September 2012 - Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

Tadpole thinks:

May not the best way to start off my career at Fishing in the Tadpole Kingdom, but I’m gonna be genuinely honest with you – it’s been more than two weeks since I finished Before I Go to Sleep. You know what that means.

Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep?

This is the tagline of Before I Go to Sleep. Christine, our protagonist, suffers from a strange case of amnesia. Every morning she wakes up with no recollection of her name and her near past. Sometimes she thinks she’s a child, sometimes a young adult. Her husband, or “the man who’s sleeping in bed next to her”, will remind her who she is, who he is and their daily routine. Occasionally, at her demand, he’ll fill in her memory gaps. On the other hand, at the advice of a doctor she’s secretly seeing, Christine’s begun writing down what she does and she learns daily. The journal helps her to put the pieces together, but the same journal leads her into questioning her trust in everything.

Every review you see will be raving at you about how entertaining, how intriguing and how much of a page-turner Before I Go to Sleep is, so I’ll your spare time. It had me put myself in Christine’s shoes. If I were Christine, what would I do? I haven’t been a 47-year-old married woman, but neither has Watson (I believe?). Yet he portrayed Christine so well. I was absolutely surprised when I learnt that Watson is a man.

On a side note, the perfectionist in me always does relish details. This time, non-perfectionists will have a chance to appreciate them as well. In this book, many tiny little details are actually hints, which make you go “that makes sense now!” towards the end.

But the perfectionist in me also has problems with this book.

1. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but I have to. After being on the same emotional roller coaster as Christine, we expect a shocking ending. Well, we do have it here, a shockingly cheesy one. Confessedly I haven’t come up with a better ending… but I’m not the writer!
2. My mum constantly reminds me to take the fictional world with a pinch of salt. Still, some aspects of the book irk me too much. The readers aren't stupid! We aren't going to fall for implausible and ridiculous explanations.
3. The timeline was difficult to follow at first. Though I seem to be the only person on earth with this issue.
4. The book got quite boring after 100+ pages, nonetheless it was all good after it entered the gentle slope towards the climax.
5. Not a fifth problem, but I have nowhere else to put it – I’M EXCITED FOR THE FILM. Nicole Kidman’s set to play Christine. As much as I love Nicole, I think Tilda Swinton is a better choice.

No wonder Faber Academy features this book in all of their advertisement. I definitely want to enrol in one of their writing classes now. A 3-day course next time I’m in London then?

Theodora and I haven’t started our regular meet-up-for-discussion regime yet. In fact I don’t know how we’re gonna do it or if we’ll be doing it at all. For those who have read, or are interested in the book, please have a look at the official book club notes.

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Fish thinks:

It is a nice recommendation from Florence, or Tadpole. I temporarily put down another thriller Angels and Demons (another suggestion for our archive?) just to finish it in a blow. Just like what the reviews have stated, it was a total page-turner. You can pick it up anywhere and immerse into the storyline at once. Despite the gripping plot being slightly less intricate then I have imagined (*spoiler alert* I thought Dr. Nash was more involved in Christine’s life and there would be something more about “Ed”), S. J. Watson’s narrative style and arrangements are impressive, building up great suspense and lure readers to continue Christine’s mental journey. Here I have to disagree with Flor: the story gets more interesting as it proceeds and readers get more light on the protagonist’s shattered life (but it does gets tiring to start a new diary entry every time the solving of the mystery nears). Also, I credit Watson for surprising readers with many twists in the story.

YES, the ending is cheesy, illogical and an obvious rush. Everything ended abruptly and unexcitedly. It would be great if the suspense continues, but I’ve a lack of idea what comes next. On the other hand, I see Florence’s point regarding the it-makes-sense hints throughout the book. I feel the same and the realization hits me like a wave.

Overall speaking, Before I Go To Sleep is a fun read. I didn't gain anything from it specifically…but is it a necessity to have a message behind every story? I enjoyed it, I savored it, and that's all it matters. Will recommend it to anyone!

P.S. Am excited for the film as well (There’s a film coming? Great news!) but too agree that Nicole Kidman is not right for Christine. Tilda is nice but I always portray Famke Janssen (X-Men) as the character in my mind!

PROMISE: A longer post next time *winks*

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Readers, we’re always up for a discussion! Leave a comment or send us an e-mail, we’ll get back to you ASAP.