Broken Sleep - Softcover

"Consuming multitudes of novels before it and after, Bruce Bauman's flipbook-epic spectacularly shuffles voice and memory--a careening travelogue on psychic terrains of fate, art, sex, madness, history, philosophy, rock 'n' roll, the personal political, and laws of identity for which no statute of limitations can exist. This is raging, inspiration-jacked literary insomnia at the deepest hour of our brilliant dreaming." --Steve Erickson, author of "These Dreams of You" and "Zeroville"
""Broken Sleep" is a stunning, original, unpredictable novel, with a mix of wild voices and riveting, driving stories. I love all the characters--the rebel Salome, sad Moses fighting for his life, the incredibly charismatic Alchemy, the much abused Absurda, and that troublesome Mindswallow. The world that Bauman imagines is chilling and vivid, and there is an abundance of wisdom throughout the book, with startling insights on every page. The novel is a brilliant success--brave, wonderfully eccentric, utterly confident and engrossing." --Joanna Scott, author of "De Potter's Grand Tour"
""Broken Sleep" could be considered the author's great American retort to Stephen Dedalus's declaration in Joyce's Ulysses that 'History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.'...Bauman's philosophical, humorous, and compelling storytelling ponders many different riddles of exile--personal, political, artistic with an always acute eye and an unfailingly intense empathy." --Anthony Miller, critic and author
"Bruce Bauman is one of the most engaging and engaged writers and thinkers that I know." --Rebecca Goldstein, author of "Plato at the Googleplex"

"Such a pleasure to plunge into this joyous kaleidoscope of a novel, a multi-voiced tumbling chorus of outrageous characters, hidden parenthood, secrets and discoveries, the gritty outrE art world of the 1970s, rockers and mad visionaries and a man named Moses who just wants to live his life when illness forces him to open up the closed door of his family's mysterious past. I haven't seen a book with such energy and joy and sweeping delights since "The World According to Garp." Bauman's novel is a tour de force."" --"Janet Fitch, author of "Paint It Black "and "White Oleander"
"Consuming multitudes of novels before it and after, Bruce Bauman's flipbook-epic spectacularly shuffles voice and memory--a careening travelogue on psychic terrains of fate, art, sex, madness, history, philosophy, rock 'n' roll, the personal political, and laws of identity for which no statute of limitations can exist. This is raging, inspiration-jacked literary insomnia at the deepest hour of our brilliant dreaming." --Steve Erickson, author of "These Dreams of You" and "Zeroville"
""Broken Sleep" is a stunning, original, unpredictable novel, with a mix of wild voices and riveting, driving stories. I love all the characters--the rebel Salome, sad Moses fighting for his life, the incredibly charismatic Alchemy, the much abused Absurda, and that troublesome Mindswallow. The world that Bauman imagines is chilling and vivid, and there is an abundance of wisdom throughout the book, with startling insights on every page. The novel is a brilliant success--brave, wonderfully eccentric, utterly confident and engrossing." --Joanna Scott, author of "De Potter's Grand Tour"
""Broken Sleep" could be considered the author's great American retort to Stephen Dedalus's declaration in Joyce's Ulysses that 'History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.'...Bauman's philosophical, humorous, and compelling storytelling ponders many different riddles of exile--personal, political, artistic with an always acute eye and an unfailingly intense empathy." --Anthony Miller, critic and author
"Bruce Bauman is one of the most engaging and engaged writers and thinkers that I know." --Rebecca Goldstein, author of "Plato at the Googleplex"

Such a pleasure to plunge into this joyous kaleidoscope of a novel, a multi-voiced tumbling chorus of outrageous characters, hidden parenthood, secrets and discoveries, the gritty outre art world of the 1970s, rockers and mad visionaries and a man named Moses who just wants to live his life when illness forces him to open up the closed door of his family s mysterious past. I haven t seen a book with such energy and joy and sweeping delights since"The World According to Garp." Bauman s novel is a tour de force." "Janet Fitch, author of"Paint It Black"and"White Oleander"
Consuming multitudes of novels before it and after, Bruce Bauman s flipbook-epic spectacularly shuffles voice and memory a careening travelogue on psychic terrains of fate, art, sex, madness, history, philosophy, rock n roll, the personal political, and laws of identity for which no statute of limitations can exist. This is raging, inspiration-jacked literary insomnia at the deepest hour of our brilliant dreaming. Steve Erickson, author of "These Dreams of You" and "Zeroville"
"Broken Sleep" is a stunning, original, unpredictable novel, with a mix of wild voices and riveting, driving stories. I love all the characters the rebel Salome, sad Moses fighting for his life, the incredibly charismatic Alchemy, the much abused Absurda, and that troublesome Mindswallow. The world that Bauman imagines is chilling and vivid, and there is an abundance of wisdom throughout the book, with startling insights on every page. The novel is a brilliant success brave, wonderfully eccentric, utterly confident and engrossing. Joanna Scott, author of "De Potter s Grand Tour"
Bruce Bauman s"Broken Sleep"is a rare bird: a sprawling, encyclopedic narrative, partly a meditation on the nature of art and storytelling, partly a family saga, and perhaps rarest of all an experimental novel that s also very readable. A high-risk enterprise with a similarly high pay off. Geoff Nicholson, author of"The City Under the Skin"
"Broken Sleep" is an unabashedly Big Think book that refuses to be categorized. On the surface it s a roller coaster, jetting forward with ideas/observations on everything from avant-garde art to rock n roll renown to history and philosophy. Yet beneath the surface it is also a warm-hearted exploration of the deep messiness of families. Of parents, present and absent, and their children. Of siblings and spouses and volitional families of friends and bandmates. It s a simultaneously poignant and exhilarating ride. Melvin Jules Bukiet, author of"After"
"Bruce Bauman is one of the most engaging and engaged writers and thinkers that I know." Rebecca Goldstein, author of"Plato at the Googleplex"
"A synesthetic and unfettered book that cascades between a quartet of voices to depict a family not so much broken as fractured over several generations, and shifts in art and politics from the 60s and, prophetically, into our future. A stunning, lively and funny evisceration of American art, culture, and politics, and of the links connecting them. Brian Evenson, author of"The Open Curtain""

"Big-thinking...a postmodern epic."" Kirkus Reviews
"
"Readers who like their fiction on the wacky sidewill appreciate the rollicking energy." " Booklist"
"Vibrant, captivating, and touching..."Broken Sleep"is brimming with colorful characters, fascinating dialogue, and beautiful yet tragic relationships, making it easy to read and hard to forget."" PopMatters"
A literary novel with a great plot. ...["Broken Sleep"] is a funny novel, but it s also an incredibly serious emotional novel in a way we don t get nowadays so much. David Kipen, KPCC"Take Two"
Such a pleasure to plunge into this joyous kaleidoscope of a novel, a multi-voiced tumbling chorus of outrageous characters, hidden parenthood, secrets and discoveries, the gritty outre art world of the 1970s, rockers and mad visionaries and a man named Moses who just wants to live his life when illness forces him to open up the closed door of his family s mysterious past. I haven t seen a book with such energy and joy and sweeping delights since"The World According to Garp." Bauman s novel is a tour de force." "Janet Fitch, author of"Paint It Black"and"White Oleander"
Consuming multitudes of novels before it and after, Bruce Bauman s flipbook-epic spectacularly shuffles voice and memory a careening travelogue on psychic terrains of fate, art, sex, madness, history, philosophy, rock n roll, the personal political, and laws of identity for which no statute of limitations can exist. This is raging, inspiration-jacked literary insomnia at the deepest hour of our brilliant dreaming. Steve Erickson, author of "These Dreams of You" and "Zeroville"
"Broken Sleep" is a stunning, original, unpredictable novel, with a mix of wild voices and riveting, driving stories. I love all the characters the rebel Salome, sad Moses fighting for his life, the incredibly charismatic Alchemy, the much abused Absurda, and that troublesome Mindswallow. The world that Bauman imagines is chilling and vivid, and there is an abundance of wisdom throughout the book, with startling insights on every page. The novel is a brilliant success brave, wonderfully eccentric, utterly confident and engrossing. Joanna Scott, author of "De Potter s Grand Tour"
Bruce Bauman s"Broken Sleep"is a rare bird: a sprawling, encyclopedic narrative, partly a meditation on the nature of art and storytelling, partly a family saga, and perhaps rarest of all an experimental novel that s also very readable. A high-risk enterprise with a similarly high pay off. Geoff Nicholson, author of"The City Under the Skin"
"Broken Sleep" is an unabashedly Big Think book that refuses to be categorized. On the surface it s a roller coaster, jetting forward with ideas/observations on everything from avant-garde art to rock n roll renown to history and philosophy. Yet beneath the surface it is also a warm-hearted exploration of the deep messiness of families. Of parents, present and absent, and their children. Of siblings and spouses and volitional families of friends and bandmates. It s a simultaneously poignant and exhilarating ride. Melvin Jules Bukiet, author of"After"
"Bruce Bauman is one of the most engaging and engaged writers and thinkers that I know." Rebecca Goldstein, author of"Plato at the Googleplex"
"A synesthetic and unfettered book that cascades between a quartet of voices to depict a family not so much broken as fractured over several generations, and shifts in art and politics from the 60s and, prophetically, into our future. A stunning, lively and funny evisceration of American art, culture, and politics, and of the links connecting them. Brian Evenson, author of"The Open Curtain""

