Christine, in Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
Imagine waking up each day remembering nothing about the day before. So it goes with Christine Lucas, the woman at the heart of S.J. Watson's 2011 novel Before I Go to Sleep. The man in bed with her is a stranger; the face she sees in the mirror looks decades older than the one she thinks she should have.
Christine narrates her own story in the form of a diary she begins at the suggestion of a doctor who works with her in secret because her husband disapproves. Dr. Nash calls her each morning to tell her where she has hidden the diary. She reads it to discover anew what few details about her life she has been able to gather and record. Yet these details are often contradictory. Did she lose her memory because of an accident or as a result of a beating? Did she once write a novel or not? Did she have a son named Adam, and if so, is he dead or alive? Why are there so few pictures of her life? Did her best friend really move to New Zealand? Who is lying to her, Dr. Nash or this man who tells her each morning that he is her husband? Is there anyone she can trust?
To make such a story both believable and thrilling takes great skill and diligence, and Watson performs masterfully, which explains why this was a best-seller a decade ago. The reader may figure it all out before Christine does, but the reader has the advantage of being able to remember the previous chapter.
No comments:
Post a Comment