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Before I Go to Sleep

S.J. Watson (Goodreads Author)

3.89 · Rating details · 299,089 ratings · 22,535 reviews

Christine wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. She looks in the mirror and sees an unfamiliar, middle-aged face. And every morning, the man she has woken up with must explain that he is Ben, he is her husband, she is forty-seven years old, and a terrible accident two decades earlier decimated her ability to form new memories.

Every day, Christ ...more

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Hardcover, 359 pages

Published June 14th 2011 by Harper (first published April 28th 2011)

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Nov 21, 2013 Emily May rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015, mystery-thriller

“What are we, if not an accumulation of our memories?”

I've had my eye on this book since before it was released and last night I decided it was finally time. I really wanted a psychological thriller that would keep me guessing. And did it deliver? Well, let's just say I was up until 2am, partly because this book is unputdownable, and partly because it's a little hard to turn the light off and go to sleep afterwards.

Before I Go to Sleep is about a woman called Christine who wakes up every mo ...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Joe rated it did not like it

I only read reviews on Goodreads after I have read a book. I do this because after reading those reviews I wonder if I have read the same book as those reviewing it. Most start by giving a somewhat lengthly explanation of the plot of the book. Why? tell me what you thought. I know what it is about. I want to know what you thought of it. At this point I get really crazy because the opinions almost always are positive. I wish these people were my high school English teachers. I would have gotten A ...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Jeanette (Again) rated it liked it

Shelves: miss-trees

I can overlook a lot of bogus-tude for a good story, but this one exceeded my implausibility tolerance threshold. The analytical portion of my brain wants to give this an even lower rating, but it did hold my interest, so I have to be fair. It has a sinister edge that keeps you reading---at least until you start figuring everything out long before it's revealed.

If I listed all the laughable incongruities and convenient coincidences, I'd ruin it for people who just want an absorbing escape read. ...more

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Jul 14, 2011 Jason rated it it was ok

Shelves: for-kindle, 2012, reviewed

My negative attitude is a ruse, I swear it. I am such a positive little outlooker. Nearly every book I read starts off with five stars in my head. It barely has to earn anything; it just has to hold on to what it started with. But wow, this book fell off a cliff or something! What the hell happened??

First let’s back the truck out of these plot holes and start from the beginning.

The premise of this psychological thriller is fairly straightforward. The first person narrator has amnesia. More speci My negative attitude is a ruse, I swear it. I am such a positive little outlooker. Nearly every book I read starts off with five stars in my head. It barely has to earn anything; it just has to hold on to what it started with. But wow, this book fell off a cliff or something! What the hell happened??

First let’s back the truck out of these plot holes and start from the beginning.

The premise of this psychological thriller is fairly straightforward. The first person narrator has amnesia. More specifically, she has a mythical combination of several different forms of amnesia which happen to co-exist simultaneously at the exact same time. Maybe that should have been my first clue. She has retrograde amnesia as a result of a mysterious traumatic episode that occurred years earlier, and on top of this she has anterograde amnesia which affects her episodic memory: she cannot retain anything new. My second clue that this book would be an eye roller is that she has a short-term memory capacity of many hours—essentially an entire day’s worth—and it is erased only when she falls asleep, which flagrantly stretches the definition of anterograde amnesia by a large margin.¹

So this unreliable narrator with her unreliable memory is trying to piece together the details of her life while basically having to start from scratch every day. I love the idea of this. I love the idea that without memory retention, one cannot build experiences and without experiences, he cannot forge interpersonal bonds with others, which means he cannot develop relationships or attain any kind of emotional maturity or love. He cannot even experience the feeling of anticipation because it would require a preexisting sense of future combined with a knowledge of the past, both of which are conspicuously absent when you have to be reminded every morning that you have amnesia to begin with. There is no future, there is no past, there is no anticipation of anything. It is only the here and now. Because of my interest in this I was able to suspend my beliefs a bit regarding the nuances of the narrator’s form of amnesia.

Still, Watson manages to muck it all up. The narrator’s sense of mistrust, confusion, and paranoia are there, but the frustration of her existence is glossed over at each subsequent sunrise for the sake of plot progression. And the ending, OH GOD THE ENDING. It devolves so quickly to predictable Sleeping with the Enemy–style fare that all enthusiasm for the psychological part of the story is lost. Truly, I think this could have been a decent novel, I really do. Watson’s clichéd structure, though, leaves too much to be desired and the book simply does not live up to its potential.

