worked felt the same: community living!
Billy Quick, successful financier, married Hannah Blackwell
Jim Hillsingers, CIA operative, married Hannah's sister, Lila Blackwell.
Just one big happy family in the two main houses on Island Seven ---- NOT QUITE.
Wilkie was one of those friends - that had a connection with both families - he stayed in regular contact with Lila throughout many years. He liked Jim. He was inseparable friends with Billy at one time, and he knew more about Hannah than most of her family did because of political issues.
I thought his character in this story was vital --There was more than one reason he was an invited as a guest for 4 days.
We learn early into the story that Hannah died.....yet will learn more about her death later.
The one year anniversary of her death is the same weekend as the migration. She was living in New York with Billy.....a young married couple. She was teaching Elementary school.....when trouble began.
John Wilkie knocked on their door to speak to Hannah about a letter she received from the Board of Education. His orders came from his father, Peregrine Wilkie.
Hannah was in serious trouble for having once been a member of the communist party while she was in college… Not an active member… And no longer a member… However
once a member at 'any' time - no matter how short - made her a forever communist with severe ramifications for she, her husband, extending family members, and her father. Everyone could lose their jobs. This Supreme Court affirmed the "Feinberg Law" ... ( prohibits communists from teaching in public schools), ALREADY GUILTY IN THE EYES OF THE LAW. No trial, no investigation, no debate, it is a public hanging.
The part of the story about Hannah made my head swim. There was so much unfairness to the story I wanted to scream. So, what did I do? I visited my friend google -- to see how many other people - FOR REAL - have suffered - been accused wrongly? How many activist have gone FOREVER SOUR??
I learned that the law does set standards for hiring teachers.... but it ignores the possibility that a person might have joined out of ignorance, or social pressure. There is little room for mistake ..... making for an unjust law.
Jim Hillsinger was also falsely accused of treason....
There were some heavy crisis going on in the story, including infidelity. I learned a lot about the historical communism accusations.
We have many Joyful moments too ... Martha's homemade biscuits- yummy meals -
games the kids play -and try to get away with - debate of weather OWLS are on the island....and outside summer adventures.
Added pleasure was the children. Don't children just add lightness at the best of times - when we need it most? The most precious scene is with Lila's youngest six-year-old daughter.
"Little Isa had asked why they built fairy houses only out of things that were on the ground. The things they used, Isa said, like bark and pinecones, fell apart too quickly;
The fairy house they built just yesterday had already collapsed".
"Fairies, Lila had said to her daughter, are different from us. They are so pure that they don't see dirt. All they see is a pinecone that had once been part of their friend the pine tree, or bits of soil shaken loose from their friend the earth. Above all things, she said, fairies wanted to be among their friends".
"But what do fairies eat?" Isa said for the thousandth time".
"Fairies eat the sunlight", Lila said yet again.
Isa paused.
"What if it rains?" up to that point. Lila felt they were in the domain of ritual, and she was content to answer, as many times as necessary, and that spirit. But this was a new question.
"If it rains, Lila said hopefully, "then they eat clouds."
"Is that way the sun comes back again?" Lila smiled, but chose not to answer. The logic of fairies, if pursued too far, could end up in a scary place."
WONDERFUL DEBUT NOVEL!
Thank You Bloomsbury, Netgalley, and Estep Nagy
October 27, 2017
When the Heron landed on the Seven dock and the lines were down, he stepped carefully out of the boat. Majestic cliffs rose up behind him. Birds called. A flock of sheep tumbled down the hill, and the smell of cut grass and smoke ran alongside the ethereal salt. The sun was hot and the wind cool. He had never, in all his life, been anywhere so beautiful.
1964: Seven Island has been inhabited by the Hillsinger and Quick families for centuries. Each family sees themselves "as the embodiment of the true Seven spirit and the other family as more or less barbarians." Despite the rivalry, both families have come together for the Migration, an annual event invented entirely out of thin air by the Hillsinger's patriarch. It's a cause for great celebration when the Seven Island sheep are sent to another island in the archipelago to graze for eight weeks. But as family friend John Wilkie observes, "these moments of perfection come more often toward the end of something rather than its beginning, that the light of every supernova comes from an explosion." What appears to be an idyllic family retreat is actually "a fortress built on auguries of eternal war."
The true wages of sin are to have no options, to be forced to smile while the punishment is given.
• Jim & Lila Hillisinger / Billy & Hannah Quick - The Quick and Hillsinger families are even further interlinked when the rivalrous men happen to marry a pair of sisters. In a time where an American's life could be destroyed with the mere suggestion of wrongdoing, Hannah's dalliance with the Communist party leads to disastrous consequences for the entire family. The adults are always playing games with the each other. They manage information, sometimes strategically divulging knowledge to the right person so it will get back to another person in just the right way. Their chapters occasionally flashback to the 1950s, revealing the tragic series of events that molded them.
"To learn when to lie, and to whom, and how to do it well—these are all parts of the world, or at least they are part of the unfortunate world that we have left you."
• Catta Hillsinger, 12 years old - Catta's grandfather thinks that if the family doesn't do their part in toughening up the next generation, the fate of the entire country is in danger of falling to the Communists. The Hillsinger men decide that it's time for Catta to grow up, so they devise a plan to abandon him on uninhabited Baffin Island for twenty-four hours. After they leave him to fend for himself, Catta is irritated with the adults for manipulating him into a situation that he would've agreed to if they had just asked. He's concerned that the "adults in his family were corrupt beyond any possibility of hope." Catta is an intense and determined child who loves exploring the outdoors. His seriousness in the face of adversity was endearing. If death ends up being the inevitable end of this grand experiment, he plans to "find a rock to sit on, open to the sea, somewhere the [ship] could easily spot his frozen corpse when they came looking for him. He would try to die upright like someone keeping watch, and with implacable scorn on his face." Will Catta survive the inhospitable environment of Baffin Island? If he passes the challenge, what kind of man will emerge?
Their house was not a place of safety, as she had thought. It was a coliseum. And if that was true, if her marriage was only a proving ground, or a stall for breeding violent oxen, then what was the rest of it? ... Had Lila in the end not been nurturing her children, as she had believed—had she instead been fattening them up for slaughter?
While the adult drama is playing out, the kids run wild on the island. Their little cottage set apart from the main houses is a microcosm of the adult world. With no adult supervision, it's survival of the fittest! The children are perceptive and already learning how to maneuver within and around society's rigid rules. As the oldest child, fifteen-year-old James Hillsinger has dominion over the kids. He relishes in his authoritarian status. He believes in rules and following orders—there's no room for nuance in his mind.
The kids were absolutely precious, except for James who I'm 95% certain is destined become a serial killer. Many of them are already weary and untrusting of the adults. Some of my favorite moments were just the kids being kids. Billy Quick's niece Penny befriends Catta early on. She's a stubborn, curious child, determined to right the injustices of her small world. In one beautiful scene, she builds a bonfire with the Quick girls. The girls are intoxicated with summer, childhood, and, in Penny's case, rage. I also loved sweet little Isa, the youngest Hillsinger. She's the most innocent of the pack, but her even her sweet little fairy world is already being encroached on by the strict rules of the adults. The Old Man is very serious about the construction materials used to build the fairy houses. Her mother Lila marvels at "how even this flimsiest of pastimes, when repeated enough, could evolve such a tangled and specific set of rules."
