“‘As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I’m still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me …’ Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love – all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story. Welcome to Christine’s life.”
My Review:
I bought this book on kind of an impulse buy at the bookstore. I really wanted some new reading material, but I wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for. I had heard about the book from someone (although I can’t remember who exactly) so I thought I’d pick it up and give it a read.
“Before I Go to Sleep” is the diary of Christine, a 40-something(?) year old woman who suffers from amnesia. It’s so bad that as soon as she goes to sleep at night and wakes up the next morning, the majority of her life’s memories are erased. The result of the memory loss is because of an accident. In her diary she writes of her daily going-ons so she knows who she is, what has happened and where she’s headed the next day. With the help of a doctor, Christine is slowly starting to make headway in remembering who she was.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. It wasn’t a super easy read like most chick-lit, but again, I wouldn’t file this book under that category. It was harder for me to get into, but once I had a hard time putting it down because I wanted to find out whether or not Christine gets her memory back.
I really don’t want to give a review that will give away the ending, but in the back of my mind, I KNEW something was fishy. The ending, sadly, didn’t surprise me completely. I feel the book was missing something, but I’m not entirely sure what that something was. Part of me wishes that Christine’s character was developed a little bit more, but perhaps it was the author’s intent not to because of the “lather-rinse-repeat” life of hers due to the amnesia.
Overall, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. I felt it could have been a wee bit better, I’m just not sure how.
Have you read “Before I Go to Sleep?” What did you think of it?