¹After writing this review, I came across a blog post by the author who sort of corroborates my assertion that the narrator’s form of anterograde amnesia is somewhat of a fabrication. Sort of. ...more

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Nov 30, 2011 Alex rated it did not like it

Shelves: mystery, audiobook

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I think I tend to judge books more harshly when I listen to them because I can't skim the text or skip parts that bore me. BUT I DON'T KNOW. MAYBE THAT'S JUST MORE HONEST.

Before I Go to Sleep is a highly improbable novel that's practically a fantasy. A very slow, drawn-out, horribly written fantasy. Christine, the protagonist, wakes up in a strange bed with a strange man. He tells her he's her husband, Ben, and she has amnesia -- she cannot form short-term memories. Think Memento. Hey, in fact, I think I tend to judge books more harshly when I listen to them because I can't skim the text or skip parts that bore me. BUT I DON'T KNOW. MAYBE THAT'S JUST MORE HONEST.

Before I Go to Sleep is a highly improbable novel that's practically a fantasy. A very slow, drawn-out, horribly written fantasy. Christine, the protagonist, wakes up in a strange bed with a strange man. He tells her he's her husband, Ben, and she has amnesia -- she cannot form short-term memories. Think Memento. Hey, in fact, this book is just like that movie! Determined to figure out the mystery of her past, Christine sees a doctor in secret and keeps a day-to-day journal. That's pretty much all you need to know.

The bulk of the book is Christine rereading her journal. Which is just ENDLESS accounts about how confusing and terrifying things are. Ugh, we get the point. Perhaps that would be realistic, but it's hardly INTERESTING for the reader. Throughout the book, one finds out (as Christine does) that her husband is lying to her about how she got amnesia (she was attacked; he tells her it's a car accident), her son (he says they have no kids; they had a son), her best friend moving away (nope), etc etc. Obviously something is creepily wrong, and yet Christine is like, "Hmmm. GUESS I'LL JUST STAY HERE WITH THIS CREEPY LYING DUDE."

We also discover that Christine was having an affair when she was attacked. WHICH IS ALSO WHEN I CALLED IT THAT BEN WAS ACTUALLY THE DUDE SHE WAS SLEEPING WITH. I didn't quite know how that was going to work, but when Claire (her best friend) was all, "GIRL THAT AIN'T BEN", I was like, "WHAT REALLY YOU WENT THERE, YOU FUCKER????"

BASICALLY, the dude Christine was having her affair with was super obsessed with her to the point of LUNATIC CRAZY and when she tried to break the whole thing off, he went BATSHIT and TRIED TO DROWN HER IN A HOTEL BATHROOM. Then, because her memory was so shoddy and awful, her loving husband Ben (apparently in this world "loving" means that he's a handsome successful vegan architect) is all like, "I CAN'T HANDLE THIS. I MUST LEAVE BECAUSE I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH AND THIS I AM CAUSING YOU SO MUCH DISTRESS. I'M GOING TO TAKE OUR SON AND LEAVE YOU IN THIS REHABILITATION CENTER." So then Crazy Dude, who's been staring at her through windows and shit this whole time, swoops in and...manages to convince the staff that HE's Ben (?????????????) and is all, "YUP I'M TOTES BEN. I'M GOING TO TAKE MY WIFE HOME NOW." So she's been living with CRAZY UNHINGED DUDE this WHOLE TIME and he's been masquerading as her husband!

I can't really go into how much I thought the plot sucked (it did; a lot, in case you were wondering) because my brain might implode. But one thing I do want to vent about is: HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE TO GET SOMEONE OUT OF A REHAB CENTER BY PRETENDING TO BE THEIR HUSBAND???? DO PEOPLE NOT CHECK RECORDS ANYMORE???? WHAT IS THIS SHIT??? DO REHAB CENTERS JUST LET ANYONE WALTZ OFF WITH CRITICAL AMNESIACS???? WTF????

