If I Die Before I Wake – Emily Koch
(3 / 5)
I am so conflicted about this book! Torn in two!
The first part of me thinks “WOW! What an interesting and original idea for a story! Brilliant!” However, the other part of me was severely underwhelmed by it.
After a rock climbing accident, Alex is in a hospital bed, unable to move or talk, or do anything at all except think, listen, and feel the world around him. Everyone thinks he is in a coma, with no brain activity. Can he make them see that he is awake? Before the person who caused his “accident” goes after the people he loves?
A big issue I had was a medical one. Being a nurse, I find it really difficult to read about medical stuff in novels. And in this one I just found it so completely difficult to believe that he could be having all these emotional responses, neurological RESPONSES to the world around him and his thoughts, that he didn’t show any sign of. Nothing.. Yada.. Zilch.. No increased heart rate, no increased respiratory rate at the stressful stuff, and NOTHING AT ALL on the MRI… He would cry his eyes out, but NOTHING on the MRI…
“It’s fiction Mel!!” I can hear you yelling at me! Yes I know! But it was just too much for me. Apparently he could smell peoples aftershaves, flowers and food even though there was no air coming in from his nose because he had a tracheostomy. Yes, some air may be able to get through, depending on the tube, sure! But to describe in meticulous detail the scents that he was experiencing? Nope I just can’t believe it. Thankfully, the average person is not medically trained so would most probably appreciate this aspect a lot more than I did. It wasn’t all bad in the medical department at all, a lot of it was very accurate. I just notice everything.
One thing that others may agree with, is that it just went really slowly. There were parts that I struggled to get through just because it was moving so slowly. It was obviously a challenge, a novel in the mind of one so severely limited character, without resorting to story telling all in flashbacks. So points for that, but it just didn’t hit the mark for me.
I enjoyed the twist, I didn’t see it coming. I really liked the characters, even though character development of everyone except the main two characters was severely limited considering he couldn’t even talk to them.
And it was just such an original idea! I haven’t read anything like it, well maybe the lovely bones, but that character was obviously dead and was very different.
So I absolutely didn’t hate it. But I didn’t love it.
Would I recommend If I Die Before I Wake?
I think thriller fans and fans of original ideas will appreciate the different premise for this book, and those who are not so picky with the medical aspects of books will surely appreciate it more than I.
Big thanks to Netgalley for a copy of If I Die Before I Wake to review.
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