Don’t Sleep with the Dead is a novella following Nick Carraway years after the happenings of The Chosen and the Beautiful.

I loved the The Chosen and the Beautiful when I read it in 2021, so I was excited to come back to this world. I did not reread the original novel before jumping into this novella and that might have hindered my enjoyment a little bit, but in the end I will read anything and everything Nghi Vo releases and will most likely enjoy it.

In Don’t Sleep with the Dead, Nick is being haunted by Gatsby which takes him on a dark journey through New York City. Vo’s storytelling is so unique and this novella is just another example of that. This was weird (in the best way) and I never knew what was going to happen next or what Nick would find as he searched the city looking for answers.

If you also enjoyed The Chosen and the Beautiful and want to see where Nick and Jordan are years after that story wraps up, I would recommend picking this up! I will be rereading The Chosen and the Beautiful and coming back to this in the future.

Synopsis: On the eve of WW2, the paper soldier turned author Nick Carraway keeps seeing Gatsby who died during that summer of 1922.

My thoughts: this was an interesting short story follow up to The Chosen And The Beautiful. Technically this could be read as a standalone but I highly recommend reading The Chosen And The Beautiful before attempting this, because it makes all the nods and references easier to understand. I enjoyed reading.

Don’t Sleep with the Dead is a standalone companion novella to this author’s book The Chosen and the Beautiful (her acclaimed reimagining of The Great Gatsby). This novella is from Nick Carraway’s perspective many years after the events of The Great Gatsby on the eve of the second world war. Nick sees a familiar face one night… leading him to believe that Jay Gatsby is back from the dead and isn’t done with him. The writing is beautiful and haunting and this author is clearly a talented storyteller. I was hooked from the very beginning but some of the story jumped around so the scenes did not always flow smoothly and the paranormal dark fantasy aspects were a bit confusing and never fully explained. I felt this novella was missing something for me and would have appreciated more clarity at the end. I did not know this novella was a companion work to another book when originally requesting it on NetGalley. Although it is listed as a standalone novella, I feel it may have helped to read the other book first to better prepare and connect with this one. I do really love the author’s writing style and plan to read her other work in the future. Thank you to NetGalley, Nghi Vo, and Tor Publishing Group for the gifted ARC. This is a voluntary and honest review.

This is said to be a standalone companion novella, but I think it would be best to read this after the related work or The Great Gatsby. Although I have read The Great Gatsby, it was years ago, and I don't remember much. Because of this, I think my enjoyment of this novella was impacted.

Despite everything, I enjoyed the writing style storytelling. The ending was interesting, and overall, this was a quick and engaging read.

Short but punchy novella. I read this maybe twice to figure out if I was reading everything correctly. I loved spending more time with a character from The Chosen and the Beautiful. That book was probably my favourite Nghi Vo book and this was a beautiful follow up. I loved that the main character was unreliable and in fact, I'm pretty sure he says it multiple times through out the novella. I loved the magically elements which was part of the Chosen and the Beautiful. This was a great follow up and I'm hoping for more!

A quick read taking us back to the world of Nick Carraway that Vo so masterfully retold in The Chosen and the Beautiful. This novella is beautifully written and really makes you question Nick’s reliability - whether you can believe anything he says. The imagery from Vo is so vivid!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital ARC of this title!

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you so much to tordotcom for the finished copy and the ARC. All views are my own.

Okay, I LOVE Nghi Vo’s writing. Don’t Sleep With the Dead features gorgeous prose, sharp sentences, and so much angst and longing it’s achingly good. That’s what I love about her work. Don’t Sleep With the Dead is a standalone novella that follows her Gatsby retelling The Chosen and the Beautiful. I hadn’t read the first book, and while I got through this follow up nicely, I think I would have benefitted from reading the first one for a familiarization with the characters and the plot of book one.

That said, if you love deals with demons, ghosts coming back from the dead, women made of wax and men made of paper, the search for what we miss and love, then this is the book for you. Nick Carraway thinks Gatsby has come back from the dead and is on a quest to find him or what he loved about him. It’s poignant, clawing, and visceral. I really enjoyed it.

Let me preface by saying The Chosen and the Beautiful (which you don’t have to read before this) left me a little confused so I shouldn’t have been surprised that this didn’t fully click. One of the best things of this book was that we really got to see a lot of tangible elements of Nick’s queerness and the implications in the period that he lives in. Also the bit about who he is because what?? (I was still confused though). Overall, it’s a fascinating concept that just isn’t fully for me. And yet, it’s the kind of book that you can’t really stop thinking about. The novella length really suited it though, and I think if you like a slightly eerie queer story or any of Nghi Vo’s other standalone novels you’ll enjoy this one.