That aside, MAN, this writing was AWFUL. The audiobook narrator did not help. She had this grating voice and whenever she read Claire, I wanted to throw my iPod out my car window. Christine is a HORRIBLE character. I mean, I was SO SHOCKED that the author was a man (haha, jk, not at all)! Once again, we have a female protagonist with no autonomy. And this time it's because her horrible cheating made it so! Ladies, no sex for you outside marriage even though dudes do it all the time, because your lover will probably try to asphyxiate you on a tile floor and then stalk you for years and years only to kidnap you and keep you hostage with him in his love shack. ISN'T THAT ALWAYS THE CASE?

Also, everything was SO SLOW. The fight scene at the end when she's trying to escape from Ben/Mike and she's all like, "I should've probably hit him again..." when she FINALLY manages to wrench herself free from his violent attack and you're like, "NO SHIT SHERLOCK" and then he GRABS HER AGAIN AND THROWS HER TO THE FLOOR. COULD'VE JUST BEAMED HIM IN THE HEAD AGAIN WITH THAT STOOL AND SAVED US ALL A LOT OF TIME, YOU WORTHLESS EXCUSE FOR A CHARACTER. Oh, this is a good segue into the gratuitous violence of the book. All the scenes with violence in them (few, but they are pretty intense) are UGGGGGGH. It was like, "and then I cracked my head against the radiator!" "and then he shoved me to the floor and my arm twisted behind my back!" "and then his hands were around my throat and I couldn't breathe!" I was SQUIRMING on the train. I CANNOT DEAL. And, I know why this book had to be narrated in first-person present, but IT WAS SO AWFUL I CANNOT EVEN.

Bee tee dubs, the character of Claire makes NO SENSE to me at all. She's supposed to be Christine's BFF and she just doesn't talk to or try to see her anymore? WOULDN'T THAT BE A LITTLE SUSPICIOUS????? If my best friend got AMNESIA and couldn't remember anything, I WOULD BE THERE EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY. EVEN if I slept with her stupid husband, I would NEVER lose contact with her. CLAIRE, YOU ARE OFFICIALLY THE WORST FRIEND EVER. CONGRATULATIONS.

Dear Adam -- you suck as a son. Dear Ben -- you suck at still being in love with Christine and letting some dude pretend to be you to steal her out of the clinic. This book is really just a presentation of THE WORST PEOPLE TO HAVE IN YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR MEMORY.

Congrats, SJ Watson. I'm so glad your first book is a PILE OF SHIT. ...more

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May 04, 2011 Lou rated it it was amazing

Shelves: june-read

June 15th 2am 2011

I am writing this down in my journal
I must do this otherwise I fear tomorrow I might not remember anything.
Anything about the book I read today or about me or my wife, well she says she is.
I woke up this morning and my eyes were cast upon a striking beautiful woman in an even more striking body wearing nice lingerie that fits like a glove.
I have no idea at that moment who she is, she says she's my wife but I don't remember being married! I am trying to piece together my lif ...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Mo Shah rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2011

Argh. What a frustrating book. I want someone else I know to read it so I can discuss it with them, to see if they agree with my conclusion. Sarah, you should read it and let me know what you think.

I really really liked this book in the beginning. The concept, while not strictly novel (I can recall maybe half a dozen stories where amnesia like this features prominently) is utilized to great effect. The mystery is initially built quite satisfactorily, and you're drawn in as a reader.

Fairly soon ...more

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Jul 12, 2015 Mandy rated it it was amazing

Omg! I am totally speechless. This book was amazing. It had a great plot about a woman who has amnesia and cannot remember her memories from day to day. She begins to keep a journal and remember certain events in her life. From there the book is amazing! I definitely recommend this! If you want a page turning, psychologically thrilling, fall out of your chair book - read this!!!!!!! So damn good!

Side note: I've got to see the film!!!!!!! ...more

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Sep 28, 2020 Emily (Books with Emily Fox) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book was interesting to say the least!

Woman who can't retain new memories after an accident (wakes up every day not remembering the last), decides to try and improve her condition. She sees a doctor in secret and writes her daily life in a journal she hides from her husband.

I liked how you truly don't know for a while who to trust. Is she crazy? Is her husband lying? Her doctor?

My issues were mostly the weird body part descriptions... I-
No.

