Before I Go to Sleep: A Novel

Every time Christine goes to sleep, she loses her memories, sometimes remembering only things that happened as a young adult. She has been through a traumatic event and is now taken care of by her husband. But Christine receives help from a doctor who provides her a journal to keep her thoughts and memories in and calls her each day on a cell phone he gives her to let her know where she can find her journal. As she reads her journal each day, she begins to see discrepancies and also starts gaining more memories. Who can she trust and what is the real truth behind what happened to her? The story takes some twists and turns before the truth comes out and Christine finds her real self.

This book is very good. It’s sort of a warped and twisted ‘50 First Dates’. If you like books that will keep you on the edge of your seat, this may just be for you.Christine lives her life one day at a time. Literally. She has lost all memories of her past and every time she goes to sleep she wakes up with a clean slate. She forgets everything from her friends and family to her own name at times. She trusts only one person, the only person she has, her husband Ben. When she looks in the mirror every morning she doesn’t see the 20 something she thinks is, but the late 40’s that she is. It’s frustrating for her and everyday she has to find out all about her life from Ben.Instead of her memories she has a bunch of photos, a whiteboard, and a journal. The journal she has hidden away in a shoe box in her closet. She only knows about the journal because every single day a neurologist who has taken a great interest in her case phones her and tells her where it is. Ben has no idea she’s seeing Dr. Nash. Everyday she rereads what she’s written to learn about her life and everyday she adds more to it. The idea is that it might help her get her memories back eventually. As time goes by, she starts to realize that her loving husband Ben isn’t telling her complete truths.This book is good but if you are in your 40’s be prepared to feel really self conscious and a bit bad about your body when you read this. She complains so much about it, which is understandable since she last saw herself in her 20’s but man does it make you feel a bit bad about yourself! Perhaps that’s just me and I’m overly sensitive since the ages match closely!Other than that, this book does have some very predictable things going on here and there but it doesn’t really take away from the story. You still get sucked in and you still want to know exactly how it’s going to end. Parts of the end were a bit out there but for the most part this is just a fun story that reads fairly quickly because you can’t put it down!

In BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP by S.J. Watson, Christine wakes up every morning with no memory of the days before, of who that man (her husband, Ben) in bed with her is, of who she is or how old she is. Every day her husband tells her who they are and what happened to cause this memory problem. He claims she was in an accident with a hit-and-run driver.This book is about Christine regaining memories, little by little. She's aided by a person who claims to be Doctor Nash. He calls her every morning to reintroduce himself. At first, it sometimes seems slow and repetitious because of Christine's same routine every day. But it's also more and more mysterious with each new memory.Why does Ben keep most information from Christine? Does he think he's helping her, or is there some devious reason? And why, when Christine asks about a new memory, does he seem hesitant to answer? Does he tell her the truth? What is he hiding and why?And is this Doctor Nash really who he says he is? Is he really involved for the reasons he states?Here is what I know: there are several different types of amnesia and a few different possible causes, brain trauma being just one of them. Brain trauma is the cause Ben claims to Christine. But is he being honest?Christine retains memory for a day, only to lose it all overnight while she's sleeping. Is something other than or in addition to brain trauma the cause? What else is going on?Many other reader reviews of this book complain about its implausibility. If they are referring to Christine's amnesia, that is probably easier for me to believe because I, too, had amnesia as a result of an accident and still occasionally regain memories I didn't know I had forgotten, even after 34 years. For a short time, I couldn't even retain day-to-day memories. So I know Watson wasn't completely making this up, just stretching the truth.Although the amnesia described in BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP isn't implausible, I did catch things that are. For example, at the suggestion of Doctor Nash, Christine keeps a journal. Every day she describes that day, so she knows what happened in the days before. BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP is her journal. How does she have the time to both write it (in longhand) and then reread it every day along with anything else she does that day?But I just went along with it.Then Christine starts remembering enough to be suspicious. And just as she goes back and forth suspecting Ben or her doctor or her old friend, then suspecting her memory instead of them, I, too, went back and forth with my own suspicions. It truly became a thriller.BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP forces the reader to become tense with suspicion. It is this aspect that I think must be the reason the book is such a bestseller and garners so much praise. I can tell you that this is what won me over and is the reason I rate it so highly.I won this book from the Algonquin Books blog.

