Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas is a highly structured novel: It begins on Thursday, April 5, at 4 p.m. and ends on Monday, April 9, at 5:50 a.m. Each full day is divided into three chapters recounting events of the morning, afternoon, and night. Within each of the chapters, Robbins includes a number of brief episodes each identified by the precise time the events take place.

While the design of the novel shows Robbins constraining himself to a fixed pattern, the style of the work reveals Robbins's continuing interest in language. Robbins plays with words throughout the novel, crafting many fresh and unusual similes and metaphors. Pea pods for Robbins are "the detached spines of elves" while sweet pepper slices become "vaulted and naved, like cross sections of Caribbean cathedrals." When Gwen hurries down the hall, she runs "like Jackie JoynerKersee with a wasp in her shorts."

Robbins may be...