This was how the world crushes you, he thought. There was no announcement. There was no freakish blow or lightning or floods or even bears. There was no mystery, not even any struggle or surprise. It was infinitely simple. you were forced into a series of small bad decisions that slowly and irrevocably cut off your options. And then, once you were confused and desperate and worn down by hunger and cold and whatever else—when at last you could no longer move or think—then the crows came down from their trees.
There was a classic quality to the writing that suited the time and setting. The perspectives alternate frequently, switching from character to character with no notice. I enjoyed all the individual parts of this book, but I'm not sure how I feel about the story as a whole. While the details surrounding Communist witch hunts and Jim's fall from grace at the CIA were fascinating, it was hard to beat the immediacy of the Seven Island chapters. Many of Jim's sections were less engaging because they were conversations explaining things that had already happened and some of the financial maneuverings went over my head. When I finish reading a book, I like to feel like I have a basic grasp of the story. However, there are so many intricacies to the story and the relationships, that I'm not sure that I ever made complete sense of it all.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51)
The island manager Cyrus warns against "the belief that any one person’s experience was more essential, more enlightened, or more direct than that of the congregation as a whole." But for his employer, there is a right way and wrong way to do things. Even minor actions can have dire consequences in the grand scheme of things—any perceived weakness must be snuffed out for the good of society. Doing something extraordinary in the name of virtue is valued, whether or not what they are actually doing is virtuous. In this complex tale, the innocent suffer the consequences. They fall victim to an arbitrary, black-and-white society that batters people until they assimilate or destroys them when they resist. What will the next generation learn from growing up in the absolutist world of their parents? We Shall Not Sleep is an interesting story, but I had trouble putting all the pieces together.
LINKS
• Overview: Anticommunism in the 1950s
• More on CIA Mole Hunters: The Life and Strange Career of a Mole Hunter / James Jesus Angleton (Wikipedia)
• When Suspicion of Teachers Ran Unchecked
• Insubordination and "Conduct Unbecoming" : Purging NYC's Communist Teachers at the Start of the Cold War
• Ike and McCarthy: Dwight Eisenhower's Secret Campaign against Joseph McCarthy - An interesting book I read earlier this year about the hunt for Communist spies in the government.
_______
I received this book for free from Netgalley and Bloomsbury. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. It's available now!
July 2, 2017
Well, this just wasn't a book for me. I liked the setting on the Seven Islands, but there were too many story lines going on in the book. There were some parts that I really liked, but then the old history of these folks got thrown in and to me, it took away from the story. Too much detail.
I would however like to thank Netgalley
and Bloomsbury USA for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.
I would however like to thank Netgalley
and Bloomsbury USA for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.
June 7, 2017
I thought this book was quite brilliant, very literary, and highly intriguing. It takes place over a few days, however, there are flashbacks to earlier times such that the reader gets a much longer and larger view into the lives of the characters.
The setting is July 1964 during the era of McCarthyism on Seven Island in northern Maine. Seven is a fictional island home to two very wealthy families whose history is interconnected dating back to the 1700s. In present day, each family owns a beautiful house on the island, one yellow and one white. There is a barn for the animals and outbuildings for the staff, all in bright red. The Hillsingers are in one house and the Quicks are in the other. Interestingly, although their histories are connected and the men of these houses married two sisters, their lives have been very separate until these 3 days spent on the island where past and present collide. There is a huge cast of characters which includes Billy Quick, Jim Hillsinger, their immediate families, their guests, and the staff. Within each chapter past and present are described and the narration jumps from one situation to another. At first I found this confusing and difficult to track, but fairly quickly on, I had figured out who was who and reading this book was like watching a movie unfold. It really had a cinematic quality of switching from one scene to another as in a movie. I can’t compare this quality of the book to another like it, it seemed quite unique. The effect was tantalizing and compelling, making this a very quick read. The storyline builds and compounds as the novel progresses reaching the crescendo point by the end.
I won’t say much more as I don’t want to give too much away. I would definitely recommend this book. It would make a great beach read as well as a great book club choice. It contains many historical elements without feeling like it is beating you over the head with them. They simply exist in the book only because they are important to explaining the characters and their situation. There are no wasted words in this novel. It is written succinctly, beautifully and intentionally. However, the reader, needs to pay close attention, or will miss something. In short, well written, well researched and well worth the read!
Thank you to net galley and the publisher for and ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
For discussion questions, please see http://www.book-chatter.com/?p=1697.
The setting is July 1964 during the era of McCarthyism on Seven Island in northern Maine. Seven is a fictional island home to two very wealthy families whose history is interconnected dating back to the 1700s. In present day, each family owns a beautiful house on the island, one yellow and one white. There is a barn for the animals and outbuildings for the staff, all in bright red. The Hillsingers are in one house and the Quicks are in the other. Interestingly, although their histories are connected and the men of these houses married two sisters, their lives have been very separate until these 3 days spent on the island where past and present collide. There is a huge cast of characters which includes Billy Quick, Jim Hillsinger, their immediate families, their guests, and the staff. Within each chapter past and present are described and the narration jumps from one situation to another. At first I found this confusing and difficult to track, but fairly quickly on, I had figured out who was who and reading this book was like watching a movie unfold. It really had a cinematic quality of switching from one scene to another as in a movie. I can’t compare this quality of the book to another like it, it seemed quite unique. The effect was tantalizing and compelling, making this a very quick read. The storyline builds and compounds as the novel progresses reaching the crescendo point by the end.
I won’t say much more as I don’t want to give too much away. I would definitely recommend this book. It would make a great beach read as well as a great book club choice. It contains many historical elements without feeling like it is beating you over the head with them. They simply exist in the book only because they are important to explaining the characters and their situation. There are no wasted words in this novel. It is written succinctly, beautifully and intentionally. However, the reader, needs to pay close attention, or will miss something. In short, well written, well researched and well worth the read!
Thank you to net galley and the publisher for and ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
For discussion questions, please see http://www.book-chatter.com/?p=1697.
April 19, 2017
This book seems to be two disparate stories with hints of a third, and my main complaint is that they just don't really seem to fit together. I was interested in all of them individually but felt I had the same experience as a reader that I do when I simultaneously read multiple books.
One story is that of Russian spies and the witchhunt that went on in the 1950s and 1960s. One of the characters, Hannah, is accused of Communist ties and ends up taking her life. This is known at the beginning but the why is not discovered until later. Her dangerous job? She's a school teacher! And apparently the Dept of Education removed teachers with known Communist ties.
The second story is that of a place, a set of islands off the coast of Maine, with two feuding families. There are not many people living there that don't belong to one or the other, and loyalties are divided. Of course Hannah and Lila are sisters who married men in the two families, so that adds complexity. The story goes between the 1950s and 1960s, so the generations are the same but in one story line there are a bunch of kids involved, and in another, they're not there.
