{"id":1794,"date":"2014-02-18T01:29:48","date_gmt":"2014-02-18T01:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web02.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters2\/archives\/1794"},"modified":"2015-05-24T07:10:23","modified_gmt":"2015-05-24T07:10:23","slug":"book-report-before-i-go-to-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/archives\/1794","title":{"rendered":"Book report:Before I Go to Sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We always want to get rid of our sadness and sorrow, and childishly believe that we can then live <\/span>more happily<\/span>. But what if you really forgot those things? Could you really live happily forever?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The story \u2018Before I Go to Sleep\u2019 begins with a woman called Christine, who ha<\/span>d<\/span> caught an uncommon mental disorder in which she <\/span>will<\/span> forget everything when she w<\/span>oke <\/span>up every day. Her only relative\u2014her husband Ben\u2014<\/span>would<\/span> tell her things every morning. Meanwhile, Dr.<\/span>Nash <\/span>would<\/span> phone Christine every mid-morning to remind her to write a journal whenever she remember<\/span>ed <\/span>anything so that she c<\/span>ould <\/span>read it to strengthen her memory. Terribly, there <\/span>were <\/span>three words on the first page of the journal\u2014\u201cDon\u2019t trust Ben\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On <\/span>the <\/span>one hand, Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> knew that Ben was the only person she could cling to; on the other hand, she discovered that Ben was lying. Ben concealed they had a son called Adam, who was killed in a war, and concealed that it wasn\u2019t a car accident that caused <\/span>the loss of her memory<\/span>. Chris was struggled to tell Ben about her journal. <\/span>With<\/span> the help of Dr.<\/span>Nash, <\/span>Christine<\/span> realized that she had been <\/span>crazy and <\/span>living in a psychiatric ward for seven years. Only then did Chris understand Ben was protecting her from those grieves. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All the things came clear. When Chris determined to tell Ben that she could remember some past events, a call from Dr.<\/span>Nash put a damper on her thought. Chris\u2019<\/span>best friend Claire <\/span>contacted her <\/span>and revealed that Ben and Chris were divorced. It obviously showed that Ben was telling another explosive lie. Chris <\/span>panicked<\/span> and <\/span>was <\/span>disappointed, but at the same time she summoned up courage to dig out the truth. Eventually, Ben made a clean breast of those \u201clie<\/span>s<\/span>\u201d. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Chris forgave Ben.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything seemed <\/span>to have settled<\/span>. However, another awesome truth was exposed\u2014Ben was not Ben. The one now sleeping next to Chris was in fact Mike. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> had had an affair with Mike before she lost her memory. Mike fixated to Chris<\/span>tine<\/span>, but Chris felt guilty <\/span>betraying<\/span> Ben, so they <\/span>separated<\/span>. Mike virtually killed Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> in a crazy manner. Discovering that Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> had lost all her memory after the accident, Mike grabbed the chance to coerce Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> to be with him forever.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mike was <\/span>killed<\/span> in <\/span>a<\/span> fire. In fact the information told by Mike was all fake. Adam was still alive and <\/span>the <\/span>real Ben still loved Chris<\/span>tine<\/span>. Though there was a worry that Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> might lose her memory <\/span>t<\/span>he next day<\/span>, <\/span>Chris has achieved a breakthrough in memorizing things for more than one day\u2014the people who loved her had all come back. The story ended in a bliss.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The story was <\/span>touching<\/span> but somehow depress<\/span>ing<\/span>. The writer S.J.<\/span>Watson describe<\/span>d<\/span> the things happened to Chris and her loneliness marvelously in-depth. <\/span>The readers<\/span> can really feel as if <\/span>they<\/span> were Chris<\/span>tine<\/span>, experiencing her <\/span>loneliness<\/span> and suspicio<\/span>n<\/span> towards the people surrounding her<\/span>.<\/span>The readers can experience what it means to trust only themselves, and <\/span>bear the grief by <\/span>themselves<\/span>. Moreover, <\/span>they<\/span> can even figure out the impending future that you will forget everything again. It just simply likes an existence but not a life, jumping from one moment to another. More than that, the lies made by Mike were shattering. As a reader, I can only gasp in disbelief. Why can Mike do that? He is controlling Chris<\/span>tine<\/span>, making a story for her and fixing her life into his own imagination. He is distorting Chris<\/span>tine\u2019s<\/span> life. That\u2019s appalling. Luckily, humans have feelings. Although Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> ha<\/span>d<\/span> lost her memory, her heart t<\/span>old<\/span> her the truth\u2014Mike was not the one she loved<\/span>.