"Before You Sleep" is a wonderful look inside the doors and windows of a very dysfunctional family. The trials and tribulations of Karin and the world she lives in add the wonderful backdrop to a sometimes complicated and extremely character focused book. It takes some work getting into it....but, if you give it time, you'll make it. It's a bit slow going, but if you're a fan of charcter books, this one might be for you.

Before You Sleep has an alluring--and certainly unreliable--narrator, Karin, who can't seem to relate to herself, her family, or the men around her without lapsing into (at times) fantastic lies. It makes for an interesting story, to say the least. Originally written in Norwegian, the story doesn't suffer from the translation (at least, not as far as I can tell, since I'm not proficient in Norwegian!)--it's still a graceful yet abrupt narrative, like Karin herself. My only quibble is that Karin doesn't seem to change much over the course of the novel; she's rather static. I was left wondering whether any of the novel's events would change her in any way. Still, Ullmann has such a distinct voice, and Karin is such a great character, that this book is well worth a read.

Though she wishes the best for her sister Julie in her marriage to Aleksander Bakke, Karin believes that her sibling is doomed to a life of unhappiness. That is the hand me down curse from one generation to the next beginning when her grandmother went to America in 1931.

Karin thinks back to her grandfather Rikard who was a successful entrepreneur in 1930's Brooklyn. He loved Selma, but married her sister June. When Rikard died during World War II, June accompanied by their two daughters (Anni and Else) returned to their native Norway. Anni's distant spouse simply deserts his wife and two kids (Julie and Karin). Karin thinks her mother is "not quite right in the head", but she admits the woman seeks something with her slew of lovers. Anni's "Father" is a cold aloof person. The hope lies within Julie. She gives birth to the next generation, Sander, just as her husband proves Karin's theory on unhappy relationships being the norm by turning elsewhere for his pleasure.

BEFORE YOU SLEEP is a deep narrative that highlights four generations of a dysfunctional family. The story line starts slow, but will hook the audience due to the insider's look at the characters and what makes them what they are. Oslo and Brooklyn add depth to the tale, but there is no question that this is a storyline driven by the characters as seen through the eyes of the cynical Karin.