Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

240 reviews

anjh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

oh my god wow. this book shocked me. it was a real page turner, one of the quickest books i’ve read this year. it was one of those books where you are kept on your feet and kept guessing thinking “is it this person?” “no it can’t be”, until one possiblity is ruled out and you form another theory but all the time there is a hidden clue (that the book is written to make you miss) and there is a plot twist and ahshdhdhhd

i think too there were some pretty interesting themes in this book - such as not only the devastating and shocking effects of untreated trauma and what it can do to people but also when this is combined with the power of love in the strongest of relationships the lengths people will go to to make things seemingly “right”. honestly this all probably makes no sense unless you read the book but ahhh it’s so good and just,,, thrilling

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Domestic abuse, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

cheymarie98'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

4.75

• Great plot twist
• Even though I loved it, there was a feeling of disappointment when I was done
• The ending?
• A very “academic” feeling book
• Could be analyzed to pieces-so much to unpack

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Car accident, Infidelity, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Suicide attempt

itkimby's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief, Suicide, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, and Stalking

alianeselvis's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

the twist, holy shit

This book is so good! If you ignore the obvious patient/client violations, this story is so well written. I loved it from start to finish, completely dedicated an entire afternoon to reading this book from start to finish! I'm so so glad I read this, 0.25 stars off simply for the unrealistic patient/client relationship and privileges that would seriously never fly irl

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Stalking

Moderate: Drug use, Gaslighting, Confinement, Gore, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Addiction, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Car accident, and Drug use

archaicrobin's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

2.0

I have had The Silent Patient on my TBR for years and was initially very excited to read it. I first added it back when I was naive and thought that being in the Best Seller list actually meant something, but now I know it’s where mediocre and terrible books are highlighted for all the wrong reasons.

The Silent Patient is incredibly mid, it’s your stereotypical thriller that starts off fine, nothing groundbreaking, but unfortunately disintegrates into this poorly written mess. I was interested for about half of the book then it just tanked completely for me. 

The writing is erratic, the twist is confusing, the plot is slow and honestly boring, and the main character Theo is a dull man with white savior complex. Overall, I wouldn’t really recommend this, there are far better thrillers out there to spend you time on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Infidelity, Misogyny, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Grief

shinyfox's review against another edition

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: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Infidelity, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Sexual content, and Alcohol

tanya240's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Self harm, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Stalking, Drug use, Blood, Car accident, Violence, Sexual harassment, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

kellyofcali's review against another edition

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

2.5

This book was...fine. I enjoyed the sort of "mystery" aspect but I didn't love the writing, it just didn't grab me that much. It's an easy read, and I think of going for "The Girl on the Train" vibes, but it just didn't quite land for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Violence, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, and Death

Moderate: Medical content, Blood, Drug use, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Grief

xgabrielle_hx's review against another edition

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 against another edition

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