Stay Awake: Stories

By Dan Chaon

“Eerily beautiful . . . [Chaon] is the modern day John Cheever.”—Boston Sunday Globe
 
“Powerful and disturbing . . . The shocks in this collection are many.”—The Washington Post
 
These haunting, suspenseful stories by acclaimed author Dan Chaon feature scattered families, unfulfilled dreamers, anxious souls—lost, fragile, searching characters who wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland. They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection—and exist in a twilight realm, in a place by the window late at night when the streets are empty and the world appears to be quiet. But it is not, and neither are you. And since you cannot sleep, you stay awake.
 
“Chaon is able to create fully realized characters in mere pages. . . . This collection is further proof that Chaon is one of the best fiction writers working right now.”—Omaha World-Herald
 
“There are not many fiction writers who can do what Dan Chaon can do. . . . [He is] a literary force.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
 
“Intense and suspenseful . . . a highly recommended work, not to be missed.”—Library Journal (starred review)
 
“Mesmerizing . . . gripping, masterful fiction.”—The Plain Dealer
 
“Superbly disquieting.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
Don’t miss the exclusive conversation between Dan Chaon and Emma Straub at the back of the book.

Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9780345532305

Dan Chaon

Dan Chaon is the author of several books, including Ill Will, a national bestseller, named one of the ten best books of 2017 by Publishers Weekly. Other works include the short story collection Stay Awake (2012), a finalist for the Story Prize; the national bestseller Await Your Reply; and Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award. Chaon’s fiction has appeared in the Best American Short Stories, the Pushcart Prize Anthologies, and the O. Henry Collection. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction and the Shirley Jackson Award, and he was the recipient of an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Chaon lives in Cleveland.

Reviews for Stay Awake

[wordsampersand · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I realize lots of people read for escapism. I'm not one of those people, and this isn't a book for those people. Chaon manages to tap into the sense of dread people experience through just living. It's really Lovecraftian in tone without the supernatural element.

[jen6e6moore · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the kind of thing you read when you want to make yourself sad: literary-ish stories about loss, death, disengagement, and the huge, uncrossable gaps between people. Nothing earthshattering here for me, but if you enjoy this kind of thing, this is the kind of thing you will enjoy.

[walkthemoon89 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Along with Jennifer Close, he's one of my favorite fiction writers. He has this great habit of making the stories meander on like life does, without making you think that it's part of a carefully structured whole, (not unlike Jennifer Close, actually), before abruptly bringing the exercise to a meaningful conclusion.

[iambookish-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Just not my cup of tea. The short stories, while well written seemed to carry a common theme of strange men, domineering women, missing limbs and unresolved endings to each story.

[gary237 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dan Chaon is an Ohio based writer who has published three novels and many short stories. In this collection of short stories, Mr. Chaon explores the theme of deaths of loved ones and how these events change our relationships with others and change our self-interpretations. Each story is unique but has a common factor of the death of a child, father, mother or some other person close to the characters. The deaths are either current events or are part of the personal histories of the characters. The recent or distant memories of loss haunt the characters and emerge from unconscious storage unbidden or are deliberately retrieved. The focus of the narratives involves showing the cues that bring the ghosts of the past into consciousness and how the characters deal with them.The uniqueness of each story causes the reader to become involved with the action described. The thread of death in the stories strengthens as the reader progresses through the book. Awareness develops about the thread and ideas that the stories are continuous, with secondary characters perhaps branching off from the action of earlier stories. Like the memory of a person who has experienced loss of a loved one, the reader’s memory of loss in an early story is triggered by unexpected cues presented in a later one. Much like a person who has lost a loved one and repressed some of the memories surrounding that person, the reader must search her memory for connecting details of an earlier story. A hint of something may arise and the reader wonders is this what happened to the brother, friend, lover? The stories also trigger memories of the reader’s own losses of people who were important to her. She may look up from the book and recollect faces, events, clothing, photos, as do the characters in the stories. The characters have to face the distinction between memories and nostalgia, the difference being that the former can be reinterpreted looking back with wisdom. The latter are fixed by the initial interpretation given of the event and cannot be reworked. Fixed interpretations offer little in the way of emotional growth that would normally occur with maturity. I went so far as to skim back through all 12 stories to look for connections much like one of the characters in a story, who looks for hidden messages in random notes. I found in some cases, my own experiences with death interfered with my memories of the fictional experiences of the characters, showing the complexities of any life review that mixes memories with nostalgia. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Chaon’s collection of stories. He takes the reader through a process of tension in the lack of closure in the stories, discovery in the emotional reactions of the characters and in ourselves, and a resolution of tension in bypassing nostalgia to examine true accounts of memory with the original emotional impact. A conclusion might be to “stay awake” to the memories of lost loved ones to prevent the second loss of them through fixing them like lilacs in plexiglas.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Dan Chaon's book of short stories all of the stories deal in some way or another with a young man who hasn't been able to handle the challenges life has thrown at him, usually the loss of a parent. His protagonists drift, avoiding decisions, even as the women in their lives grow frustrated. There's a dreamy quality to Chaon's writing, which suits the inner lives of his characters. I enjoyed this collection, despite the similarity between the stories. One did feature a woman, stuck in the same drift pattern as the men, but that story was the least convincing in the collection. There was one bizarre freak accident that happened to the characters in two separate stories, which was an odd misstep by a usually sure-footed author, because he is a very good writer and I always enjoy reading whatever he writes.

