Discussion of Before I Go to Sleep
- Scott
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Discussion of Before I Go to Sleep
How do you like the book? Would you recommend the book to others? If I remember correctly, this is Watson's first published work. How do you like the writing?
I enjoyed reading this book very much. I think the story is very engaging and unique. I am no expert but I felt it made use of known science in the field more than is often found in fiction, which I appreciate. I also like the literary device of having the protagonist reading for most of the book what we are reading. It reminds me of Sophie's World in that way -- another book on my favorites list -- except that in Before I Go To Sleep she is actually reading about herself.
What do you think of the ending? Regarding everything that happened after she finished her original journal and started the trip with Mike, I found it to be a thrilling read. In fact, I stayed up way too late just so I could finish the book at that point. Obviously, the man we thought was Ben was made out to be sketchy throughout the book. For my own part, I suspected for a while that he would turn out to be the one who attacked her. Then of course I realized as I read that that was unrealistic when all the other people testified to how loving Ben was. Maybe the author meant for this to happen by giving extremely contradicting clues. I don't know why I didn't think to suspect that 'Ben' was the attacker but was not actually Ben. Sometimes twists can be too out of the blue and feel 'tacked on' or too ridiculous or cheesy to believe. I can't speak for anyone else, but I felt this twist was just right. It was just surprising and unexpected enough to be exciting while still fitting with the rest of the book and the suspicions to which you as a reader have.
However, in regards to the last couple pages, I enjoyed getting a reasonable explanation during the ambulance ride and hospital about what happened that she and us the readers didn't know. But a couple of things didn't jive with me about that. Firstly, I may have missed something, but I don't understand how the doctor and her best friend finding her helped that much. Did they say they rescued her at all? If so, I missed that. It seemed to me the fire was started, and then she passed out and then woke up rescued. I assumed the fire caused the fire-department to come and save her. Moving on, I don't know how I feel about the fact that it isn't made clear whether she got her memory back permanently or not. On the one hand, it is kind of a poetic ending and really puts on into the moment of her going to sleep. Also, on the bright side, it eliminated the hole in terms of the potential lack of a medical explanation for how her entire memory would conveniently come permanently back right when the book ends. But I just want to be sure she has it back especially since the original story was destroyed in the fire. What do you all think about this?
I felt the length of the story fit the story well. I personally feel like the longer a book is the more I expect to feel I get out of it when I am done. This was a relatively short book, I think, but I feel like I got a lot out of it.
Anyway, what do you all think of the book? If you have any favorite quotes or passages
"Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco." Virgil, The Aeneid
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- RuqeeD
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Overall, I did enjoy the book but I couldn't help comparing it to Memento (the movie) which I immensely enjoyed. Therefore, the concept didn't have as much of an impact on me as it would have had I come to it unaware.
- lolis
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-- 02 May 2012, 22:34 --
It also reminded me of a movie, "50 First Dates" Adam Sandler
- Harry64
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- StephenKingman
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My only concern with the film version is they may dumb down the story and make the lead character much younger and sexier to get the audiences in, I cant see many people wanting to see a thriller based on a 40-something London woman and her memory loss, so either the story will stay true and be a DVD movie or TV movie or else I suspect it will change quite a lot to reach the demographic, hopefully the former as it doesnt need to change one bit. An excellent book.
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- VampirePoe
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- Mindy311
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Someone mentioned the move "Memento" which i saw a few times and enjoyed greatly. I loved his idea of using a Polaroid camera (old movie) to take pictures and write notes on the back so he knew where he had been and who he had talked to and what they had said.
Now, I can hardly wait to read this book "Before I Go to Sleep", and I hope I remember to buy it. I'm making a note right now.
- Laura_Timmins
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- D Barry
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The story itself is superb I read it in one day: so intrigued was I to find out the ending. My only criticism would be:
Although Christine's story is harrowing and I did feel great sorrow for her, I never felt much warmth from her except in brief passages when she remembered being a mother and her friendship with Claire. Only in these small passages did I feel any quirks of her personality which led me down the road of wondering whether the writing was too clinical, too precise, I don’t know, maybe her condition consumes so much of her energy that her personality is in a state of limbo. However I still believe that the personality and the inner being would prevail and shine through.
There were two phrases I Particularly enjoyed:
1. The nineties. It was odd to hear a decade that I could not remember living through summed up in two words.
2. And there it was; my cue to tell him that I loved him too. Men always say I love you as a question.
- dee91787
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- amandawas
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