Before My Eyes

by Caroline Bock

[Leah]

For 2014 I’m trying to read as many new authors as I can. As long as their book appeals to me, I will give it a go. So when I spotted Before My Eyes up for review on Netgalley, I thought it sounded really interesting. So with the release date approaching, and wanting to read something that would blow me away, I had a quick peek at Before My Eyes and I was quite intrigued. But, alas, that didn’t last and so my search for a book that will blow me away in 2014 continues, because this was not this book.

Before My Eyes is told in turns by Barkley, Max and Claire, and the opening of the novel sees Barkley going to do something at Max’s father’s re-election event. But then the book spools back to earlier that summer. Barkley and Max work together at the Snack Shack, and Claire is a regular to the beach where they work. All three of them have different issues; Barkley is hearing voices, voices urging him to rid the world of plastic water bottles, Claire’s dealing with the fact her mother had a stroke, and Max is becoming a bit too reliant on pills for his bad back. But as the summer fades and the new school year approaches, will Barkley go ahead with his plans or is there still time to stop him?

I really wanted to love Before My Eyes and while it was a very interesting read, I felt the pace really slowed down after the initial few scenes. As soon as the action spooled backwards, I felt time slow down. I did enjoy reading the book after that, but I would have definitely preferred if the action had stuck with the present, if it had instead dealt with the aftermath of what Barkley was doing, instead of focusing on the before, because the before wasn’t as interesting as the aftermath most definitely was. It just didn’t make an impression on me, or, rather, the characters didn’t. If I’m being brutally honest only Barkley made an impact, Max did intrigue me, but he spent a bit too much time focusing on Samantha, a pretty girl Max was desperate to talk to, but never actually got the courage to talk to. Claire was pretty boring, I felt.

The novel was quite depressing, as you would probably expect, considering the subject matter, so I sort of don’t feel I have anything to say about the book. It just didn’t click for me, though I did find it hard to put down. It’s strange, really. I didn’t much care for the characters, but the writing kept me reading, it was quite bizarre. Before My Eyes had a very interesting subject, was very well written, but the characters and the plot didn’t hold me very well. Which probably doesn’t make sense when I say I still managed to carry on reading… I don’t know, perhaps I’m just struggling to focus fully on books at the moment, and I just expected more from the book, as I finished it feeling slightly disappointed. Although props to Caroline Bock because the last 10% was what I had hoped the rest of the novel had been.