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read the first five stories last night, EXCELLENT writing and extremely unsettling, had a hard time falling asleep. Will finish this during daylight hours. Not a thriller so much as simply disturbing. In a good way.Finished the 2nd half of this book sitting outside for the first time this spring in bright sunshine, just as chilling as late night reading. Can't wait for the library to open tomorrow so I can get his next book.

[bookworm_naida · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've been meaning to read Stay Awake since last year. I'm a fan of Dan Chaon's after reading and enjoying Await Your Reply.The author has spun a creepy and eerie collection of short stories here. For the most part at least.These tales all have the common themes of sleeping, dreaming, some kind of emotional pain and anxiety. The characters in these stories float along as they are just on the precipice of being awake and being in a dream state. It's all very Twilight Zone-ish. They each live very much inside their own heads and their anxieties consume them slowly. There are unreliable narrators here, ones that keep you guessing as you read.Some of the stories are disturbing, but the author kept it at a place where I was uncomfortable, yet only slightly so and I just had to keep on reading. The stories got under my skin.One story is about a young man who abandoned his wife and son several years ago and thinks they are dead and haunting him now. Another creepy tale was about a couple who gave birth to a two headed baby and the guilt they feel over having to save one baby's life over the other. One story was about a man who out of the blue starts to get phone calls from his long lost sister, yet she is really evasive about coming to see him in person and he wonders why.The stories here don't really have satisfying endings. They just stop. It feels as though that's the way they should finish.As with most anthologies, some stories are fantastic, some are a miss. It happened here. Around the seventh story, its started to go downhill for me. The stories towards the end of the collection were not scary and a seemed to have no point to them. I still enjoyed this collection overall. I wish the author would have cut it at the seventh story. It would have been a five star read for me because those first seven really are great ones. I have to say, the final story intrigued me because it was more of a set of after thoughts, that somehow related to the previous stories. It was like taking a peek into the minds of the characters from the previous stories, after the fact. Sounds confusing, but I did like the way Dan Chaon wrapped it up. The writing however, was delicious. Just what I expect from this author."Outside, the sleet had gotten thicker. You could hear it pebbling against the large glass windows, you could see it swirling wildly through the spotlights of street lamps. It was the kind of night when you might expect to see a skeleton flying through the air, its ragged black shroud flapping in the wind. " p.96, Stay Awake disclaimer:This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any type of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers and authors, such as this one, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. I received a free copy of Stay Awake via LibraryThing.

[castironskillet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Chaon is often superb in this collection. A couple of stories fall flat but for the most part they are captivating and horrifying.

