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.

Absolutely AWESOME! A tragic accident leaves a child comatose, but events that can only be described as miracles begin to happen all around her. This book will hook you from the first page...from tragedy to believing in some higher power and back again. Amazing!

This book had so much potential but it lost it early on. The first 60 pages were heartbreaking and I almost stopped reading it because of this. The whole book is quite sad. The story lost it for me about 100 pages in when it started to get supernautrual-religious and I just had to shake my head at the storyline. I also started to get annoyed at the constantly changing viewpoint. I will not pass this on to friends.

Before I Wake is as good a debut novel as I can recall reading in a very long time. I shouldn't even qualify that statement be pointing out it is a Robert Wiersema's debut novel. It is a great novel. Period. Emotionally charged and full of gut wrenching scenes that really speak to Wiersema's investment in his characters. Insightful, compassionate and compelling from beginning to end, Before I Wake choked me up a couple of times and struck a number of resonant chords.

For me the strength of this book are the voices of the characters. Told in a sequence of first person passages Before I Wake follows the lives of those touched by the tragic accident that puts three year old Sherry Barrett into a coma. I don't want to give too much away in terms of plot but I will say that Simon and Karen Barrett (Sherry's parents) are brilliantly and heartbreakingly evoked. I cannot think of a better realized couple.

Read this book.