I liked this novella that is part of the same universe as The Chosen and the Beautiful by the same author! Beautiful writing and a compelling story

“Don’t Sleep with the Dead” by Nghi Vo is a dark, magical novella that reimagines The Great Gatsby. The story was very unique and twisted, and unlike anything I have ever read.

I don’t believe this book should be advertised as a standalone. The background and plot does not have enough substance to stand on its own. Unfortunately, because I had not read the companion novel, I was very lost and confused throughout the story.

I highly recommend this novella if you enjoyed its companion novel! I strongly urge anyone interested in this novella to read The Chosen and the Beautiful first, and not make the same mistake that I did.

Thank you NetGalley, Tordotcom, and Nghi Vo for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.25 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Dot Com for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Don't Sleep with the Dead can be read as a standalone novella, however it is a spinoff of the reimagined The Great Gatsby, by the title of The Chosen and the Beautiful. This story takes place following the events that took place in The Chosen and the Beautiful, and the MMC Nick Carraway is being haunted by Jay Gatsby.

I think if I had read the original novel first, I would have had a better understanding of the characters in this story, but overall it was still enjoyable. I do have to say that having read The Great Gatsby decades ago helped with the basic understanding of who the main characters were, even without reading The Chosen and the Beautiful. I love the writing style, it was beautiful and gave very vivid imagery. It was dark, brooding, and gory. I honestly wish this was longer, I finished it in one sitting and wanted more of these characters.

This would be great if you love historical fiction mixed with a little bit of fantasy, along with unlikable characters.

Published by Tordotcom on April 8, 2025

Don’t Sleep with the Dead is marketed as a companion to Nghi Vo’s The Chosen and the Beautiful, a book that allows F. Scott Fitzgerald’s character Jordan Baker to provide a woman’s perspective on The Great Gatsby. Before I read Don’t Sleep with the Dead, I was unaware of its companionship with The Chosen and the Beautiful, a novel I didn’t read. That’s what I get for paying little attention to marketing materials when I choose books. I’m certain that a familiarity with the earlier work would have enhanced my incomplete understanding of this novella.

Nick Carraway is on “the wrong side of forty.” He’s living in New York City, working as a columnist at the Herald Tribune, and trying to put 1922 behind him. Jay Gatsby died that year but when Nick finds himself in an alley where gay men congregate, about to be stomped by the police, he believes he is rescued by Gatsby.

When Nick calls Jordan in Paris to tell her that he saw Gatsby, she’s not surprised. She tells him that the dead are coming back in France. “Old soldiers, mostly.” They can’t speak because their throats are blistered by mustard gas.

And then, as if Gatsby’s reincarnation isn’t sufficient, the story becomes strange. Nick tells a story about his grandfather’s brother, who came to America and was drafted into the Civil War. “In the two-room shack with the river roaring in the spring flood, Leith Carraway used his old Sheffield razor to loosen his face from his head and traded it for another.” Nick’s mother gives him a less glamorous explanation for his granduncle’s slashed face, but Nick believes “that was where it started, the Carraway belief that duty could be put off on someone else, and that if you only made the right sacrifice, spilled the right blood using the right name, that fate might be delayed or even distracted.”

We then learn that this Nick is also an imposter. Nick went to Canada when he was conscripted to fight in the first World War. A talented relative cut out a paper doll and turned it into a replacement Nick. The paper doll Nick went to war in Nick’s place. The original Nick died in a car accident shortly after the war ended and the paper Nick took over his life.

Strangeness abounds in the novella. Nick bargains with the devil because he wants to learn what happened to Gatsby in Hell. The devil sends him to a woman made of wax. And so on.

The devil alters its appearance at will and Nick’s granduncle is not the only character who swaps faces. “One night, drunk, I’d met March at the Morocco and he’d put on Gatsby’s face for me.” All this was a bit much for me, although I appreciated the imaginative take on Fitzgerald’s novel and the urgency with which the story is told. Still, unless wielded by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I’m not a fan of magical realism.