<\/span> Apart from the above, there are some sweet scenes in the story. While Mike was cheating her, Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> could still remember some joyful pictures. She remembered she had had a party with her best friend Claire, watching fireworks with Claire on the roof. She remembered the first time she met Ben. She remembered him asking her to marry him, and the wedding. She remembered her kneeling on the floor playing with her son. The ending of the story is also <\/span>delightful<\/span>. Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> could live with her husband and son forever.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After spending half of the day reading this book, I have some introspection, or I would say some thoughts about our lives. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Memory defines us. It is mentioned in the introduction of this novel. It\u2019s absolutely correct. Without our memory, what <\/span>would <\/span>our life be? We will <\/span>be <\/span>just like a foetus, knowing nothing about ourselves. Memory <\/span>is like<\/span> a puzzle; it is made up of hundreds of thousands of past events of our <\/span>fleeting <\/span>life, including successes and setbacks. Many say they want to jettison their annoying past so that they will no longer live in misery. But, are <\/span>they<\/span> sure <\/span>they<\/span> will be happy? Take Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> as an example. She knew that the memory about Adam was painful as he was d<\/span>ead<\/span>. But she was adamant to know it. Why? It was because she could remember that she had loved him so much. She treasured this love. How about you? While you are feeling upset about <\/span>some failures<\/span>, can you find something in that experience that is worth treasuring? It may be love, genuineness, hard-work, and so on, which can define your character too. I promise that once you overcome those frustrations, you will be happy. So don\u2019t try to abandon them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The second thing I have thought of is trust. This should be the main idea of this story. Look<\/span>ing<\/span> back to the story, when she gradually relied on her husband, she found that he was lying. When she wanted to tell Dr.<\/span>Nash what she was facing, she found that he was just telling half of the story. Then, who can you believe in when you find that the people whom you trust are telling lies to you? It is an annoying question. <\/span>W<\/span>henever we choose to trust somebody, we should <\/span>be <\/span>prepare<\/span>d<\/span> to bear the risk of <\/span>being <\/span>hurt<\/span>.\u00a0 T<\/span>he reason why we trust is <\/span>that<\/span> we need to build a relationship. If now he or she is not doing anything bad to us, we should believe in him\/her. <\/span>We can only know if something is real or fake in the future.\u00a0 <\/span>We do need to <\/span>take risk<\/span>, don\u2019t we? Or else, there will be no relationship, no friendliness, <\/span>or<\/span> kindness. We will just live in suspicion. How awful it is! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris<\/span>tine<\/span> was hurt by a number of lies. But eventually she could find out the rights and wrongs, because she trusted her husband and Dr.<\/span>Nash<\/span>.<\/span> She ultimately succeeded in <\/span>finding out the<\/span> truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though this book is very thick as it tells a lot about Chris\u2019s experience, it is not <\/span>disorganized at all<\/span>. <\/span>It<\/span> is a thriller novel, <\/span>yet I <\/span>can feel a pound of love. It is inevitable that someone will hurt <\/span>us<\/span>, but still there is still someone who loves <\/span>us<\/span>. Read this book, I guarantee you will like it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We always want to get rid of our sadness and sorrow, and childishly believe that we can then liv<\/span>more happil<\/span>. But what if you really forgot those things? Could you really live happily forever<\/span><\/p>

<\/span><\/p>

The story \u2018Before I Go to Sleep\u2019 begins with a woman called Christine, who h<\/span><\/span>caught an uncommon mental di.........<\/span><\/p>Read More<\/a>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":8474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","language-en","classlevel-others","schoolyear-35"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3382,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/3382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}