Worth a shot!

...more

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Nov 30, 2014 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it liked it

Shelves: adult, british, mystery, crime-mystery, 21th-century, fiction, thriller

Before I Go to Sleep, S.J. Watson (Steven J.)

Before I Go to Sleep is the first novel by S. J. Watson published in Spring 2011.

The novel is a psychological thriller about a woman suffering from anterograde amnesia.

She wakes up every day with no knowledge of who she is and the novel follows her as she tries to reconstruct her memories from a journal she has been keeping.

She learns that she has been seeing a doctor who is helping her to recover her memory, that her name is Christine Lucas, that Before I Go to Sleep, S.J. Watson (Steven J.)

Before I Go to Sleep is the first novel by S. J. Watson published in Spring 2011.

The novel is a psychological thriller about a woman suffering from anterograde amnesia.

She wakes up every day with no knowledge of who she is and the novel follows her as she tries to reconstruct her memories from a journal she has been keeping.

She learns that she has been seeing a doctor who is helping her to recover her memory, that her name is Christine Lucas, that she is 47 years old and married and has a son. As her journal grows it casts doubts on the truth behind this knowledge as she determines to discover who she really is.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز ششم ماه نوامبر سال 2016میلادی

عنوان: پیش از آن که بخوابم؛ اثر: استیون ج واتسون، مترجم: شقایق قندهاری؛ مشخصات نشر تهران، آموت، چاپ دوم 1392، در 382ص، شابک 9786006605135؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان آمریکایی - سده 20م

زن هیچ کجای اتاق را نمیشناسد، مردیکه کنارش خوابیده را نمیشناسد، آرام و بیصدا وارد سرویس بهداشتی میشود، و به آینه نگاه میکند؛ خدای من این دیگر کیست؟ من باید بیست و چند ساله باشم! نه میانسال؛ کتاب بر اساس تجربیات نویسنده، از حضور در کنار بیماران «آلزایمری»، نوشته شده است

نقل از متن: (آن‌ها باید به طریقی مرا آرام کرده، و راضی و متقاعدم کرده باشند، که همراه دکتر «ناش» بروم؛ چون موضوع بعدی که یادم می‌آید این است که داخل اتومبیلش بودم، و او رانندگی می‌کرد؛ کم‌کم ابرها داشتند آسمان را می‌پوشاند؛ خیابان‌ها کم‌کم داشت تاریک، و یک‌جورهایی صاف می‌شد؛ او حرف می‌زد، اما من تمرکز نداشتم؛ انگار ذهنم سردرگم، و وارد ورطه دیگری شده باشد، و حالا دیگر نمی‌توانستم خودم را، به آن برسانم؛ از پشت شیشه‌ ها، نگاهی به بیرون کردم؛ به مشتری‌های فروشگاه‌ها، و افرادی که قدم می‌زدند؛

مردمی که با کالسکه ی بچه راه می‌رفتند، یا چرخ خریدی را، به دنبال خود می‌کشیدند؛ می‌خواهم بدانم، که این جستجو در پی حقیقت؛ واقعاً همان چیزی بود، که می‌خواستم، و دنبالش بودم؛ بله، شاید به بهبود، و پیشرفتم کمک کند، ولی تا چه حد، آیا باید امیدوار باشم، که چیزی دستگیرم شود؟ توقع ندارم، روزی بیاید، که وقتی از خواب بیدار می‌شوم، همه‌ چیز، مثل مردمان عادی یادم بیاید؛ به‌ طوری‌ که بدانم، روز قبل چکار کرده‌ ام؛ برنامه‌ هایم، برای روز بعدی چیست؟ و چه مسیر گمراه‌ کننده‌ ای، مرا به این وضع و حال، و به اینجا رسانده است، و حالا هم خودم را به اینجا، و این مرحله از زندگیم رسانده‌ ام؛ در بهترین شرایط، می‌توانم امیدوار باشم، روزی برسد، که وقتی به آیینه نگاه می‌کنم، بدجوری جا نخورم؛ این‌که یادم باشد، با مردی به اسم «بن» ازدواج‌ کرده، و پسری به اسم «آدام» را، از دست داده‌ ام، و دیگر حتماً لازم نیست، نسخه‌ ای از رمانم را ببینم، تا بدانم که خودم آن را نوشته‌ ام

