Wide Awake Asleep by Louise Wise
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wide Awake asleep is a novel about Julie, a 49 year-old woman who ends up in a comma after a serious car accident. While asleep, her spirit goes back in time to revisit and change parts of her past life. When she changes things, she affects not only her own life, but the lives of the people around her. This concept isn't new, but Louise Wise makes it unique by having the woman's spirit not only inhabit herself as a child, but sometimes possess others, people such as a social worker, her mother, and an elderly neighbor who was supposed to be taking care of Julie (or Jules, as she was called when she was a child).

The people Julie possesses are not aware of her spirit, but as she pushes them toward actions they might not have chosen, they fight back. Julie has to work to maintain control. Wise handles memories in an interesting, but sometimes confusing way. Julie's old memories fade and new memories take over as the past changes. Meanwhile, the people she is “inside” remember some of what they've been put through, but not all.

The novel, however, is not so much about the concept of time travel and spiritual possession, but rather about the life (or lives) Julie goes back to change. Her own life, before the accident, has its ups and downs. She's a part owner of a successful chain of perfume stores. Although her professional life is going well, her personal life is a series of meaningless relationships. Still, it is the lives of her friends and family that are most in need of repair and many of their problems are due to Julie's misunderstandings.

Like most time travel novels, a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required of the readers. The only time I had a problem with this was when Julie explained her situation to others. They seemed to accept her story easier than I would expect.

Overall, I felt this was a good read. I would recommend it to fans of paranormal novels.


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