Janis Reynolds

Meh

Revisado: 06-19-22

I am looking for a new series. This book was pleasant enough but not interesting enough for me to read a second book. The narrator was excellent and her performance was stellar. However, she is female and the protagonist is male. What? My 3 star rating of her performance is only to draw attention to this fact, not a true reflection of her performance.

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The narration ruined it

Revisado: 06-12-17

The narration is cloying. A saccharine style is used that is more suitable for reading to preschoolers. However, I am an adult as are the characters in this book.

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esto le resultó útil a 12 personas

Boring Boring! BORING

Revisado: 05-18-16

What would have made Before I Go to Sleep better?

I chose this book based on the positive reviews for the book, the positive reviews of the narrator, and the endorsement from Dennis Lehane. I absolutely hated this book and this narrator. It could be better if it had a more compelling premise, a more compelling plot and some character development. The plot line replays over and over for about 80 percent of the book. The main character wakes up each day with no memory and has to read her journal every day to remind herself what happened. And nothing happens to her, it's just memories of her past, her husband and her doctor, repeated again and again. The main character has no context to her life so that would be a bit difficult to flex out her character, so perhaps the supporting characters would give this book some substance. No, that did not happen. They are all one dimension, at best. All the same one dimension by the way.

What was most disappointing about S. J. Watson’s story?

My bad for choosing a book about mental illness, a tricky subject matter at best. The author failed. Sadly, I felt no empathy for this character, despite that the best efforts of the narrator to make sure I knew what dire circumstances this woman was in.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I know Ms. Cassidy can only be as good as the source material, but she failed to rise above it. She was breathy, melodramatic, and portrayed the character as a whiny paranoid instead of a woman in distress or confusion or scared. She was much better in scenes with dialogue.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Before I Go to Sleep?

You could easily cut out the middle 80 percent of the book and miss nothing. Read Chapters 1 and 2, then skip to the last chapter.

Any additional comments?

S.J. Watson is not a bad writer, but this book was poorly crafted with a repetitive, implausible plot and one dimensional characters. It was like visiting with that one friend we all have who tells you the same story over and over and over. Not worth it.

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Nothing Special Here

Revisado: 04-24-14

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No. The story was predictable, especially the ending. The characters were underdeveloped and so despicable, I was very disappointed they did get what they deserved. The dialog was atrocious. The characters just yelled at each other throughout the book. This book read like a Lifetime movie of the week. Happy endings for everyone. Ugh.

Would you recommend Keep Quiet to your friends? Why or why not?

No. A bland family gets in a situation and they make bad decisions. Quite frankly, I didn't care what happened to them. I have never read this author before. I will not seek her out again.

Did Ron Livingston do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I didn't care for this book, but sometimes the reader can elevate bad material. Not this time. Ron Livingston can read ... out loud, but differentiating all the characters? No. He managed to take truly unlikeable characters and make them even more unlikeable.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

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