Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Die stumme Patientin by Alex Michaelides

128 reviews

bashsbooks's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

1.75

The problem with boasting about a book's Shocking Twist from the get-go is that you put your reader on guard for it, and it distracts from the picking up clues organically. This is especially annoying when the writing is only mediocre, so picking up upon the clues is not as logical and satisfying as it is a better-written work. (AND if you don't pick up on what the author is putting down because you haven't been primed to, the book's structure doesn't make a lot of sense - see my friend's DNF review stating how he didn't understand why the psychologist was the man focus given the title and the blurb, and how that made him put it down).

Also, I have a psychology degree and a personal hatred of Freud and heavily Freudian-psychology. This would probably not bother most people (Farber fits with the pop culture ideas of a psychologist) but it bothers me. His internal monologues are annoying. 

Alicia and her art, and how she relates her art to her traumas, are the best things about this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Self harm, Suicide, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual content

-Specifically a graphic eye injury -Takes place in a psychiatric ward for violent women

fi_nikki's review against another edition

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment

ches2496's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The book started off kind of slow, but then I got hooked trying to figure out what was going to happen. I thought I was going to be smart and figure out the plot twist, but it totally got me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

starrymoonflower's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

queendague's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

While I read this book, I found it mildly confusing when we were reading from the leading males perspective, especially in the context of how this was starting to take place over the span of 7 years and instead it just bounces back and forth between the past and present with little to no indication of the time lapse or jump.  

Also the leading female is considered beautiful and almost sexually referenced many times from the male’s perspective even though she is in a psychiatric ward due to killing her husband while she is in the main characters therapeutic care. 

The story it explains is a 5, Alcestis is an under appreciated literary piece in Greek history. The stories use of common reconstructed modern greek religion was a surprisingly pleasant piece of the novel. The Arete with Alicia’s father and husband, Xenia in the process of ritualized friendship explored by the character Jean-Felix and a strong emphasis placed on the two main characters trying to achieve Eudaimonia through freedom mostly and a couple points in self-suffiency. If exercises Greek traditions in that way. 

However, execution needs to be more direct in its timing of the story and the writing could be stronger on the female and male characters alike. In honesty, this book felt as if Alex was banking on the story of Alcestis and Greek culture to really sell his novel. In honesty that’s why I bought it so it worked, I was disappointed overall by how the characters were written and how the story was executed. Otherwise it’s a decent and interesting read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

seforaflorian's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

niamh_reads16's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual harassment

sanahook's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

missbreathing's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The Silent Patient was my February pick for the TBR Challenge. It had been on my TBR for ages, and I’m glad to have finally read it. 
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If you’ve been on booksta or booktok for a while, you know this book is famous for its plot twist. I think reading it after it blew up definitely colored my experience. I kept guessing and theorizing about what the twist would be. In the beginning, I kind of struggled to connect with the story and the promise of a major twist was the only thing that kept me reading. But things get interesting just after the 100 page mark. 
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I did guess the plot twist, but I think that might be because I was expecting one. Going into this blind would likely be a completely different experience.
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My favorite thing about the book is the various themes explored. There are themes of Greek mythology and references to Greek culture that make it quite unique. And the theme about the emotional entanglements between patients and therapists was interesting! I liked the way the author links the therapist/patient relationship to parental relationships and romantic ones. I also liked that the novel explores how our childhoods and parental relationships affect us into adulthood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual harassment

adverb17's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment