PositiveStrange HorizonsKaren Russell\'s Sleep Donation is a tightly written novella that explores the \'hydrology of human generosity\' in the wake of an epidemic of insomnia ... Russell\'s prose is both rich and taut. A less talented writer could have stretched this story arc to a full-length novel. I\'m always grateful when a writer presents a fictional world, characters, and authorial themes with concision and style—a single malt, rather than a generic blend ... Occasionally in passages of dialogue it\'s unclear who is speaking but I decided against pedantry. My only gripe is that in the novella’s closing pages the tone slips into preachiness as though Russell wants to ram home a whole bunch of messages. I feel the author\'s voice intrudes too far. By contrast, the singular phrase \'sidewalk asylums\' is a subtle prompt. This reference to the neglected mentally ill in our societies is a powerful-enough message and one that\'s highly pertinent to the issue of our donation culture. Surely, one of our best defenses against depression and mental ill-health, in the face of impending global crises, is to take action, however insignificant that action might seem—a blood donation, going vegetarian, switching off those glowing devices.
