Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

240 reviews

pupaebug's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This book both entertained me and infuriated me. From the very beginning, I absolutely could not STAND Theo. He speaks with this air of entitlement that makes me feel physically ill. He felt partially like an incel and partially like a self-aggrandizing asshole the entire time. I hated how he felt like he knew Alicia personally, and how he could change her because the two of them were so similar. It was so clear from the start that Theo had a crush on Alicia

and hated Gabriel

.

I also really did not understand how Theo kept getting his way. Is he charismatic? I didn't feel that he was. Why did everyone at the Grove just keep letting him do what he wanted? Why did they trust a new psychoanalyst (not a doctor) about medication but not Christian, a medical doctor with experience with patients such as Alicia and far more mental health training than Theo? Why was Theo so easily able to become Alicia's psychiatrist?

Theo is not some mastermind, he's a creepy impulsive guy

. It was not realistic to have him be able to get his way like this not only in the Grove, but also around the people who knew Alicia like Max, Jean-Felix, and Paul. 

Another thing that infuriated me about this book is Alicia's journal. I've written in a diary on and off for my entire life, and I keep a regular diary now. Alicia's diary is not how normal people write. Normal people write about their own experiences from their perspective, which is distorted by their feelings on the matters they discuss. Diaries are stream-of-consciousness style. No one writes lines of perfect dialogue in their diary followed by novel-style narration. It completely took me out of it and made me think that the diary was fabricated as part of the mystery. That would have been interesting. Even Alicia's diary written in a stream-of-consciousness way, with unreliable and distorted perspectives, would have been interesting for the novel. But alas, we got none of those and it turns out Alex Michaelides just does not know how people keep journals. 

I honestly also just think I've had enough of this incredibly simple, friendly style of narration I see in books published since 2015. This book just sounded like a guy was talking to a friend, and my personal preference is for writing that requires some mental dissection and thought. Theo plainly stated every single thing that he wanted to get through to the reader. While this isn't a bad thing, it made me feel like I was reading a book written for ten-year-olds who haven't developed the ability to understand other people's emotions yet. It was almost insulting as a reader, do I need it spelled out to me that Theo felt sad when he found out Kathy was cheating on him? Am I not trusted to infer a single thing on my own? 

All this aside, the book was entertaining and kept me wanting to keep reading. I was confused by how short the chapters were,

but the twist made it make sense, and I found that satisfying and interesting.

The

nonlinear storytelling

of the novel was cool and made me want to go back and understand just how it was done

. I like how the author played with our assumption that Theo was going to work with Alicia and then home to find out about Kathy cheating, although if you think about it, Theo never mentioned his job at the Grove in the home chapters, and never mentioned the Kathy cheating part in the work chapters.

It was cool.

The twist was interesting. I liked it, and I didn't see it coming. I did kinda jokingly predict that Kathy's lover was Gabriel, especially because we never learned a single thing about Gabriel's life outside of Alicia, and that was fishy. But the actual reason for the murder wasn't great. So Alicia chose to kill her husband because he put his own life over hers with a gun to his head, which reminded her of when her father said something similar when they were kids, causing Alicia to shoot him SIX times in the face and then slit her wrists and never speak again? Girl just get a divorce!!! And she never spoke again because she was inspired by a play she saw ONE WEEK before she killed her husband? not plausible. I will say that at least in the end, I felt vindicated for my hatred of Theo from the start. The entitlement toward Alicia makes (a little bit) more sense when it is revealed that he knew he could get her to talk merely by who he is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, and Suicide

tabea1409's review

challenging 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Child abuse, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Blood, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

lottyfarmer's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Murder, Grief, Mental illness, Confinement, Death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Violence, Stalking, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent and Eating disorder

anacecylopez's review

dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Child death, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Car accident, Mental illness, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body shaming, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Stalking

lottie_wolf's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Stalking, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Minor: Car accident

awkwardllama's review

dark reflective tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Stalking, Infidelity, Murder, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Alcohol, Gore, Cursing, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Drug use, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

wytnie's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

AMAZING plot twist, I didn't expect it. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is because the ending was left kind of up in the air. Its not a completely frustrating thing but I do wish it was tied up. Overall I would highly suggest people read this book.

after some thinking and talking about it with a friend i lowered the rating a bit, i feel like the ending was hinted at and it was still a good plot twist in the end but i think i let myself be blinded to things because i spent so much time being upset about the cheating

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Self harm, Car accident, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

densorterytter's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Addiction, Drug abuse, Violence, Body horror, Gaslighting, Stalking, Blood, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Suicide

bulbasaurcowboy's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

It is a slow read, but a worthwhile read. You can guess a thousand times what the story really is. You'll question yourself constantly, and bit by perfectly timed bit more will be fed to you. The ending is BANANAS! Definitely a new favorite and a book I'll be recommending for a while to come. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Self harm

sarinapatel's review

mysterious medium-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

Amazing, suspenseful book! I highly recommend 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Self harm