Enter story line #3 - one child being deposited on a harsh island for a coming of age experience, against his mother's wishes. That story goes a bizarre direction and felt almost like the author wanted to write a more mysterious story. But the rest of the novel is not that same tone.
I recognize this is a first novel, and I feel many of these decisions are a reflection of a lack of experience with a longer form. I would still read another book by the author, because it seems as if he is interested in topics that aren't covered every day in fiction. But I would hope to see them in their own novels or stories rather than all crammed into one.
Thanks to the publisher for giving me a review copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
One story is that of Russian spies and the witchhunt that went on in the 1950s and 1960s. One of the characters, Hannah, is accused of Communist ties and ends up taking her life. This is known at the beginning but the why is not discovered until later. Her dangerous job? She's a school teacher! And apparently the Dept of Education removed teachers with known Communist ties.
The second story is that of a place, a set of islands off the coast of Maine, with two feuding families. There are not many people living there that don't belong to one or the other, and loyalties are divided. Of course Hannah and Lila are sisters who married men in the two families, so that adds complexity. The story goes between the 1950s and 1960s, so the generations are the same but in one story line there are a bunch of kids involved, and in another, they're not there.
Enter story line #3 - one child being deposited on a harsh island for a coming of age experience, against his mother's wishes. That story goes a bizarre direction and felt almost like the author wanted to write a more mysterious story. But the rest of the novel is not that same tone.
I recognize this is a first novel, and I feel many of these decisions are a reflection of a lack of experience with a longer form. I would still read another book by the author, because it seems as if he is interested in topics that aren't covered every day in fiction. But I would hope to see them in their own novels or stories rather than all crammed into one.
Thanks to the publisher for giving me a review copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 28, 2017
We Shall Not All Sleep is the story of two tangled, often-competitive families who share Seven Island off the coast of Maine. The setting, 1964 New England, evokes something akin the Kennedy family. These are two families struggling with the burden of expectation that comes from privilege. Those pressures manifest themselves in any number of ways, from infidelity to how you raise your children. Catta Hillsinger, the son of Jim and Lila, is forced to inherit the strains that a life of expectation has put on his parents. Jim lost his CIA job and his purpose in life. Lila lost a sister and her connection to her husband. So Catta is forced to spend a night in the wild of a neighboring island. His test of reliance is meant to prepare him for the life ahead.
It’s an extraordinarily well-written book with multi-layered storylines. The characters take on a complexity that can only really exist in the stratified classes of 1964 Maine. And therein lies the arc of the story, privilege brings as many troubles as it does benefits, and family are often complex organisms with histories and passions all their own. I liked the book quite a bit and found myself thinking about it well after I’d finished it. Thanks for the advance copy!
It’s an extraordinarily well-written book with multi-layered storylines. The characters take on a complexity that can only really exist in the stratified classes of 1964 Maine. And therein lies the arc of the story, privilege brings as many troubles as it does benefits, and family are often complex organisms with histories and passions all their own. I liked the book quite a bit and found myself thinking about it well after I’d finished it. Thanks for the advance copy!
February 27, 2017
I recently read an arc of WE SHALL NOT ALL SLEEP, and I was blown away. It is the kind of book I am always looking for, but never find: lovely sentences, expertly crafted small moments, excellent interior dialogue, a compelling setting, impressively researched historical details, and a tight dramatic tension throughout the piece. Lately it seems that all books that are recommended to me have gut-wrenching details that compel the recommendation. In this case, my recommendation is based solely on a fascinating story, good writing and interesting characters. It makes me think that the gut-wrenching details of many of these recent best sellers are a gimmick that will fade into the past while WE SHALL NOT ALL SLEEP is a long term keeper and a book you will return to year after year.
The book touches on CIA mole hunts, communist witch hunts, a long-ago “uptown” 1960s world, and allusions to Lord of the Flies, but it also does a wonderful job about speaking to a woman’s perspective in the 1960s, family dynamics, the perspective of children (both world and family events), and upstairs/downstairs juxtapositions. The women and children are written so well, in fact, that it is surprising to me that the author is a man. I can easily see it adapted to be a movie or a play. What a pleasure!
The book touches on CIA mole hunts, communist witch hunts, a long-ago “uptown” 1960s world, and allusions to Lord of the Flies, but it also does a wonderful job about speaking to a woman’s perspective in the 1960s, family dynamics, the perspective of children (both world and family events), and upstairs/downstairs juxtapositions. The women and children are written so well, in fact, that it is surprising to me that the author is a man. I can easily see it adapted to be a movie or a play. What a pleasure!
January 9, 2017
This novel looked promising, but looks can be deceiving. It's certainly ambitious, but the best way I can describe it is that it concentrated so much on being literary, it forgot to be good. The writing in itself is strong, but the narrative doesn't work. The layers aren't crafted precisely, so it meanders, obfuscates itself, confuses. Some of the 1960s flashbacks are quite good, but the story is all over the place, so much so that it's impossible to connect with it on any meaningful level. There is a cohesive plot somewhere there about spy intrigue, wealth, McCarthyism and its devastation, but all of this is buried under the aforementioned layers in such a way that overall effect is occasionally moot and consistently muted. No dramatic immediacy, no emotional engagement, just words. Reads quickly, at least, but contrary to its title, won't do much for one's awakeness levels. Thanks Netgalley.
February 12, 2017
In 1965 two families, the Quicks and the Hillsingers, gather on an idyllic Maine island. They are preparing for Migration Day when the sheep are gathered and transported to the rich clover fields of a neighboring island, a time of feasting and celebration.
Seven Island and its archipelago of islands have belonged to the families for seven generations; their ancestors had made their fortunes as privateers. The Blackwell sisters Lila and Hannah married into the families: Lila marrying Jim Hilsinger, a CIA operative, and Hannah marrying successful financier Billy Quick.
This year, Jim Hillsinger has invited a man from their past, John Wilkie, to join them.
Activist teacher Hannah's idealism led her to the Communist Party until she saw its irrelevance to the problems of her Harlem students. She couldn't escape notice of the government agencies sniffing out Red spies, leading her to commit a desperate act.
Lila's husband has been falsely accused of treason and ousted from the CIA after an illustrious career; in Warsaw he had been feared by the KGB as The Black Prince.
As the adults struggle with their crisis of family and country, Jim Hilsinger is determined to harden his twelve-year-old son Catta in preparation survival in the vicious Cold War world as he knows it--by stranding the boy alone on an island overnight.
"Majestic cliffs rose up behind him. Birds called. A flock of sheep tumbled down the hill, and the smell of cut grass and smoke ran alongside the ethereal salt. The sun was hot and the wind cool. He had never, in all his life, been anywhere so beautiful. Someday, he thought, you will have to leave this place."
John Wilkie's first sight of the Maine island made me nostalgic. We had camped in Maine for seven or more trips, in love with those woods rising from the ocean, the islands rimmed with granite shores, the lobster boats bobbing from trap to trap in the sunshine. We climbed the mountains and gazed upon the off shore green islands that arose abruptly from the intense blue sea. We sought out the rock-bound tidal pools, the sweep of sand in it's bowl of cliff, and the inland quiet tarn with its beaver and Siberian Iris.
