Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

38 reviews

xgabrielle_hx's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Torture

wickedgrumpy's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I think I was unknowingly spoiled for this book years ago and had internalized the twist, even though I knew nothing else about the story, which made this pretty disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Torture, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

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

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

loudo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Death, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Gore, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Child abuse, Stalking, Self harm, Grief, Bullying, Gaslighting, Violence, Body horror, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Murder, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Abandonment, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Toxic relationship

sammymilfort's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Child abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Grief, and Toxic friendship

megan_wy's review

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Such an intense and extremely thought provoking book! I was really wanting to read a good psychological thriller book, and I heard many good things about this one. The chapters are short, so it was perfect for me, as I often struggle with holding my attention for a long time if a chapter is boring. I love the author’s writing style, and I loved getting to see both Theo and Alicia’s perspectives. I knew there was a “twist” in this book, but no matter how many predictions and guesses I had, I would have never thought  it was going to go that way! I started becoming suspicious when Theo was following Kathy and watching a house. I was noticing how both Alicia and Theo’s stories were overlapping. However, I didn’t ever think the way he led Alicia to kill Gabriel would be like that. It was just a total mind f*ck moment! I felt for both Alicia and Theo by the end of the book. More so for Alicia though, considering that Theo just got to live his life after and not suffer like Alicia did. My only thoughts left would probably be, did Alicia ever have any mental health issues, or were they all constructed and manipulated by Gabriel and not wanting to get caught in his affair? It was noted that Dr. West treated her in the past for similar issues. I think he was just covering for Gabriel and his affair, sadly. Poor Alicia 💔

Overall, an outstanding book! It’s perfect for readers that love short chapters and also want to get into psychological thriller genre books. I will be thinking about this one for a while…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Medical content

Moderate: Child abuse, Stalking, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Blood, Car accident, Violence, Body horror, Chronic illness, and Death

madamenovelist's review against another edition

dark emotional lighthearted sad tense fast-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Child abuse, Car accident, Blood, and Addiction

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, Vomit, and Body horror

There was a really irritating racist caricature of a Turkish patient. The only redeeming aspect was that she was not the only brown woman in the cast (Indira was a great character), but Elif’s one/dimensional This Lady Is Not Attractive Nor Motherly schtick was jarring and irritating. He need not have copied Agatha Christie’s flaws in addition to her best traits. That said, Alicia was extremely well written and very compelling as a tragic heroine, and she is why I give 2.75 stars instead of simply 2. Excellent, excellent premise but frustrating execution.

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Sexual content, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence

oakfika's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror