I'm not the audience for this book; I'm a childless atheist, so what am I doing reading a sentimental book about parents struggling with faith? A number of people recommended it to me, and I've enjoyed Wiersema's other work. Despite the unpalatable subject, Wiersema was able to keep me reading, which is actually quite an achievement.

Nothing about the protagonists is particularly interesting: they're a normal couple with a normal marriage marred by the usual boring issues of infidelity. Their daughter is also unexceptional: a cute toddler with no particular talents... until her mother lets go of her hand for a split second, and she is struck down in a hit-and-run accident. What follows is a poignant spiritual awakening for the couple, and for a wide-ranging group of people who come to suspect the comatose daughter possesses miraculous healing powers.

This is one of those books that exists mainly to press your emotional buttons. The husband and wife face only one major choice--whether to believe what's happening around their daughter--and the narrative is set up such that they'd be idiots to choose differently. There's no actual conflict or character development, just the parents' emotional roller coaster.

So what makes it an enjoyable read? Wiersema's neat pacing and strong prose, which elevate this book above the myriad sick-child tearjerkers on the supermarket shelf. Also, the representation of faith, which was undogmatic, and managed not to alienate this non-Christian reader.

Compared to Wiersema's excellent 'World More Full of Weeping', though, this book felt superficial. That storyline also featured an ordinary white guy who's lost a child, but both the father and child had agency in their own lives, which the characters in 'Before I Wake' are distinctly lacking.