'Amnesia is not the only time you'll forget who you are. It'll also happen the first time you see your own clone.'----Jarod KintzS.J. Watson, the international bestselling and an award winning English writer, has penned a tantalizing and a thoroughly anticipating psychological thriller, Before I Go to Sleep that unfolds the story of a woman who wakes up every morning with no clue about her identity or the identity of the man who sleeps next to her or any idea about her life. Everyday is a struggle for her to go through the same introduction and same stories of her past from the only man whom she can trust, but is he being honest about the woman's past life?Synopsis: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.Well I know it's pretty late to write a review of this book as the movie adaption of the book starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman has already rocked the nation. But anyways, it is never to late to curl up with a good book that has created so much positive as well as negative noise in the literary world. For starters, before purchasing the book, I checked out lots of negative reviews, that suggest that the book is highly predictable and must not be read.Well Mr and Miss Smarty Pants out there, you guys might me very intelligent enough to figure out the whodunit, but for fools and stupid people like us, this book definitely kept me guessing till the end. Look at the way Ben behaves around Christine, it is not easy to predict on whether he has trapped a poor soul for his benefit. Anyways, I do not want to disrespect anyone out there.Christine is amnesiac and every morning Dr. Nash called her to remind her about the journal she wrote, without the knowledge of her husband, Ben. But her memories are playing trick, as one be one, snippets of her memory starts unrolling in her head and with the help of the doctor, she can get a brief idea about her past life. But what happens when Ben, her loving husband, gets to know about Christine's conspiracy with this doctor to revive her old memories?The writing style of the author is extremely articulate and has been layered with suspense that will keep the readers guessing till the very end. The tension in the book is very palpable all through out the story. In the beginning, the author gave his readers with a feeling that there might not be anything wrong with Christine's life, but when one by one, Christine's memory start pouring and when it mismatches with the story shared by Ben, then the readers get a feeling like they are gripped with fear and confusion.The mystery is tightly knotted and twisted with turns at every end, but that will only make the readers more puzzle. The story is highly anticipating and the pacing is bit moderate, as same things happen over a prolong period of time, that felt a bit monotonous, but I believe the author was simply trying to make his readers get used to with Christine's daily routines. The narrative is confusing, just like Christine's brain which plays tricks on her mind.The characters are very well-developed, although Christine's demeanor could not warm up my heart or make me feel sorry for her. At times, it questioned me on how a man could take advantage of her failing memory for so long. Christine's voice is honest and the author has done a great job on projecting the voice of a amnesiac patient. How at times, while learning about their true past can engulf them with fear and doubt, how they go to the verge of doing something wrong, these things are well depicted by the author.As for Ben, he is the most adorable and patient husband anyone could ever have. His loyalty towards Christine will bowl the readers over on thinking this man could never do any harm to his wife. Dr. Nash, on the other hand, played an extremely smart role in Christine's life. He is understanding, despite his medical science might at times prohibit from doing certain things, but it felt like he was on a mission to help Christine with her past memories.Memories play another major role in this book. Actually memories play the most important role in our lives, by defining the whole course of our life, based on which our future is shaped up. I can never imagine a life without my memories because I believe I will be nothing without them. Yes this is where Christine made me feel for her deeply for her situation, for her pain and for her constant struggle.Overall, this is the most gripping psycho thriller that I read after a while and that has already bagged so many notable literary awards. Well, if you haven't got time to catch the movie version of it, which released in the year 2014, and is directed by Rowan Joffé, starring a star cast of Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong, then do give it a watch.Verdict: Definitely a kind of book that got much hype after it's movie adaption.

Somehow this gem completely passed me by a decade ago, even though it went on to sell six million copies and was adapted into a so-so thriller starring Nicole Kidman & Colin Firth (it's decent but nowhere near as good as the book).The plot is nowhere near as original as the publishers like to make out. "Person with amnesia is embroiled in mystery" has been done a thousand times, but it's rarely been done better than this. Perhaps Memento (the stylish movie) is the only time.Obviously there are a few convenient plot conceits, such as the fact that Christine was a novelist before her accident which accounts for how beautifully written her journal is. Plus considering her condition she does awfully well to recall the fine details of all her conversations that day for our benefit.But this is quibbling. It's truly a compelling read, full of suspense, tension and surprises. Frankly it's rare that I become utterly engrossed in a novel (I've read thousands and many follow a well-trodden path) but this had me seriously hooked. And though I got close to working out the sucker punch ending, it still made me audibly gasp!A really majestic first novel which deserves all the acclaim it received. I'm moving on to the author's nexr books right away!

Couldn't put it down! Very engaging and enjoyable read.

Christine lucas wakes up everday in a room she doesn't recognise, beside a man she doesn't know, she has to be told by the man her husband ben that she was in an accident decades earlier and she has amnesia and can't form new memories. A doctor seeing christine about her condition suggests she keep a journal of her daily events, when she starts to write her journal it jolts old memories to appear and gives her daily ones which piece together what has happened with an old friend, her son and more about her relationship with her husband ben.Can the journal help christine with her amnesia and give her a more normal life she has now

It's really hard to keep a tiny set of characters interesting and for the most part this twisty turny tale delivers.