Goodreads rating: 3.89/5
Reading Women Challenge 2019: 2) A book about a woman with a mental illness
Author: S. J. Watson
Genre: Thriller, suspense, psychological fiction
First published: 2008
Christine Lucas wakes up every morning in a blank slate except for a certain past she thought she was from. The room she was in, the bed she was on, even the man she's sleeping with looked alien to her. Once she has seen the photographs in the bathroom, she always ended up feeling confused and Ben, the man she's sleeping with, would always comfort her, explaining to her about her amnesia and him being her husband. One day, a doctor whom she has been seeing secretly has suggested that she keeps a journal, writing down her daily updates so that she could read it the next day, hoping that it would jog her memory back. As more and more discrepancies appear, Christine slowly but surely remembers more and filling in the gaps rapidly, revealing the truth in the end.
I'm not sure why I had not watched the movie itself especially since Nicole Kidman, one of my favourite actress, was in the main role. It would have saved me time from reading a thick book LOL! Not forgetting the many urges I had to flip to the back to find out the ending! Anyway, it has made my "reading to imagining" experience pleasant as I could imagined Nicole and Colin in the respective roles while reading it.
This is a truly remarkable book! I was kept on my toes from the moment Claire rejoined Christine's life! Thank goodness the ending was not a cliffhanger, albeit a mini medical one, but it definitely upped the ante with the many nail-biting plots! It did start a little slow, kinda dragging at times but the amnesiac plots somehow made it more enthralling. Midway in, I've somehow expected Ben was the villain and when the whole picture came together in the end, it was definitely well worth it!
I've enjoyed how the author has panned out the story and gotten me so engaged, can't wait for the ending. Reading Christine's dilemma, trying so hard to remember, to forgive and continue to live her life... it felt so real! Watson had thoroughly researched on such medical subject and able to translate it into this novel with much efficacy.
A thriller which I would recommend if you are looking for something dark... just have to bear with the slow start but it does get exciting, I promise.
A couple of notable quotes:
"This is dying everyday. Over and over."
"I could think of nothing, nothing to say, nothing to feel. My mind was empty."
My next Reading Women Challenge 2019:
3. A book by an author from Nigeria or New Zealand
At first I thought of Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries but the book is just too thick for my commute reading! So I've not decided on another yet, still pondering while reading on my Kobo Touch during CNY.
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