"Among the rock and penury of Northern Maine, it was a geological freak that there existed here a mile-long white-sand beach in a crescent shape, in a protected harbor facing the open sea."
The families make thick pancakes spread with local orange butter, gather around fireplaces in the evening; to Wilkie they are "moments of perfection" that "often come toward the end of something rather than its beginning, that the light of every supernova comes from an explosion."
The children's world parallels their parent's. Fairy houses are made and baby lambs are born, there are days wandering the island with homemade biscuits secreted in pockets for lunch. Then there is James who secretly bullies new arrivals and leads the boys in brutal games.
Catta is victim of both worlds, abused by his older, jealous brother James, and abandoned, unprepared, by his father on Baffin Island, expected to prove he is 'a man.' It is the end of innocence, a realization that the adult world is corrupt and that children were reared to be warriors "for the slaughter."
We Shall Not All Sleep is an intriguing Cold War family drama with elements of a spy thriller and mystery. The complicated and convoluted thread that snares the Quicks, Hilsingers, and Wilkies is slowly unraveled. I was riveted.
Seven Island and its archipelago of islands have belonged to the families for seven generations; their ancestors had made their fortunes as privateers. The Blackwell sisters Lila and Hannah married into the families: Lila marrying Jim Hilsinger, a CIA operative, and Hannah marrying successful financier Billy Quick.
This year, Jim Hillsinger has invited a man from their past, John Wilkie, to join them.
Activist teacher Hannah's idealism led her to the Communist Party until she saw its irrelevance to the problems of her Harlem students. She couldn't escape notice of the government agencies sniffing out Red spies, leading her to commit a desperate act.
Lila's husband has been falsely accused of treason and ousted from the CIA after an illustrious career; in Warsaw he had been feared by the KGB as The Black Prince.
As the adults struggle with their crisis of family and country, Jim Hilsinger is determined to harden his twelve-year-old son Catta in preparation survival in the vicious Cold War world as he knows it--by stranding the boy alone on an island overnight.
"Majestic cliffs rose up behind him. Birds called. A flock of sheep tumbled down the hill, and the smell of cut grass and smoke ran alongside the ethereal salt. The sun was hot and the wind cool. He had never, in all his life, been anywhere so beautiful. Someday, he thought, you will have to leave this place."
John Wilkie's first sight of the Maine island made me nostalgic. We had camped in Maine for seven or more trips, in love with those woods rising from the ocean, the islands rimmed with granite shores, the lobster boats bobbing from trap to trap in the sunshine. We climbed the mountains and gazed upon the off shore green islands that arose abruptly from the intense blue sea. We sought out the rock-bound tidal pools, the sweep of sand in it's bowl of cliff, and the inland quiet tarn with its beaver and Siberian Iris.
"Among the rock and penury of Northern Maine, it was a geological freak that there existed here a mile-long white-sand beach in a crescent shape, in a protected harbor facing the open sea."
The families make thick pancakes spread with local orange butter, gather around fireplaces in the evening; to Wilkie they are "moments of perfection" that "often come toward the end of something rather than its beginning, that the light of every supernova comes from an explosion."
The children's world parallels their parent's. Fairy houses are made and baby lambs are born, there are days wandering the island with homemade biscuits secreted in pockets for lunch. Then there is James who secretly bullies new arrivals and leads the boys in brutal games.
Catta is victim of both worlds, abused by his older, jealous brother James, and abandoned, unprepared, by his father on Baffin Island, expected to prove he is 'a man.' It is the end of innocence, a realization that the adult world is corrupt and that children were reared to be warriors "for the slaughter."
We Shall Not All Sleep is an intriguing Cold War family drama with elements of a spy thriller and mystery. The complicated and convoluted thread that snares the Quicks, Hilsingers, and Wilkies is slowly unraveled. I was riveted.
January 17, 2017
An astonishing first novel from Nagy. This has all the hallmarks of a classic: controlled, beautiful language; bubbling pacing; and a narrative that pulls the reader from page to page. The climactic scenes were so gripping that I lost the normal reader's emotional distance from the work--I felt like a consumed movie-goer inadvertently shouting warnings to the characters on the screen. A lovely story perfectly told. Bravo.
August 9, 2017
Their house was not a place of safety, as she had thought. It was a coliseum.
This is a hard one to rate and my final decision of 3-stars doesn't really do justice to all the good stuff in this book - Nagy's lyrical writing, the sense that these characters have full and hidden lives to which we are not given access - but by the end I was left feeling at a loss as to how the various strands are supposed to coalesce and for me (possibly my fault) they remained disparate and frustratingly disconnected.
In the 'past' (yes, this is another fragmented narrative whipping between timelines) we have a story starting in the 1940s about American paranoia, the 'Red threat', the CIA, KGB infiltration, McCarthyism. In the present (1964) this spy story comes to its conclusion while the younger generation of Hillsingers and Quicks run wild on Seven, and an adolescent is abandoned on Baffin overnight in order to 'make him a man'. I had the nagging feeling that the book is trying to say something about generational change here but couldn't ever put my finger on precisely what.
The idea of the house as a kind of gladiatorial arena perhaps helps to pull the book together: there's so much tension in the story - between wives and husbands, sons and fathers, the 'ruling' families and their workers, amongst the children, and of course, overarching, between the US and Russia.
Nagy writes very well and I especially liked the way these characters have depths to them: they're subtly portrayed and just because we don't see into their souls, doesn't mean they don't have them - quite an achievement on the page. All the same, I was left perplexed (to borrow a word from my GR friend, Sue) by the end: it seems there must be a way to allocate coherency of a sort to this book but I couldn't find it. 3.5 stars really and I'd certainly read Nagy's next offering.
This is a hard one to rate and my final decision of 3-stars doesn't really do justice to all the good stuff in this book - Nagy's lyrical writing, the sense that these characters have full and hidden lives to which we are not given access - but by the end I was left feeling at a loss as to how the various strands are supposed to coalesce and for me (possibly my fault) they remained disparate and frustratingly disconnected.
In the 'past' (yes, this is another fragmented narrative whipping between timelines) we have a story starting in the 1940s about American paranoia, the 'Red threat', the CIA, KGB infiltration, McCarthyism. In the present (1964) this spy story comes to its conclusion while the younger generation of Hillsingers and Quicks run wild on Seven, and an adolescent is abandoned on Baffin overnight in order to 'make him a man'. I had the nagging feeling that the book is trying to say something about generational change here but couldn't ever put my finger on precisely what.
The idea of the house as a kind of gladiatorial arena perhaps helps to pull the book together: there's so much tension in the story - between wives and husbands, sons and fathers, the 'ruling' families and their workers, amongst the children, and of course, overarching, between the US and Russia.
Nagy writes very well and I especially liked the way these characters have depths to them: they're subtly portrayed and just because we don't see into their souls, doesn't mean they don't have them - quite an achievement on the page. All the same, I was left perplexed (to borrow a word from my GR friend, Sue) by the end: it seems there must be a way to allocate coherency of a sort to this book but I couldn't find it. 3.5 stars really and I'd certainly read Nagy's next offering.
