Before She Sleeps

A Novel

By: Bina Shah

Narrated by: Deepti Gupta, Lameece Issaq, Soneela Nankani, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Allyson Johnson

“A haunting dystopian thriller” from the acclaimed author of A Season for Martyrs

“Fans of The Handmaid’s Tale won’t want to miss this one.” (Publishers Weekly)

In modern, beautiful Green City, the capital of Southwest Asia, gender selection, war, and disease have brought the ratio of men to women to alarmingly low levels. The government uses terror and technology to control its people, and now females must take multiple husbands to have children as quickly as possible.

Yet there are some who resist, women who live in an underground collective and refuse to be part of the system. Secretly protected by the highest echelons of power, they emerge only at night to provide the rich and elite of Green City a type of commodity no one can buy: intimacy without sex. As it turns out, not even the most influential men can shield them from discovery and the dangers of ruthless punishment.

This dystopian novel from one of Pakistan’s most talented writers is a modern-day parable, The Handmaid’s Tale for repressed women in Muslim countries everywhere. Before She Sleeps takes the patriarchal practices of female seclusion and veiling, gender selection, and control over women’s bodies, amplifying and distorting them in a truly terrifying way to imagine a world of post-religious authoritarianism.

©2018 Bina Shah (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Good

I was nervous to listen to this since it could be derivative of handmaidens tale, but I was quickly drawn in by the characters. Every narrator was good to the point I knew the character speaking even though each narrator’s version were different. What I mean is if Julian is speaking to another character but it is from Sabine’s pov, you know it is Julian from Sabine’s narrator. I would take the bad reviews with a grain of salt. Part of me wished for more, but it could have ruined the story’s pace and plot.

Its SO slow....I've tried this 5 times ..it's just so slow to get to something.... probably just me

I'm just posting this cause I can't get off the review page without without 2 more words..this site has bored me now

Started out interesting but ended up corny

I liked it at first but it descended into a young adult romance which was not what I was expecting. The dialogue became a soap opera.

captivating

This book was exquisitely written. I was captivated from start to finish. Nina Shah builds and molds complex characters living in an even more complex society. The narrators did an amazing job at giving color to this great story. Very worth the read.

Drew me in

It seemed a little derivative of A Handmaids Tale, but I took a chance. Glad I did. The characters and story drew me in to the point that my attention didn't stray while listening. That's quite a feat!