Review | Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
CONNECT WITH A BOOK inspires today’s T.I.M.E. SIMPLE LIVING TIP
“Even when you don’t have all the facts, you still have your instincts...”
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Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
2022 Publication Date: August 9
⭐️⭐️⭐️
T.I.M.E. BOOK REVIEW
Megan Goldin does a fantastic job of "inviting us in" to the experience of what it must feel like to wake up with your memory wiped. That premise is one that completely leaves me with so many questions as to how could a person even get from day to day? And the ante goes thru the roof, if that person is on their own.
All of those questions are prime territory for a wonderful thriller story. And since these stories are usually told from the perspective of the memory loss character, we are struggling as well with the same puzzle pieces that the character has in trying to fit everything together. But we have the benefit of having a cumulative record within the story to solve the mystery.
However in this story, the author also folds in multiple timelines which can also build the suspense for us as the reader... as that cumulative record we are trying to keep straight in our head is not unfolding in a sequential timeline. But it can also be a bit confusing as you are not sure where you are in the story.
Think of putting together a puzzle. But as you put the pieces together someone is also coming in and changing the shape of some of the pieces along the way. Making those pieces no longer fit in that same spot. So you are constantly having to rebuild the puzzle. Frustrating, right?
Well... This is just a taste of what this character experiences each time she goes to sleep.
Megan Goldin is a wonderful author... So, I wonder if her intent was to deepen our personal connection with the lead character's experience. If so, it worked! I was constantly having to turn back the pages and review the chapter sub-headings to reorient the timeline in my head.
And each time I did... My empathy for the lead character deepened.
Frustrating? Yes... Effective? Absolutely!
Perfect for readers who enjoy both a thrilling story and stepping into the shoes of a character's experience... ✨😎✨
Pages: 352
Genre: Thriller
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Time Period: Present Day
Location: Brooklyn (New York)
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Book: The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
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♡ Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Liv Reese wakes up in a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she arrives at her home, she finds strangers living in her apartment. They claim to have lived there for two years.
When she searches her pockets for her phone, it has been replaced by a bloodstained knife and her hands are covered with graffiti-like messages to warn her to stay awake.
And she can not remember why...
She's horrified to see reports of a crime scene in the news where the victim's blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window.
The same message is written on her hands...
Liv is now on the run from a crime she doesn't remember committing and someone who knows what she did.
And whoever it is... They do not want her to remember...
Stay Awake is an electrifying novel that proves memory — or the lack of it — can be deadly.
BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION:
Discuss the challenge of distinguishing fact from fiction
Have you ever felt a desire to completely forget a part of your life? What would be the consequences?
Explore the power of the mind when the facts are confusing and we must rely on instinct
RELATED QUOTE:
"Memory is man's greatest friend and worst enemy." - Gilbert Parker
What do you think the quote's author is trying to say with this quote? And how does this quote relate to the story in Stay Awake?
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