Christine, the main character in Before I Go To Sleep, is living in a fractured world. Every night when she goes to sleep, Christine loses all of her adulthood memories due to brain damage from a car accident. She then awakes not knowing where she is nor who the man sleeping next to her is, and so every day has to be told by her husband what happened, how she lost her memory, and how she survives. Her goal is to find out her whole story on her own, to regain her memory and determine who she can trust.
This problem does interest me. I think humans have an innate curiosity about memory loss like hers. The concept of amnesia is very pervasive in our media (though it only affects a small percent of the world’s population), as seen by the popularity of movies like 50 First Dates, the Jason Bourne movies, and many soap operas. Memory loss is a great, if hackneyed, plot device, infusing the story with an immediate sense of vulnerability and danger. All of our stability and sense of self in life comes from memory (as the back of Before I Go to Sleep declares, “memories define us”), so to see this woman without most of hers trying to survive is fascinating.
However, though the description of the problem is engaging, and I was very curious just from reading the back of the book, I feel as though I’m just reading this book in order to find out the rest of the plot. I’d be satisfied if someone just told me the end, as just reading the book seems a chore I have to complete in order to find out the next event. The writing is a bit cheesy and somehow makes this plot which could be thrilling into a boring tale by unbearably stretching out the events.
I predict that Christine will regain her memory and through new memories discover that either her husband or doctor is keeping her back from her full potential. This is mostly because otherwise there wouldn’t be much of a plot. If Christine continues in her unremembering state she’ll stay ignorant forever, but I think she will remember an event that will incriminate either of the two men who claim to be helping her. It’s also a common trope that characters close to an amnesiac betray the amnesiac, and the book is not one to shy away from tropes. Christine has already started to peel back layers of her life through new memories, like the remembrance of her childhood home, so I predict she will continue to do so.
This reminds me a lot of 50 First Days, which I personally really like, but I can see how it may be less interesting to read a cheesy, predictable novel rather than watch one. I think there's a different association with these different formats. Books are generally viewed as more serious whereas there are plenty of trashy movies, so I wonder if this story would be more interesting in a digital form. However, even the most seemingly predictable books can sometimes throw in unexpected plot twists, so perhaps this book may surprise you!
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