[thelostentwife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There are short stories that are uplifting, thought-provoking, and leave the reader to walk away feeling as if life has somehow become a bit richer for reading them. Then, there are short stories that horrify,depress, and awaken a person to the harsh realities of life with a slap to the face. Stay Awake by Dan Chaon is one of those latter type of collections.I only became a fan of short story collections a relatively short time ago. I've been an avid reader for most of my life, but it wasn't until I hit my 30's that the short story began to make an impression on me. It amazes me that so much information can be packed into so few pages. Also, that the characters feel as if they began before and continue to live after. The theme of staying awake for me was two-fold throughout these stories. First, it made me think that not all nightmares come when they we are sleeping. Every story in this collection features some horrific event, be it physical, spiritual, or psychological, that happens while the characters are awake. The other thing this theme brought out in these stories was the idea that we have to push through those times - we have to stay awake, stay alert, and really look at what is happening and the cause of it.One story, in particular, that had an effect on me was "Thinking of You in Your Time of Sorrow." I don't know if it was the second person narrative, the subject matter, or just the sheer vulnerability of the characters (due to their youth), but this one hit home. I think it, along with a few others, really shine in this collection and are the glue necessary to hold the stories together. This is not a collection for the faint of heart. If you get depressed easily, dislike reading darker fiction, or are looking for a happy ending, then I would not advise you to pick this one up. However, if you are wanting to explore darker subject material or are just looking for solid, fascinating writing that doesn't hesitate and has no boundaries, then this is one I'd highly recommend.

[kinsey_m · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully dark stories by Dan Chaon. The stories in these book are slightly intertwined: sometimes a secondary character in one story is the protagonist in another one, or characters appear to be versions of someone else, or there are elements in common such as deers.Chaon is a master at using language and creting images without ever falling into purple prose. I particularly enjoyed the story of the two brother travelling in a truck who may or may not have run over a deer.

[hayduke_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was in the middle of the title story when I realized that Dan Chaon had written a collection of horror tales. In these stories, human beings perpetrate horrors such as abandonment, abuse, neglect upon each other. Relatives are left to clean up the emotional refuse after events such as a house fire, or parental suicide. I came across one review that labeled Chaon an "evil puppet master," and I suppose that is because he puts his characters through the wringer. Some stories in this collection are stronger than others, but I gave the overall collection four stars, because Dan Chaon writes fiction that works on me at a very personal level. There is always a line in his work, or a mood that he evokes that rings very true to me, and my own experiences.

[cait815 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved The Bees, which is the first story in this collection. I can't wait to read the rest.

[lisapeet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this collection very much. Dark, slightly skewed stories that never veered off into gratuitousness. Instead, Chaon mines the stuff that really scares a body: one's own inability to connect, to remember, to feel compassion when it's warranted, to be a better person when the chance arises. And they all resonated afterward, like having a tuning fork stuck up against your forehead. “To Psychic Underworld” is plastered to the inside of my brain, but in a good way.This is not just good writing, but good storytelling. Because if you're going to tell scary stories, it had better be.

[kisigler_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The stories in this collection are downright creepy, though not in a horror movie kind of way. Many of the characters are dealing with the death of loved ones, and the atmosphere and psychological toll of loss is fascinating and uncomfortable. If you're okay with stories that don't wrap up nicely and linger gloomily in your mind, definitely read these!

[kirstench · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The first few are very good, but after a while their sameness makes them lose their momentum. Some more variety would have been welcome.

[suesbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved the writing and character development in these short stories. Each story provided a feeling of discomfort in me, as the author wanted. I was disappointed with many endings, but I kept telling myself the reality was more important than the plot. The author shows well how difficult life is for so many.

[nancyjune_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dan Chaon uses his stories to create a mood: dark, foreboding, yet there is a sense of the mundane along with the dread that keeps the mood just this side of true suspense. He writes about suffering in the everyday world; the kind of suffering you know is all around and often hidden in plain sight. His characters are on the edge of tragedy, and their uniqueness is that they don't provoke easy empathy. They are often pitiful and not easy to like but even so, I want to know what happens.

[jackieblem · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've heard great things about Dan Chaon, but I had not read him when this book happened onto my desk. These stories really surprised me. They are all about damaged people plagued by some deep emotion--loneliness, love, grief-- and behaving in truly strange ways. There is a lot of darkness to them, a nightmarish feel of altered reality, and some seriously grim things. But I could not stop reading these stories because of the writing. Chaon has a way of putting words together that just makes whatever he writes passion edged and deeply affecting. I'm still trying to figure some of the narratives out, frankly. But I like that, the puzzles Chaon has left with me. I'm sure some of you folks out there will enjoy them too.

[julko_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I so wanted/expected to love this book. My first/only exposure to Dan Chaon is Await Your Reply, which I absolutely loved. I found that I loved the writing in these short stories, but I didn't love the actual stories or collection as a whole. Grief and loneliness and inconclusive endings seem to tie these stories together. In the end when I think of this book, I'm left with a feeling of melancholy but no memory of any specific story.