December 27, 2023
Too much going on, too many storylines and trying to keep up gave me an headache, however I did enjoy the narration.
February 3, 2017
via my blog https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com...
"While sharing nothing else, lila thought, this man and her husband both spoke from a very hot core of certainty."
In We Shall Not All Sleep, there are two houses on the Seven Island- one for the Hillsingers one for the Quicks' and the two are rooted in each other. Despite sharing the island and marrying wealthy sisters, Billy Quick and Jim Hillsinger keep the families apart. It is the anniversary of Hannah's death, surviving sister Lila is finding herself drawn to Billy, and the children are running wild. "Billy Quick hated mysticism in all it's many forms, but it was nevertheless true that, with Lila, only vanishing images were real." In a sweet conversation about what fairies eat, we come to see this ethereal side of Lila. "But what do fairies eat?" Isa said for the thousandth time. "Fairies eat the sunlight." Lila said yet again. Jim is a spy kicked out of the CIA, the reader is thrown between past and present slowly unraveling what has happened. With Hannah the author is touching on a time in history when suspicions of communism ran rampant. Jim was accused of treason, but must go quietly, though innocent. Hannah is guilty, but why? She is just a teacher. How did this happen? That Hannah had cut ties with the family, working as a teacher in a sort of 'invisible' manner may well have been the nail in her coffin. We find out what happened with Hannah in flashbacks through time. Sometimes it made the reading difficult, just when I was immersed in the present it interrupted the flow. The 'help' is as much a part of the two island, juggling the difficulty of the families emotional distance. Beyond Lila, I was less interested in the adults and more in the children as they were beautiful creations. "Penny Quick asked questions, and she was watching all the time. The alert ones were the most dangerous, and Martha had never seen her before last week." They are each full of character, some cruel, others sweet.
The dissension between Lila and Jim are in the banishment of their young son Catta to an island nearby. In this the reader is reminded of a time when sons were 'toughened up' and 'mad a man' by being thrown into situations beyond their age. A time when women didn't have as much control in what their husbands decided for their children. Catta changes after the incident, but his future isn't meant to become like the old generation of men before him. The strain between the families is a thick fog, misunderstanding, animosity, blame, desires... There are moments in this story that worked for me, but times when I got lost with the back and forth. It reads as a literary historical fiction, and the author doesn't need to come out and state why there is tension, it's alive in every conversation, comment, action of the characters. Wealth isn't without a rotten core. I had a hard time connecting with the adults, the children were far more interesting to me. I was expecting more intrigue, or maybe I missed it. I liked it, but I didn't fully follow what was happening and found myself going back to read again which is unusual for me.
Publication Date: July 4, 2017
Bloomsbury USA
"While sharing nothing else, lila thought, this man and her husband both spoke from a very hot core of certainty."
In We Shall Not All Sleep, there are two houses on the Seven Island- one for the Hillsingers one for the Quicks' and the two are rooted in each other. Despite sharing the island and marrying wealthy sisters, Billy Quick and Jim Hillsinger keep the families apart. It is the anniversary of Hannah's death, surviving sister Lila is finding herself drawn to Billy, and the children are running wild. "Billy Quick hated mysticism in all it's many forms, but it was nevertheless true that, with Lila, only vanishing images were real." In a sweet conversation about what fairies eat, we come to see this ethereal side of Lila. "But what do fairies eat?" Isa said for the thousandth time. "Fairies eat the sunlight." Lila said yet again. Jim is a spy kicked out of the CIA, the reader is thrown between past and present slowly unraveling what has happened. With Hannah the author is touching on a time in history when suspicions of communism ran rampant. Jim was accused of treason, but must go quietly, though innocent. Hannah is guilty, but why? She is just a teacher. How did this happen? That Hannah had cut ties with the family, working as a teacher in a sort of 'invisible' manner may well have been the nail in her coffin. We find out what happened with Hannah in flashbacks through time. Sometimes it made the reading difficult, just when I was immersed in the present it interrupted the flow. The 'help' is as much a part of the two island, juggling the difficulty of the families emotional distance. Beyond Lila, I was less interested in the adults and more in the children as they were beautiful creations. "Penny Quick asked questions, and she was watching all the time. The alert ones were the most dangerous, and Martha had never seen her before last week." They are each full of character, some cruel, others sweet.
The dissension between Lila and Jim are in the banishment of their young son Catta to an island nearby. In this the reader is reminded of a time when sons were 'toughened up' and 'mad a man' by being thrown into situations beyond their age. A time when women didn't have as much control in what their husbands decided for their children. Catta changes after the incident, but his future isn't meant to become like the old generation of men before him. The strain between the families is a thick fog, misunderstanding, animosity, blame, desires... There are moments in this story that worked for me, but times when I got lost with the back and forth. It reads as a literary historical fiction, and the author doesn't need to come out and state why there is tension, it's alive in every conversation, comment, action of the characters. Wealth isn't without a rotten core. I had a hard time connecting with the adults, the children were far more interesting to me. I was expecting more intrigue, or maybe I missed it. I liked it, but I didn't fully follow what was happening and found myself going back to read again which is unusual for me.
Publication Date: July 4, 2017
Bloomsbury USA
Read
February 23, 2017DECLINED TO REVIEW. Although a slow pace is forgivable in a deliberately dense, delicately stylish character study, especially one with as unique and interesting a premise as Estep Nagy's We Shall Not All Sleep (in which two families have shared a small island in Maine since Revolutionary times, developing a bizarrely dysfunctional, Kennedy-Compound-like insular culture, with our particular story looking at the schism in the mid-1960s between the older generation of gruff military veterans and their countercultural baby-boomer children), unfortunately this book was just way too slowly paced for me; and when I found it taking me a week to choke my way unwillingly through just the first 50 glacial pages, I decided at that point to just give up on it altogether. This book definitely has an audience that will enjoy it, because it's certainly not a bad story; but if you're not into novels that move at a snail's pace, do yourself a favor and avoid it altogether.
April 17, 2017
A beautifully written novel.A tale of two entangled families a book that drew me in from the first pages.This is the authors lyrically written first novel an author to follow,
July 2, 2017
Please Note: I received an advanced reader's copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence the opinions of my review in any way.
Set in 1964, We All Shall Not Sleep, by Estep Nagy, brings forth both nostalgia and a sober reminder that our childhoods weren't as idyllic as we might remember. The setting for this novel is a private island in Maine where two families spend their summers. For the adults, it is an escape from the reality, but also a fertile playground to play complex mind games with each other. The adults see themselves as creating a paradise where their children can frolic among nature. But the children have their own secret games to play.
Although disjointed at times, I enjoyed this book. The story lured me in as I tried to understand entanglements that the adults created. This children, many on the brink of adulthood, also were fascinating. One can get glimpses of the grown-ups they will become.
What I Liked:
Setting:
I loved the dual nature of the island, a playground for some, and a hunting ground for others.