A plangent tour de force of epic proportions "Broken Sleep" s amalgam of distinct perspectives creates an incoherent coherence that challenges and rewards in turn. Both a nightmare and a dream, this work successfully engages with eternal questions of truth and evil to form a solid and captivating literary experience. "Library Journal"(starred review)
"Big-thinking...a postmodern epic."" Kirkus Reviews
"
"Readers who like their fiction on the wacky sidewill appreciate the rollicking energy." " Booklist"
"Vibrant, captivating, and touching..."Broken Sleep"is brimming with colorful characters, fascinating dialogue, and beautiful yet tragic relationships, making it easy to read and hard to forget."" PopMatters"
A literary novel with a great plot. ...["Broken Sleep"] is a funny novel, but it s also an incredibly serious emotional novel in a way we don t get nowadays so much. David Kipen, KPCC"Take Two
Broken Sleep"is a Pynchon-esque shaggy dog of a novel spanning nearly eight decades of American history, from World War II to the not-too-distant future...[This]novel explores the seedy undersides of high art, rock and roll, and national politics with freewheeling zeal and bitter, satiric bite.Often funny, occasionally heartbreaking, and always revelatory, Bauman puts deep character-driven narratives through their proverbial paces, playing with conventions of form, genre, and conceptions of history."" The Rumpus"
Such a pleasure to plunge into this joyous kaleidoscope of a novel, a multi-voiced tumbling chorus of outrageous characters, hidden parenthood, secrets and discoveries, the gritty outre art world of the 1970s, rockers and mad visionaries and a man named Moses who just wants to live his life when illness forces him to open up the closed door of his family s mysterious past. I haven t seen a book with such energy and joy and sweeping delights since"The World According to Garp." Bauman s novel is a tour de force." "Janet Fitch, author of"Paint It Black"and"White Oleander"
Consuming multitudes of novels before it and after, Bruce Bauman s flipbook-epic spectacularly shuffles voice and memory a careening travelogue on psychic terrains of fate, art, sex, madness, history, philosophy, rock n roll, the personal political, and laws of identity for which no statute of limitations can exist. This is raging, inspiration-jacked literary insomnia at the deepest hour of our brilliant dreaming. Steve Erickson, author of "These Dreams of You" and "Zeroville"
Bauman s gift for balancing playfulness with historical accuracy, for naming figures with an expressively poetic flair, and for hanging the narrative armature on the believable private scandals of the iconically famous. "White Hot Magazine"
"Broken Sleep" is a stunning, original, unpredictable novel, with a mix of wild voices and riveting, driving stories. I love all the characters the rebel Salome, sad Moses fighting for his life, the incredibly charismatic Alchemy, the much abused Absurda, and that troublesome Mindswallow. The world that Bauman imagines is chilling and vivid, and there is an abundance of wisdom throughout the book, with startling insights on every page. The novel is a brilliant success brave, wonderfully eccentric, utterly confident and engrossing. Joanna Scott, author of "De Potter s Grand Tour"
Bruce Bauman s"Broken Sleep"is a rare bird: a sprawling, encyclopedic narrative, partly a meditation on the nature of art and storytelling, partly a family saga, and perhaps rarest of all an experimental novel that s also very readable. A high-risk enterprise with a similarly high pay off. Geoff Nicholson, author of"The City Under the Skin"
"Broken Sleep" is an unabashedly Big Think book that refuses to be categorized. On the surface it s a roller coaster, jetting forward with ideas/observations on everything from avant-garde art to rock n roll renown to history and philosophy. Yet beneath the surface it is also a warm-hearted exploration of the deep messiness of families. Of parents, present and absent, and their children. Of siblings and spouses and volitional families of friends and bandmates. It s a simultaneously poignant and exhilarating ride. Melvin Jules Bukiet, author of"After"
"Bruce Bauman is one of the most engaging and engaged writers and thinkers that I know." Rebecca Goldstein, author of"Plato at the Googleplex"
"A synesthetic and unfettered book that cascades between a quartet of voices to depict a family not so much broken as fractured over several generations, and shifts in art and politics from the 60s and, prophetically, into our future. A stunning, lively and funny evisceration of American art, culture, and politics, and of the links connecting them. Brian Evenson, author of"The Open Curtain""

"A plangent tour de force of epic proportions...Broken Sleep's amalgam of distinct perspectives creates an incoherent coherence that challenges and rewards in turn. Both a nightmare and a dream, this work successfully engages with eternal questions of truth and evil to form a solid and captivating literary experience." --Library Journal (starred review)
"Big-thinking...a postmodern epic." --Kirkus Revie...

Bruce Bauman is the author of the novel And the Word Was (Other Press, 2006). Among his awards are a COLA (City of Los Angeles) Fellowship in Literature, a Durfee Foundation grant and a UNESCO/Aschberg Fellowship. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Salon, BOMB, Bookforum and numerous anthologies and literary magazines. Bauman is an instructor in the CalArts MFA Writing Program and Critical Studies Department and has been Senior Editor of Black Clock literary magazine since its inception in 2003. Born and raised in New York City, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the painter Suzan Woodruff.