Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Fallstudie by Graeme Macrae Burnet

5 reviews

eri002's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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deedireads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Case Study is a quick, (I found) engrossing read. The way it explores the idea of the self and performance was also very smart. I don’t think it’ll be for everyone, but I liked it!

For you if: You like epistolary, psychological novels.

FULL REVIEW:

Longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, Case Study was definitely one of those I probably never would have picked up otherwise. But I’m glad I did!

The novel is written by “GMB,” a fictional narrator who presents a woman’s journal entries alongside GMB’s own biography of fictional psychotherapist Collins Braithwaite. The woman believes Braithwaite drove her sister to death by suicide and goes undercover as “Rebecca Smyth” to find him out. (Braithwaite’s prevailing belief was that there’s no such thing as the “real” Self; all our various versions of ourselves are performances, and so to free ourselves from misery we have to “kill our Selves.”) We flip-flop back and forth between her journals and GMB’s biography as things become more and more unraveled.

Not everyone in my book club liked this one, but I did. I found it to be surprisingly engaging; I was drawn in and held the whole time. I also thought the parallelism between Braithwaite’s theories and “Rebecca Smyth’s” journey was smart and creative enough to not be too on the nose. There were some parts of this (which professional reviews called satire to the counter-counter culture of the 1960s) that went a bit over my head, but I’m not bothered by it.

Ultimately, this was a quick, fun one!




CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Suicide, suicidal thoughts; Mental illness; Rape (imagined and off-screen); Alcohol use
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queerloras's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was described as funny. I'm not sure where the humour came in, but I didn't "get it" in his last book either and still enjoyed it so [shrug emoji]
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geraldinerowe's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A very clever book, weaving fact into fiction. It was a bit of a (sedate) rollercoaster for me. I started out being fascinated by the two main characters, then began to get irritated by them, and ended up feeling quite sentimental towards them. A lot happens in this book, without very much actually happening.
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alisonannk's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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