It's 1964, who wouldn't want to go to an island for their summer vacation? The two families, the Quicks and the Hillsingers, jointly own the island and bring their extended relations and friends to enjoy the fresh air, lovely accommodations, and be waited on hand and foot by a small army of servants. It really does seem perfect.
The children are mostly separated from their parents and are housed in a different home known as The Cottage. While the adults see this arrangement as a way to give their kids some independence (and a way to let the parents have some space), a 'Lord Of The Flies' type of existence develops. So what seems so lovely to the grown-ups is actually rather scary for all but the oldest, and strongest of the kids. Do the adults vaguely know this and feel it's a way to toughen up their progeny?
Characters:
Both Jim and Lila Hillsinger seem to feel trapped as events lead to accusations of communist sympathies. This is the height of the Cold War, where even a hint of Soviet collaboration could get one fired from a job, or thrown in jail. Even with his expertise on the KGB, Jim (who works at the CIA) falls into a trap and may face charges for treason. Lila, still reeling from her sister's death, has an affair. Both of these events involve Lila's brother-in-law, Billy Quick.
I liked how both of these characters were so layered. They are at a point in their marriage where they look at each other and think "How did we wind up here?" Yet they know that they are better together than apart. But that doesn't stop them from making power plays to control their kids and each other.
Story:
I think the many layers of the story show how each member of the family is going through their own evolution. I loved following twelve year-old Catta's journey from being a coddled tween to having a budding awareness of the adult world. Jim (Catta's father) is prodded by his own father to drop Catta on another (uninhabited) island for twenty-four hours so he can toughen up. While he thinks he has all the answers for surviving in the wild, Catta comes to understand how woefully unprepared he is.
And is Jim being manipulated by his own father into doing this? While he has some notion that this will benefit Catta, Jim knows that Lila will be furious at his decision. Will Jim stop letting others dictate his actions and fight back?
What I Was Mixed About:
Story Structure:
Some of the storytelling was confusing, especially at the beginning of the book. The book travels back and forth between story lines, sometimes in the same paragraph. I honestly don't know if this was due to this being an uncorrected reader's copy, or if the author meant to do this. But the manuscript that I had jumped around so much I had a hard time keeping track of the action.
Coincidences:
I also thought that many of the situations were a little too convenient to be believed. How amazing that sons from the island's two families marry sisters? I supposed one could account for this by remembering that these characters live in rarefied social circles, so it may be conceivable that this happened. But I think all the incidental situations leading to charges of treason were a little over the top to be believed.
Aside from this, We All Shall Not Sleep would be a fantastic book to read if you are on vacation. With it's complex characters and dreamlike setting, this book will keep you entertained and feeling lucky you are not part of these clans!
Set in 1964, We All Shall Not Sleep, by Estep Nagy, brings forth both nostalgia and a sober reminder that our childhoods weren't as idyllic as we might remember. The setting for this novel is a private island in Maine where two families spend their summers. For the adults, it is an escape from the reality, but also a fertile playground to play complex mind games with each other. The adults see themselves as creating a paradise where their children can frolic among nature. But the children have their own secret games to play.
Although disjointed at times, I enjoyed this book. The story lured me in as I tried to understand entanglements that the adults created. This children, many on the brink of adulthood, also were fascinating. One can get glimpses of the grown-ups they will become.
What I Liked:
Setting:
I loved the dual nature of the island, a playground for some, and a hunting ground for others.
It's 1964, who wouldn't want to go to an island for their summer vacation? The two families, the Quicks and the Hillsingers, jointly own the island and bring their extended relations and friends to enjoy the fresh air, lovely accommodations, and be waited on hand and foot by a small army of servants. It really does seem perfect.
The children are mostly separated from their parents and are housed in a different home known as The Cottage. While the adults see this arrangement as a way to give their kids some independence (and a way to let the parents have some space), a 'Lord Of The Flies' type of existence develops. So what seems so lovely to the grown-ups is actually rather scary for all but the oldest, and strongest of the kids. Do the adults vaguely know this and feel it's a way to toughen up their progeny?
Characters:
Both Jim and Lila Hillsinger seem to feel trapped as events lead to accusations of communist sympathies. This is the height of the Cold War, where even a hint of Soviet collaboration could get one fired from a job, or thrown in jail. Even with his expertise on the KGB, Jim (who works at the CIA) falls into a trap and may face charges for treason. Lila, still reeling from her sister's death, has an affair. Both of these events involve Lila's brother-in-law, Billy Quick.
I liked how both of these characters were so layered. They are at a point in their marriage where they look at each other and think "How did we wind up here?" Yet they know that they are better together than apart. But that doesn't stop them from making power plays to control their kids and each other.
Story:
I think the many layers of the story show how each member of the family is going through their own evolution. I loved following twelve year-old Catta's journey from being a coddled tween to having a budding awareness of the adult world. Jim (Catta's father) is prodded by his own father to drop Catta on another (uninhabited) island for twenty-four hours so he can toughen up. While he thinks he has all the answers for surviving in the wild, Catta comes to understand how woefully unprepared he is.
And is Jim being manipulated by his own father into doing this? While he has some notion that this will benefit Catta, Jim knows that Lila will be furious at his decision. Will Jim stop letting others dictate his actions and fight back?
What I Was Mixed About:
Story Structure:
Some of the storytelling was confusing, especially at the beginning of the book. The book travels back and forth between story lines, sometimes in the same paragraph. I honestly don't know if this was due to this being an uncorrected reader's copy, or if the author meant to do this. But the manuscript that I had jumped around so much I had a hard time keeping track of the action.
Coincidences:
I also thought that many of the situations were a little too convenient to be believed. How amazing that sons from the island's two families marry sisters? I supposed one could account for this by remembering that these characters live in rarefied social circles, so it may be conceivable that this happened. But I think all the incidental situations leading to charges of treason were a little over the top to be believed.
Aside from this, We All Shall Not Sleep would be a fantastic book to read if you are on vacation. With it's complex characters and dreamlike setting, this book will keep you entertained and feeling lucky you are not part of these clans!
August 6, 2017
Recommended from the Not The Booker Longlist this is a very different novel, literary I guess, that has the wonderful setting of an island off Maine. It tells of two families who live on the island and the quirky life they lead that is partly due to what they have gone through in earlier life.
By far the strongest parts of the book are the scenes with 12 year old Catta, the children are treated in a special and almost old-fashioned way on the island. The story flits back in time also though, as an explanation to the way of life the Quicks and the Hillsingers lead.
It's not quite 5 stars for me, as that captivating aspect occasionally drifted.
By far the strongest parts of the book are the scenes with 12 year old Catta, the children are treated in a special and almost old-fashioned way on the island. The story flits back in time also though, as an explanation to the way of life the Quicks and the Hillsingers lead.
It's not quite 5 stars for me, as that captivating aspect occasionally drifted.
August 27, 2017
I found myself engaging in quite a bit of self-introspection as I read this book and after I finished it - which, for me, is the mark of a good novel. At its core, this book is about identifying and living up to the expectations set for us by society, by our families, and by ourselves - with the attendant relief of meeting those expectations, as well as the costs of falling short of those expectations.
