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Reviewed by Pikasho Deka for Readers' Favorite
Sleep Walkers by Ani Alanakian is an eclectic collection of fourteen short stories. An aging gardener must find a way to pass down a generational secret before a terrible calamity devours the village. A mother faces the impossible dilemma of having to choose between her newborn baby and her own life. After finding herself trapped in a seemingly never-ending nightmare, a woman seeks her husband's protection. An elderly man struggles to recognize his loved ones and himself, becoming a stranger to his own body. An unexpected encounter with an old man on the brink of death gives a young man the strength to move on from his own loss. After surviving a murder attempt on his life, a young man begins to heal and recover, finding support and comfort from the woman he loves.
This is one of the best short story collections I've read all year. Sleep Walkers is surreal, mesmerizing, and at times, even thought-provoking. Author Ani Alanakian taps into the psyche of her characters in a way that makes you feel that you're in their shoes, trying to navigate situations that seem way out of your control. All the stories are written in truth-illusion or stream-of-consciousness narrative style, which the author explains in detail toward the end of the book. In almost all these stories, the protagonists face challenging situations that change the course of their lives. While some of them are layered with fantastical elements, others are more grounded and realistic. These narratives explore a wide range of themes, including loss, grief, choice, identity, and love, among others. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.