[msf59 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“Thinking of You in Your Time of Sorrow”Death and sadness in the heartland. Mortality is a constant presence in this collection of stories, sometimes crouching in a distant corner or looming over every perfectly framed sentence. This is a gallery of troubled souls, dealing with a parasitic baby, a brain-damaged husband, suicide, infanticide, various car wrecks, capital punishment and the forlorn parade shuffles on.Spread out, through various towns and cities, from Ohio to Nebraska, these characters struggle with loneliness, a regrettable past and isolation. Sounds like a bright Spring read, huh? Well, don’t reach for the rope and chair quite yet. There is a dark beauty here. Gorgeous writing and an uncanny understanding of human grief and pain. Each story drew me in, sometimes reluctantly and with every precise, haunting word, made me look to the skies and appreciate the good life that I possess.

[detailmuse · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stay Awake collects a dozen short stories about (mostly) Midwest men who are emotionally, physically and/or psychologically displaced after (sometimes years after) the loss of parents, spouse or child. The bleak settings and just-getting-by characters remind me of Bonnie Jo Campbell’s American Salvage, although 10 of the 12 stories here are in the male point of view. In fact, this is the first book I’ve been moved to tag “men” (i.e. about men); I can think of many more now to tag that way, yet wasn’t moved to do so until this collection.In the first story, a man estranged from the son from his first marriage begins worrying about his son from his second. In the last, three sisters riff on the night their father came home to kill their mother and them. The stories in between open with an adult son who continues to live in his childhood home where his parents committed suicide; a couple with newborn conjoined twins; another having suffered a miscarriage; a man and the young son of his meth-addict girlfriend; a woman who keeps company with her ex-husband who suffered a debilitating brain injury some years after their divorce; a man whose estranged eldest sister starts calling him on the phone.The stories are solemn, reflective, even sad. One is nearly horror and another is mystical/supernatural. Many have surprising or ambiguous endings. I was engaged enough to finish every story and fully loved three-fourths of them. I’m looking forward to more Chaon -- first up, his previous collection, Among the Missing.

[joecanas_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My first exposure to Dan Chaon's work was his novel "Await Your Reply." After reading the first two dozen pages, I was already impressed by his talent for phrasing, pacing and character development. And as the story progressed, I willingly surrendered to the dark, complex tale and hung on until I reached the last page -- just a couple of days after I began the book. As I put it down, I thought, "Wow, this guy is GOOD." I then sought out his collection "Among the Missing," which I liked even more. After devouring those overtly minor-key stories literally overnight, I put the book down thinking, "this guy is my new favorite author."So, I was thrilled to win a review copy of Chaon's latest book, "Stay Awake," from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway. In fact, I hoarded the unread book for several weeks (sorry for my tardy review, LibraryThing!), staring at it in anticipation. And now, at last, I've read it. As with the first two books, I found the writing throughout this brief collection to be excellent. No question, Chaon is a strong writer, capable of some amazing things. I loved the inventiveness. I admired the sheer virtuosity and craft. One test of powerful writing is whether the author can evoke strong feelings in the reader. Well, on that count especially, this collection scored high with me. Reading this book took something from me. It exhausted me. It made me feel the emotions of the various characters: sorrowful, grief-stricken, abandoned. It was a "good read" in that the stories are well-written, highly engaging, thought-provoking. But it was also a bleak read. (The phrases "disturbingly beautiful" and "hauntingly beautiful" come to mind.)As other reviewers have noted, this collection contains some very dark stories. Chaon has told interviewers that he considers himself as much a writer of horror fiction as of "straightforward literary fiction" (if there is such a thing). These stories contain both supernatural and "merely" human-scale elements of horror. But the aura of darkness and loss permeating these stories must have been inspired by the events of Chaon's life, the context in which he wrote; namely, his wife Sheila's prolonged battle with cancer and eventual passing. His helplessness, loss and grief come through each of these stories -- clearly as Chaon intended -- and the cumulative effect is nothing short of devastating.