Set on a remote island in Maine during the post-McCarthyism height of the Cold War, WE SHALL NOT ALL SLEEP explores themes of betrayal, sacrifice and redemption.
WSNAS is about two Old Money families (the Quicks and the Hillsingers) who don't particularly like each other, but who are also linked by a shared family history, by joint ownership of a remote Maine archipelago, and by marriage through the Blackwell sisters.
The family has made its annual Summer-long retreat to Seven Island, a remote place with no phone service and a seemingly never-ending stream of house guests. Each distinct group on the island (the adults, the children, and the staff) forms its own community of interests. And as long as each group fulfills its role within the larger social ecosystem of the island (the adults eat and drink, the staff serve the adults and keep the island running, and the kids are largely seen and not heard) it is left to establish its own rules and traditions free from outside interference.
The book flows well, with flashbacks used to give context to the events unfolding in the story. I read the entire book in two sittings, which is unusual for me.
I was especially drawn to the vivid descriptions of the natural setting of the remote island chain. The mysterious nearby Baffin Island is a source of fascination for the residents of the island, and for the 12 year old Hillsinger boy in particular. His journey of self-exploration really grabbed me. Reading this book made me want to find my own remote island to explore.
Set on a remote island in Maine during the post-McCarthyism height of the Cold War, WE SHALL NOT ALL SLEEP explores themes of betrayal, sacrifice and redemption.
WSNAS is about two Old Money families (the Quicks and the Hillsingers) who don't particularly like each other, but who are also linked by a shared family history, by joint ownership of a remote Maine archipelago, and by marriage through the Blackwell sisters.
The family has made its annual Summer-long retreat to Seven Island, a remote place with no phone service and a seemingly never-ending stream of house guests. Each distinct group on the island (the adults, the children, and the staff) forms its own community of interests. And as long as each group fulfills its role within the larger social ecosystem of the island (the adults eat and drink, the staff serve the adults and keep the island running, and the kids are largely seen and not heard) it is left to establish its own rules and traditions free from outside interference.
The book flows well, with flashbacks used to give context to the events unfolding in the story. I read the entire book in two sittings, which is unusual for me.
I was especially drawn to the vivid descriptions of the natural setting of the remote island chain. The mysterious nearby Baffin Island is a source of fascination for the residents of the island, and for the 12 year old Hillsinger boy in particular. His journey of self-exploration really grabbed me. Reading this book made me want to find my own remote island to explore.
April 17, 2017
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book, while written with excellent mastery of language, was so confusing it was impossible to follow the story. The constant interruptions of the narrative to flash back to the McCarthy witch-hunt era, seemed to have no connection to the other story of a young boy deliberately stranded overnight by this father on an island.
It was a constant struggle to remember the large number of characters and their relationship to each other.
I was glad when the book ended.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book, while written with excellent mastery of language, was so confusing it was impossible to follow the story. The constant interruptions of the narrative to flash back to the McCarthy witch-hunt era, seemed to have no connection to the other story of a young boy deliberately stranded overnight by this father on an island.
It was a constant struggle to remember the large number of characters and their relationship to each other.
I was glad when the book ended.
July 23, 2017
This is a complex closed room family tale. What's at issue here is not the outside pressures of the world on these islands in Maine in 1964 but the internal relationships between the Hillsingers and the Quicks and within each of those orbits, This reminded me in some ways of Lord of the Flies- thank goodness this take place over only three days. None of these people, with the exception of Catta, is especially sympathetic and it is his story that I clung to. Nagy has taken care with his language and the writing is fluidly precise. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Try this for a different sort of beach book- a beach where you won't want to spend time with the family! It's a good read.
June 15, 2018
This is a novel that begs to be read aloud and so I wore out my voice when I first started reading. There was something compelling me to the hear the words spoken. This has only happened to me a few times so I knew this was a special read.
Of course, I didn’t read the entire book aloud just certain chapters. Anyway, lovely descriptive language, clear character development and a compellingly interesting storyline.
Superficially it’s about two families spending the summer on their island in Maine with numerous visitors and numberless children. An island that, besides the house staff, supports a farm and workers. There is the Migration of the lambs to another nearby island about to take place during the three days we are allowed to view these lives. There is testing of a child’s character, seemingly, but it’s what’s below the surface that will draw you into the story. The unspoken only hinted at at first, the hidden secrets, and the ulterior motives are what will keep you reading.
Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing and GoodReads First Reads giveaway for allowing me to read an early copy of this book.
Of course, I didn’t read the entire book aloud just certain chapters. Anyway, lovely descriptive language, clear character development and a compellingly interesting storyline.
Superficially it’s about two families spending the summer on their island in Maine with numerous visitors and numberless children. An island that, besides the house staff, supports a farm and workers. There is the Migration of the lambs to another nearby island about to take place during the three days we are allowed to view these lives. There is testing of a child’s character, seemingly, but it’s what’s below the surface that will draw you into the story. The unspoken only hinted at at first, the hidden secrets, and the ulterior motives are what will keep you reading.
Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing and GoodReads First Reads giveaway for allowing me to read an early copy of this book.
August 30, 2017
It took me a few chapters to get into this but then I read it very quickly. The dynamics between family members and neighbours parallel an historical CIA intrigue that is offered in flashbacks - everyone knows something but the whole evades everyone. You never really get a sense of any particular character in depth (except perhaps Catta). Nevertheless, the place and group are evoked very well. And, I was left wanting more.
January 5, 2017
Jim Hillsinger and Billy Quick share Seven Islamd, as their families have for generations and are technically in-laws through their wives. During one summer, the loss of Hannah Quick will draw Lila Hillsinger - her sister - towards Billy; Jim will leave their youngest son Catta on the wild and unsettled Baffin Island for twenty-four hours; and the sadistic James Hillsinger will lead the other children in terrible games, all to the backdrop of the annual Migration which involves transporting all of Seven Island's sheep to North Island for better grazing.
The novel itself is undoubtedly well-written and beautiful in its descriptions. The scenes are all painted with complexity and are interesting. However, I had difficulty really sinking into the book because there were so many plot lines going on with no real resolution (or rather confusing conclusions) for them all. The book gives more the sense of trying to paint a portraiture of the interactions of a privileged white family and the decay within it, but it was difficult to truly parse out any meaning of storyline. Because of the many things happening, several of the subplots were unable to be given the full attention and depth they deserved, and I found it difficult to understand where they were coming from and leading to. Beautifully written in pieces, but difficult to take in as a whole.
Thanks to the publishers for an advance digital copy in exchange for a fair review!
The novel itself is undoubtedly well-written and beautiful in its descriptions. The scenes are all painted with complexity and are interesting. However, I had difficulty really sinking into the book because there were so many plot lines going on with no real resolution (or rather confusing conclusions) for them all. The book gives more the sense of trying to paint a portraiture of the interactions of a privileged white family and the decay within it, but it was difficult to truly parse out any meaning of storyline. Because of the many things happening, several of the subplots were unable to be given the full attention and depth they deserved, and I found it difficult to understand where they were coming from and leading to. Beautifully written in pieces, but difficult to take in as a whole.