اما انگار، حتی همین حد هم، دور از دسترس است؛ به آنچه، در بخش «فیشر» دیده بودم، فکر کردم؛ دیوانگی؛ رنج و درد، و مغزهای به‌ هم‌ ریخته؛ فکر کردم: وضعیت من به آن‌ها نزدیک‌تر است، تا به بهبودی؛ شاید در نهایت، صلاح باشد بفهمم چطور با شرایط موجودم، کنار بيایم، و همانطور زندگی کنم؛ می‌توانستم به دکتر «ناش» بگویم، که دیگر نمی‌خواهم او را ببینم، و دفتر یادداشت‌های روزانه‌ ام را هم بسوزانم، و حقایقی را که تا به این لحظه کشف کرده بودم، دفن، و آن‌ها را در حد اعماق حقایقی که هنوز، از آن‌ها بی‌خبرم، مخفی کنم؛ این‌طور از گذشته‌ ام فرار می‌کنم، ولی جای پشیمانی ندارد، تا چند ساعت دیگر، حتی نمی‌دانم که دفتر یادداشت روزانه‌ ام، يا پزشکم، اصلاً وجود خارجی داشتند، و آن موقع می‌توانستم خیلی ساده و راحت، زندگی کنم)؛ پایان واگویی از متن

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 26/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Nov 05, 2016 F rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: seen-movie, uk, 2016

Could. Not. Put. Down.
Such an unusual perspective to come from.

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May 26, 2011 Cassy rated it really liked it

Recommended to Cassy by: CNN 2011 article about summer reads

Shelves: physical-own, 2011, fiction-adventure-mystery, region-europe, event-met-author, flavor-unreliable-nasty-narrator

Sometimes I get flipped around while I sleep. My head ends up where my feet should be. As I wake up and wave my hand in the air for the nightstand, the freak out begins. Where the heck am I? It only lasts a few seconds before I figure it out, but the depth of my disorientation during those few seconds is always surprising to me.

So, the book and I were off to a good start when, on the page one, Christine wakes up confused in a strange room. Unfortunately for her, it is not as simple as seeing th ...more

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Jan 31, 2021 Danielle rated it really liked it

Shelves: fab-book-club-books

2012 F.A.B. Bookclub pick # I.❤️. F.A.B.

This book has been sitting on my TBR shelf for years. I’m not sure why it took me so long to pick it up. 🤔 Anyway.... It was a pretty good mystery/thriller. I did guess what the outcome would be. 😬 However, the idea of the journal keeping was pretty cool and I was still interested in the story. So overall, I’m happy with it.

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Feb 07, 2017 Luffy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star

I'm astounded that Before I Go to Sleep isn't one of those books that raked in 4.00 stars on average. It's so damn good and the suspense is unrelenting towards the end.

Unfortunately for me, the epub file that I downloaded contained too small letters. Adjusting them whenever I chose to alternate between books was a pain but it was still doable and worth it... Christine is an amnesiac who is trying to relive her past. The book begins slowly and the tension escalates slowly.

Christine is not alone. ...more

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Jun 05, 2020 Charlotte May rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery-thriller, illness-mental-terminal

“Soon I will sleep, and my brain will begin to delete everything. Tomorrow i will go through it all again.”

An addictive and frightening thriller.

Christine has a severe memory impairment. Every night when she goes to sleep she forgets everything from the day before. She wakes up each day believing she is 27 years old and single, but soon has to face the truth that she is actually in her fifties and married.

Every morning her husband Ben explains who she is, who he is, what happened to her. But ...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Carol rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-thriller, read-2015, library-overdrive, debut, suspense

DO NOT TRUST BEN, but OMG who to trust?

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP begins with a daily existence of the creepy unknown and continues with amazing suspense each day throughout the entire story as amnesiac Christine unravels the mystery of her past.

As bits and pieces of her memories unfold, the shocking truth and terrifying moments of "the accident" come together to disclose a great twist within a unique storyline.

A bit far-fetched here and there, but who cares..........super entertaining! Could Not Put

...more

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Nov 10, 2014 Sam Quixote rated it did not like it · review of another edition

(I jump in and out of spoilers throughout – it’s the only way to review this trash - so rather than constantly having to stop myself to write “spoilers”, I’m writing it at the top of the review. Fair warning.)