[skrishna_663463 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stay Awake is a collection of dark and disturbing stories, focusing on characters that must deal with harrowing and life-changing events. Though these are just stories, they seem completely real. These characters are friends and neighbors, not just words on a page. They are universal, and thus speak to the reader. It’s incredible that, despite the fact that Chaon doesn’t have the canvas of an entire novel to develop his characters, he explores them fully and they seem completely realized. It’s a testament to his writing prowess.The story that sticks out most to me is The Bees, the first in this twelve story collection. It starts out as a simple tale of a father and son, of a child who screams for no apparent reason. But it turns out there is more going on under the surface, and Gene - the father - has been keeping a dark secret from his family. This story was absolutely chilling and deliciously creepy. Chaon had me hooked from the first few words, and the quality of the story took my breath away. I don’t understand how Chaon wove such an intricate tale of horror with so few words, yet he accomplished it marvelously. If you’re in the mood for something dark, yet also quick, Stay Awake is the perfect book to pick up. The stories, only about 20 pages each, go quickly, yet they are so well written that they will leave readers clamoring for more. They are each twisted in their own way, focusing on characters dealing with difficult emotions due to death and loss. Chaon takes amazingly detailed and relatively normal characters and puts them into horrifying situations. The reader is thrust into the story, and it doesn’t let you go, even after the last page is turned. I was thoroughly impressed with Chaon’s writing abilities, and though I’m not usually the biggest fan of story collections, I highly recommend this atmospheric read.

[juli1357 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed reading Dan Chaon's collection of short stories. They may be a bit too dark and disturbing for some, but that was precisely why I liked them. Chaon is not not afraid to tackle difficult subject matter and he does so with considerable skill. Another one of Chaon's strengths is his mastery of character development. In just a few lines, you are able to grasp the inner workings of the character and understand what has led them to this point. I would have rated this collection higher if some of the stories had more defined endings, but Chaon tends to leave his readers hanging. When reading Chaon, I couldn't help but compare his collection to Maile Meloy's. She writes interesting stories that have powerful endings, but her character development is lacking, to the point that her stories often seem like rough drafts to me. Chaon's stories are equally interesting and have well-developed characters, but his stories lack defined endings. Even so, Chaon is one of the most gifted writers I've come across in some time and one whose work I will continue to seek out in the future.

[booksandbosox · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I got about halfway through this one and then set it aside. This is my first experience with Chaon and, after hearing lots of praise for his talent, I wish it had gone better. There is something unsettling and disturbing about every story in this collection (well, at least in the first half). I like short stories because they are self-contained mini-novels in a way. But every story in this book (what I've read so far) feels unfinished and dissatisfying to me. I absolutely hate giving up on books but I had so many other books calling to me from my shelves that I put this one down. I'd like to think I'll come back to it later; we'll see if that turns out to be true.I received this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers.

[gwendolyndawson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dan Choan’s latest is a collection of creepy, haunting stories. Death is a recurring theme, as is violence. Loneliness and unhappiness appear often. Brace yourself, but if you can handle the despair, you’ll be rewarded with stories that are eerily perceptive and unsettling.

[griff_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dark, haunting stories which include characters that feel all too real. These are well written and convincing. It is hard to put the book down: these are not "pleasurable stories", yet one feels compelled to move forward relentlessly. They evoke an emotional and visceral reaction that is difficult to set aside. I would not recommend to all without describing the general feel of the book, providing a caution about the angst that is generated story after story. From my perspective, an excellent read.

[thetwods · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stay Awake offers a collection of stories with a unifying theme of loss - physical, emotional, mental - tacit and implicit - sudden and traumatic - melancholic and resulting from profound states of ennui. Clearly, the loss of Chaon's wife permeates these pages, almost making them a form of therapy.Characters lose loved ones, lose themselves, lose track of the comings and goings of life, the passage of time. The grief is nearly palpable, yet never maudlin. Stories vex genrification, yet could easily be included in anthologies of horror, though more of the cerebral type.This is life in the early, recession bound 21st century - an existence defined by loss of control, burned in a pyrrhic offering that can only engender further loss. Babies dies, babies live, children are abandoned, lives are uprooted, yet one can never escape the past.I highly recommend this, for its technically skillful writing, language of palpable loss and ability to reveal grief in its many forms.

[bookaholicgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an amazing collection of stories which demonstrates how flawed and damaged many of us are. The writing is superb and each character is real. Each story is gripping. A great book.