Thanks to the publishers for an advance digital copy in exchange for a fair review!
August 11, 2017
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
This is a mesmerizing story filled with complex characters in a not-so-simple plot that goes back and forth in time. Set in 1964, this is the story of the Hillsingers and the Quicks: two families that dominate Seven Island in Maine. Jim Hillsinger and Billy Quick married sisters Lila and Hannah Blackwell. It is a story of power, envy, trust, and so much more. I was quite impressed by this debut effort. Estep Nagy's writing is lyrical and thoughtful, full of insight into human behavior and motivation. I look forward to future works.
This is a mesmerizing story filled with complex characters in a not-so-simple plot that goes back and forth in time. Set in 1964, this is the story of the Hillsingers and the Quicks: two families that dominate Seven Island in Maine. Jim Hillsinger and Billy Quick married sisters Lila and Hannah Blackwell. It is a story of power, envy, trust, and so much more. I was quite impressed by this debut effort. Estep Nagy's writing is lyrical and thoughtful, full of insight into human behavior and motivation. I look forward to future works.
August 11, 2017
Picked up this book because it was the story of two families who shared an island in Maine. While the two families had kept their distance, two sisters married the two brothers and, suddenly, the families were twined together. Set in 1964 in the heat of the Cold War, family themes compete with the work of the FBI and CIA to identify and prosecute Communist supporters. The children are charming and live a charmed life. The descriptions of the island are drawn from a writer who is intimate with Maine's rocky and unforgiving coastline. The spy story adds an anxious and tense layer to the book. Enjoyable read for the summer.
August 11, 2025
I was entertained but wanted more
August 15, 2017
Though the name of the island has been changed, I read this while on the actual Maine island that inspired to novel. It, the island, is a character all of itself, and Negy has aptly and lyrically captured the essence of the place, so much so that I felt the sense of loss described by Billy upon arrival to the island. As he arrived he thought that someday he would have to leave (paraphrasing, as I don't have the book in front of me), and the ache of having to leave this place made him almost wish he'd never come at all.
The novel is so much more, time and set shifting to New York City into investigations of Communist conspiracies.
The novel is so much more, time and set shifting to New York City into investigations of Communist conspiracies.
July 13, 2017
This ambitious and complex debut novel is a powerful and compelling tale of two wealthy families who have lived on the same small Maine island for generations but who rarely mix, and although their lives are intermeshed in many ways, they maintain an uneasy, even hostile distance. The story is set over three tense summer days, but with many changes of voice and perspective and with many flashbacks. The reader certainly has to concentrate to keep track of what is going on and the large cast of characters doesn't help. But the author just about manages to bring it off and keep control of the narrative and overall I found myself swept along with the story – even if I did have to stop and take a deep breath at times. Original, unusual, well-crafted on the whole and with some interesting characterisation, this is definitely a book worth putting a bit of effort into.
March 13, 2017
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Estep Nagy has a beautiful way with words. There were several passages I highlighted and reread because of their eloquence and vividness. My problem was the structure and story. Shifting between the 1940's and 1960's the story revolves around two society sisters, their husbands and offspring. Sisters, Hannah and Lia share a small island in Maine, where each own a home where the families vacation, although the sisters are estranged and living in close proximity is uncomfortable. Early on we learn one sister has passed away and told through memories and past recollections we learn the cause of the estrangement and death.
The story moves very slowly, the characters are incredibly dry, the constant shifting of time and place was confusing and the dilemma facing the families was lackluster. I found the ending ambiguous without any real action or resolution.
I felt zero attachment or sympathy for any of the characters making this just an ok read.
Estep Nagy has a beautiful way with words. There were several passages I highlighted and reread because of their eloquence and vividness. My problem was the structure and story. Shifting between the 1940's and 1960's the story revolves around two society sisters, their husbands and offspring. Sisters, Hannah and Lia share a small island in Maine, where each own a home where the families vacation, although the sisters are estranged and living in close proximity is uncomfortable. Early on we learn one sister has passed away and told through memories and past recollections we learn the cause of the estrangement and death.
The story moves very slowly, the characters are incredibly dry, the constant shifting of time and place was confusing and the dilemma facing the families was lackluster. I found the ending ambiguous without any real action or resolution.
I felt zero attachment or sympathy for any of the characters making this just an ok read.
August 6, 2017
A tale of two WASPs’ nests.
In Estep Nagy’s debut novel, the author takes a cool, calm look at the dynamics of two wealthy New York families, the Hillsingers and the Quicks, and gives us a glimpse of the inner workings of America’s East Coast establishment from the vantage point of their summer residences on a small Maine island which the families jointly own.
When one of the Hillsinger sons is made to spend the night on the least hospitable island in the archipelago, his endurance test appears to play out as a metaphorical reference to the book’s adult characters: “It was fantastically simple. You were forced into a series of small bad decisions that slowly and irrevocably cut off your options. And then, once you were confused and desperate and worn down by hunger and cold and whatever else – when at last you could no longer move or think – then the crows came down from their trees.”
With its short chapters and no-frills style, Nagy’s writing comes across as purposely – even purposefully – prosaic. It may not appeal to everyone and I couldn’t quite make my mind up about it. Equally, with very little descriptive help from the author, the characters take a while to emerge and I could never quite see them in my mind’s eye. Could Nagy bring the reader to care about them? To a point, yes. But a little more humanity and a soupçon of humour might have eased the way.
This tale of WASPy surfeit and entitlement develops into something far more interesting as it threads between the 1950s and 60s, touching on communism and McCarthyism, survival and betrayal. From a straightforward account of rich folk vacationing on their own island, We Shall Not All Sleep grows into an intriguing and faintly perplexing read. I recommend it – though perhaps not warmly.
My thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy via NetGalley.
In Estep Nagy’s debut novel, the author takes a cool, calm look at the dynamics of two wealthy New York families, the Hillsingers and the Quicks, and gives us a glimpse of the inner workings of America’s East Coast establishment from the vantage point of their summer residences on a small Maine island which the families jointly own.
When one of the Hillsinger sons is made to spend the night on the least hospitable island in the archipelago, his endurance test appears to play out as a metaphorical reference to the book’s adult characters: “It was fantastically simple. You were forced into a series of small bad decisions that slowly and irrevocably cut off your options. And then, once you were confused and desperate and worn down by hunger and cold and whatever else – when at last you could no longer move or think – then the crows came down from their trees.”
With its short chapters and no-frills style, Nagy’s writing comes across as purposely – even purposefully – prosaic. It may not appeal to everyone and I couldn’t quite make my mind up about it. Equally, with very little descriptive help from the author, the characters take a while to emerge and I could never quite see them in my mind’s eye. Could Nagy bring the reader to care about them? To a point, yes. But a little more humanity and a soupçon of humour might have eased the way.
This tale of WASPy surfeit and entitlement develops into something far more interesting as it threads between the 1950s and 60s, touching on communism and McCarthyism, survival and betrayal. From a straightforward account of rich folk vacationing on their own island, We Shall Not All Sleep grows into an intriguing and faintly perplexing read. I recommend it – though perhaps not warmly.
My thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy via NetGalley.
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