A review by terriep
Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Though this is well narrated, I thought it just an average read. A woman suffers an injury and loses her memory so every day when she wakes up she has to be reintroduced to her life - her husband, her home, etc. She meets a doc who convinces her to keep a journal and read it each day to remind herself of what she knew the day(s) before. That's problem #1. There's a whole long middle section of the book where it's her journal. The writing in the journal is not like anything you'd expect or felt real about journal writing. It was so descriptive and elaborately written that it helped tell the story, but didn't feel believable as a journal and it kept pulling me out of the story. She was supposedly an author before she lost her memory so maybe that's supposed to account for her writing style, but......I didn't feel like it rang true AND it's a big chunk of the book. Problem #2: though she has no memories, there was TOO much repetitive questioning throughout the book. I wish there was a way to break all that up so it didn't become tiresome. Sigh. There is a nice twist or two at the end that makes it worthwhile. 
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