Christine has a very specific type of amnesia: every day she wakes up not knowing who the man sleeping next to her is. She also forgets that she’s 47 and not in her early twenties as she believes. She forgets that she was in an accident that caused her memory loss, she forgets that she had ...more

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Nov 29, 2015 Clumsy Storyteller rated it really liked it

Christine, a middle-aged woman who wakes up every morning with no memory of her life, she has amnesia; every night she falls asleep and forget everything, that's her life which made me really sad for her i loved the story it was well written it was sad no one deserves to go through that struggle every day it was heartbreaking , The ending was really scary it caught me off guard, totally unexpected turn of events.

okay now the movie oh my freaking lord !!! they ruined it , they ruined everything ...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Arah-Lynda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-said, 2011

What if when you woke up every morning, you could not remember anything of the day before or the day before that. You wake up beside a man. A stranger, who says he is Ben, your husband. He becomes your only sense of belonging by gently, lovingly explaining everything, as much as he seems able, each and every day.

A Dr. calls, on a phone you did not even know you had and convinces you to see him in an effort to try and remember something, anything. He suggests you keep a journal and then calls bac ...more

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Jun 11, 2011 Brenda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Brenda by: Michael

Shelves: favourites, library-bookclub-reads, psychological-thriller, debut

Wow! What an amazing debut novel! I could not put this book down, it completely captivated me, I was wanting to know what would happen next, I was afraid with her, for what would happen next.....

Christine Lucas (Chrissy) goes to sleep each night, and wakes up in bed with someone she doesn't recognise, the house is unfamiliar, the clothing is not hers! The man she wakes up next to tells her he is her husband, Ben, they have been married for 22 years, they are very happy, and very in love. She had ...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Andrew Smith rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I really enjoyed the whole premise of this story: the memory loss with the lead character having, effectively, a clean slate every day. It put me in mind of another book with a similar slant - The Housekeeper + the Professor by Yoko Ogawa - only this tale is much darker and the Ogawa book doesn't set out to be a mystery thriller.

I think the characterisation is flawless and the story is told brilliantly. Ok, I did start to work out where it was leading towards the end, but this didn't prevent me ...more

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May 27, 2017 Sheri rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017, fiction

An enjoyable read, although slow at times. Unlike others, I did not see the twist coming, but I was musing over the implausibilities of the story line. But hey, unlike real life, this is fiction, anything can happen, and it can all come together neatly at the end.

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Aug 26, 2011 Doug Bradshaw rated it it was amazing

From the very first sentence of the book I virtually became the protagonist, an amnesiac struggling to figure out who and where I am and why I'm in bed with this older man in a home I don't recognize and then when I look in the mirror, I barely recognize my reflection: this older woman with wrinkles and body starting to sag a little bit, naked and blank both mentally and physically, totally lost and scared and befuddled.

Every day is the same awakening until with the advice of a therapist, she s From the very first sentence of the book I virtually became the protagonist, an amnesiac struggling to figure out who and where I am and why I'm in bed with this older man in a home I don't recognize and then when I look in the mirror, I barely recognize my reflection: this older woman with wrinkles and body starting to sag a little bit, naked and blank both mentally and physically, totally lost and scared and befuddled.

Every day is the same awakening until with the advice of a therapist, she starts to keep a journal and then incrementally adds various things she learns so that she doesn't have to totally re-learn her life every day.

There is huge genius and likability in this book on many levels, from her innocent and blank feelings about her husband's silly body parts, his need for sex, her duties as his wife, memories of lust from her past, her normal and somewhat randy behavior along side of her long time best girlfriend in college, to the normal things in the average life of an average couple cooking fish and peas for dinner.

Just because you're an amnesiac, it doesn't mean that you aren't intelligent and don't have instincts and feelings about the way you are being treated and cared for. As I moved along the story-line, there were many subtle clues about the real world that started to scare me, wondering what in the hell is going on, what the husband is doing, why is he so loving and patient, why does he give her slightly different answers to the same questions, what motivates him to be with her, to love her, his sexual relationship with her, etc.
I don't want to give the plot away, but the book moves fairly quickly from nervousness and wondering, to extreme stress and fear.