I credit Vo for her creative and elegant prose style. Unfortunately, the novel makes so many references to events and characters in The Chosen and the Beautiful that I became quite lost. I can’t judge the story fairly as a companion to the earlier novel because I lack the necessary context. I'm reviewing it as a standalone work, perhaps unfairly, because that is how it is marketed. My guess is that readers who enjoyed The Chosen and the Beautiful will enjoy the companion novella. For other readers, I can only recommend reading The Chosen and the Beautiful first (if you’re a fan of magical realism) and, if you enjoy it, moving on to Don’t Sleep with the Dead to learn the rest of the story.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

Don’t Sleep with the Dead by Nghi Vo
Companion Novella
Genre: Reimagining I Queer I Character Driven
Setting: 1922
Length: 101 pages
Release Date: April 7, 2025

First, I’d like to thank Colored Pages Booktours, Tot dot com, and Nghi Vo for the finished copy of this novella.

When I found out that this was a companion novella, meaning it can be read on its own but best read following the author’s debut. The Chosen and the Beautiful, which is another Great Gatsby reimagining, but from the perspective of Jordan as a Vietnamese orphan turned golf star. It chronicles her friendship with Daisy and the queer relationship between Nick and her. I highly recommend reading The Chosen and the Beautiful before jumping into the novella because it lays the ground work for which Don’t Sleep with the Dead expands on.

While it’s not necessary, it made the reading experience so enjoyable jumping back into the decadent setting of 1922. I love the reimagining of Jay and Nick as a queer couple and the magic system is quite interesting. I enjoyed this novella but I’m hoping we get more POVs in the future.

I recently found out it was a few days ago that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby turned 100. What a milestone. The film adaptation is one of my favorite movies I’ve ever seen.

This historical fantasy novella weaves magic, horror, and the glamour of New York City on the eve of World War II, into a creepy allegory of what it means to quite literally be made of stories. Nghi Vo creates an alternate 1939 New York City in which magic and demons roam the wintry streets, tormenting Nick Carraway—the fictional narrator of The Great Gatsby—with memories of his lost love, Jay Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s title character). In Vo’s world, Nick is the author of the celebrated novel and is himself a supernatural being originally constructed, Golem-like, from paper.

A cynical survivor of World War I and of the traumatic events of The Great Gatsby, Nick learns that Gatsby has escaped Hell and is haunting him. This outlandish premise yields a short but intense series of encounters with uncanny demons and eerie settings that Vo describes unforgettably. Nick must bargain pieces of himself to obtain the information about Gatsby he desperately seeks, and readers need to have a taste for body horror to be entertained by what he goes through. This novel will appeal most to fans of queer fantastical horror, with plenty of gore and non-graphic erotic longing to propel Nick’s journey into his own hellish past.

I don't love Gatsby, but love Nick and I loe Nghi Vo, and Don't Sleep with the Dead is the best Gatsby adaptation I've read. THIS is what should be taught in schools.

Having read and enjoyed quite a few novellas by Nghi Vo, I was happy to receive a copy of this one. Her writing is consistently beautiful, and this novella is no exception: it is poetic, atmospheric, evocative. The unreliable narration is effective, and the combination of historical & fantastical elements is interesting. Yet... I can’t say I loved this. If anything, it feels rather forgettable.

I read this book without having read The Chosen and the Beautiful first, but having read The Great Gatsby. I do question how well this works as a standalone – it was certainly comprehensible, but I cannot help but feel that I missed out on some character development by reading this novella first/only.

Content warnings: violence, blood, injury detail, murder, rape (not on-page), police brutality, homophobia, death

Thank you Tor Publishing Group / Tordotcom & NetGalley for providing me with an ARC to review.

A companion novella to the queer great gatsby retelling The Chosen and the Beautiful? Yes please. It was an extended epilogue you didn’t realize you needed but once you have it you can’t envision not having it. 4 stars.

✨ Review ✨ Don't Sleep with the Dead by Nghi Vo

Thanks to Tordotcom and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

In this queer, fantasy reimagining of the Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway is at the center, surrounded by classic Gatsby characters.

This is a standalone novella companion to the Chosen and the Beautiful (which I haven’t read) and it felt like I was missing pieces of how this magical system worked. I loved what I thought it was trying to do but I didn’t quite get it!

I did love the queer take on this, and was so curious to try to piece it all together (and I can't explain my confusion without spoilers, so I'll leave this vague). I think I'll try to read the Chosen and the Beautiful and return to this, because I really wanted to love it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: sci-fi/fantasy
Setting: NYC in the late 1930s
Pub Date: April 8, 2025

Read this if you like:
⭕️ queer retellings
⭕️ novellas
⭕️ Gatsby meets demons
⭕️ 1930s NYC

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Dark and twisted, a mysterious supernatural tale that’ll keep you invested, with Gatsby elements remixed in a new manner. An entertaining read.