This is an excellent and unique book with many different levels of thought about life, relationships, roles, friendship, daily existence, etc. And, it gave me a little bit more insight into female thinking (or at least I once thought). I loved it.

Note after the review: One of my friends told me the author is male. Dang, but I don't like the book quite as much now. LOL I'll leave the five stars but I feel a little wronged somehow. ...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Kinga rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pub-2011

I had to finish reading this book before I went to sleep. I was afraid I would wake up and not remember a thing and would have to start all over again. I haven’t been this engrossed in a book for a long time. I missed my stop, I forgot to pay my bill at the café (I did return today to settle it and said I suffer from temporary memory loss), I bumped into things while read-walking.
It’s no wonder this book sold five hundred gabizzillion copies and translation rights everywhere including Atlantis I had to finish reading this book before I went to sleep. I was afraid I would wake up and not remember a thing and would have to start all over again. I haven’t been this engrossed in a book for a long time. I missed my stop, I forgot to pay my bill at the café (I did return today to settle it and said I suffer from temporary memory loss), I bumped into things while read-walking.
It’s no wonder this book sold five hundred gabizzillion copies and translation rights everywhere including Atlantis and Mars, as it is fantastic and all it asks from you in return is to suspend your disbelief for about 300 pages. Seems like a small price to pay.

If you have been in a coma this past year and have no idea what ‘Before I Go To Sleep’ is about, let me recap it for you: Just like in Memento, the main character suffers from anterograde amnesia but to spice things up she also has regular amnesia. Every day Christine wakes up not knowing where she is, how she got there, and why she seems to have a body of a middle aged woman, when she vaguely remembers being in her early twenties before she went to bed. The past twenty years of her life are completely gone from her memory and everything before also seems hazy. Yes, S.J. Watson is pushing it a little but you won’t have much time to meditate over the probability of the premise because the ride begins on page one and doesn’t stop until you close the book. It’s easy to open your novel with a character waking up with no recollection of who they are or how they got where they are, it guarantees to get everyone hooked, but the trick then is to keep the tension and even pace. This is where ‘Before I Go To Sleep’ is most successful.

The biggest part of the book is made of Christine’s journal, which she keeps to remind herself every morning who she is and what has happened to her before. I could be nit-picky and say that if I suffered from anterograde amnesia and had to read my whole bloody diary every morning and then write what has happened before going to bed, I’d try to be succinct. Otherwise I’d soon end up spending all my days reading about my past and what I had for dinner, and what the weather was like and what I was wearing.

But, of course it’s a book , I didn’t actually want to read bullet points, I wanted a narrative. Additionally, Christine is a writer by vocation, so I can forgive her for getting carried away, describing the wind and sand texture.

Memory is an extraordinary thing and I almost broke my brain imagining not having it. As I was reading the book I was adding new facts to those I already knew. I was building up the story in my head and I was making progress. To poor Christine every chapter was the first chapter. Every ten to twenty pages she was back to square one and I’d like congratulate Watson on doing repetitions without sounding repetitive. I’m also glad that he at least made an attempt to address the psychological impact such a condition might have on a person. Waking up in a body that’s decades older than you remember your body to be is pretty much waking up in somebody else’s body – having that happen to you once might undo you, I can’t even imagine having that happen every single day.
Remember that romantic comedy – 50 First Dates? It was neither romantic, nor funny. It was plain scary. She managed to have two children (or one, or three, I don’t remember)! Why would you do to someone who can’t remember what happened to them for the past decade? If I woke up one day, suddenly nine months pregnant, and some dude was telling me we were married and in love and that’s our baby, I’d say: hell no, perv! When I went to bed I was not pregnant. The aliens must’ve abducted me and impregnated me with their alien baby. I’d probably have a major freak-out and a miscarriage to boot.

Also, think about it. Picture yourself waking up in a stranger’s body in a stranger’s house. That would be pretty stressful, even if someone explained everything to you, it’s safe to say you’d be on the edge the whole day, your heart beating fast, diarrhea, cramps, chest pain. And now imagine that happening every day. You might not remember it but your body would, you’d be a wreck before you turn 40.

I thought all that while I was reading and then I thought: but after all, we are all amnesiacs. We don’t remember much from before the age of 3 (not that much afterwards). We look at our early photos and have no recollection of those photos being taken. We are told what we liked and how we behaved and we have no way of verifying that information. Even all those events from our life – how many of the thousands of days we lived we truly remember? We remember mostly the things we often talk about, the thing we wrote down in our journals or blogs and then reread. But the truth is we don’t remember the actual events, we remember just our descriptions of them, some story we told and retold our brain until we arrived at the version we were satisfied with. So let’s not fool ourselves that, we, unlike Christine, can actually rely on our memories.

...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Alex rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: suspense-thriller-mind-fuck, contemporary, favorites, reviewed

Has anyone seen 50 First Dates?
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It's this fun, touching movie about a girl with a medical condition that prevents her from remembering the events of the previous day. This book is like that, only creepier and more depressing.

Imagine waking up every morning and not knowing the person sleeping beside you. Imagine looking in a mirror every morning and not recognizing your own face because you're 20 years older than the last memory of yourself. Imagine not trusting the person claiming to be your husb ...more

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Oct 14, 2015 Zoeytron rated it really liked it

Shelves: public-library

The mind is an intricate thing, fragile, open to suggestion. An inkling, a feeling, just a hint of familiarity, can have you going in circles. That thought you just had, is it a memory or an invention? Christine never has the luxury of knowing how to answer that question. A nearly fatal injury 20 some odd years ago left her with a specific type of amnesia that allows no short term memories to be retained. If she sleeps, she forgets. Someone close is lying to her about some very important things ...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Nicky rated it it was ok

Shelves: mystery

I picked this up somewhat on a whim. A couple of people had been talking about it, and I saw it in the Kindle store, and I just thought... fine, okay. I'll go for it. I read it in about four chunks. It's pretty riveting, actually. The unreliable narrator is reasonably well handled and as long as you're prepared to go along for the ride, it works reasonably well. I guessed the big twist fairly swiftly, then thought I'd got it wrong, and then it turned out my first guess was right. That was pretty ...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Petra-X Off having adventures rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, fiction

If you lose your memory about people and events, then you lose yourself and you become the dupe for any and every scurrilous schemer because how can you tell who your friends are if you don't even remember them? And so it is for Christine who remembers only what she is told that day but can use a diary to remind herself of what she had remembered the day before. If you don't work out the ending, which isn't original but appropriate, then it's a really good read, if you do, well, it's still an ok ...more

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Jan 08, 2017 Poonam rated it liked it

Shelves: buddy-reads, mystery-thriller-suspense

Buddy Read with Murugesh

This story is of Christine, who suffers from a special kind of amnesic disease where when she goes into deep sleep, she forgets everything about herself and each day is like living a new life.

She is completely dependent on her husband Ben, to remind her of what her life is like, who she is, where she lives, what she does.....
"I feel like a prospective tenant being shown around a new flat."

This whole set-up reminded me of the movie 50 first dates but something that wa ...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Michael rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Michael by: Michael

Shelves: thriller, mystery, 2011, british-literature

I was recommending this book by one of my trusty Goodreads friends and while I wasn’t too sure about it I decided to give it a go. I was thinking this would be a book similar to 50 First Dates but what I go was a book that reminded me more of Memento. Before I Go to Sleep tells the story of Christine Lucas, who is trying to piece back her life after suffering an accident that has caused her to have anterograde amnesia. Chrissy can remember everything that happens to her during the day but as soo ...more

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About S.J. Watson

S.J. Watson

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S J Watson was born in the UK, lives in London and worked in the NHS for a number of years.

In 2011 Watson's debut novel, Before I Go to Sleep, was released to critical acclaim. It has now been published in over 40 languages, and has become an international bestseller, winning numerous awards.

The movie of Before I Go To Sleep, starrring Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong, was released in 2 ...more

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“What are we, if not an accumulation of our memories?” — 234 likes

“We’re constantly changing facts, rewriting history to make things easier, to make them fit in with our preferred version of events. We do it automatically. We invent memories. Without thinking. If we tell ourselves something happened often enough we start to believe it, and then we can actually remember it.” — 219 likes

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