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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
In 'The Silent Patient' we follow psychotherapist Theo Faber when he tries to break through to one of his patients, famous painter Alicia Berenson. Alicia is accused of killing her husband and she has never spoken since the day everything happened. Theo is intrigued by her story and is determined to get her to talk.
This book was hyped up so much that my expectations were incredibly high. And sadly, these expectations were not fulfilled. The book was well written and the storyline was clever, but it felt a bit bland. The characters weren't too likable (maybe this was the author's intend, but it didn't work for me) and the pace was rather slow. The chapter that really mattered in my opinion felt a bit rushed, so I was left feeling unfulfilled and a bit disappointed.
I do think that I would have been less disappointed if the book hadn't been hyped up by so many people, so maybe it is a victim of its own success. I definitely think there are people out there who this book really speaks to, but for me this sadly wasn't the case. It simply isn't for me.
This book was hyped up so much that my expectations were incredibly high. And sadly, these expectations were not fulfilled. The book was well written and the storyline was clever, but it felt a bit bland. The characters weren't too likable (maybe this was the author's intend, but it didn't work for me) and the pace was rather slow. The chapter that really mattered in my opinion felt a bit rushed, so I was left feeling unfulfilled and a bit disappointed.
I do think that I would have been less disappointed if the book hadn't been hyped up by so many people, so maybe it is a victim of its own success. I definitely think there are people out there who this book really speaks to, but for me this sadly wasn't the case. It simply isn't for me.
fast-paced
What a fantastic waste of time.
God, I loved this book. I loved it so much while I was reading it. I was fascinated by it. It was every bit as captivating as everyone said. I loved Theo, and his delusional, codependent, projecting relationship with Alicia. I was mostly fascinated because I expected that he was being manipulated by her, but also that he was allowing himself to be manipulated because he was genuinely projecting his own feelings onto her so heavily that he could do nothing but sympathize with her. I couldn't wait to get to how the murder took place, what pushed Alicia to do what she did or if she was framed, as she set up with her diary and story.
Unfortunately, I was hoping that Theo would end up mirroring Alicia. I thought he'd end up killing his wife, or killing her lover in a similar way to the way Alicia killed her husband. When I got to the ending and discovered he wasn't an unreliable narrator, but a blatantly lying one, I was just insulted. I know some people love a book like that, but I absolutely hate it. It's really not for me. Why invest all this time into reading a novel, just to discover the narrator lied to you the entire time? I thought, when Theo accused Christian so thoroughly, that he was again projecting his own trauma onto other people. He made Christian a villain from the start, even though he really didn't do anything worse than being arrogant and a douchebag. So I thought maybe Theo was delusional, looking for someone to blame but it was all in his head. Or even that the professor had something to do with it from the start. To get to the end of the book and have this sudden final admission from Alicia on what she thought was her deathbed (which I was hoping was a forgery or another manipulation by her, proving she was sicker than the reader—and Theo—thought she was), and then Theo's half-assed exposition and internal admission of guilt just made me feel like I wasted my time reading this. To me, this wasn't some amazing plot twist. In fact, to me, an incredible plot twist would've been that Alicia was as malicious and psychotic as the media and the other doctors thought she was, and Theo sympathized with her enough to follow in her footsteps without even realizing he was doing it. But turning around and having Theo say "oh by the way, all the motivations I told you for why I was interested in this case was a lie, and I had just been keeping things from the audience the entire time" was annoying. I would've preferred if he was just crazy. If the revelation that he had done those things all those years ago was a total shock to him, like he had a psychotic break or a fugue state and Alicia lying about what happened with Gabriel was a trigger in him remembering why he had such a draw toward her in the first place.
To put it simply, I was unsatisfied. I understand that other people definitely love that Theo had just been manipulating the reader and lying from the start. I have no doubt that that's exciting and different and likely came as a huge shock to most readers. But it fell so flat to me and made the journey the book brought me on feel like a waste of time. He went through all these efforts to "solve the mystery" but he knew all along, so reading page upon page of his detective work is now a waste because this book could've been one page for me. Purely in my experience, I would've liked this better as a short story than a massive time sink.
That being said, I was completely drawn in up until the reveal. I was totally captivated by this book. I thought the characterization of Theo was fantastic, and it was so difficult to know who to trust and who not to. This was geniusly written, because he seemed to not trust every man he met, based on instinct alone. I thought that was masterfully crafted, as a person who understood Theo's mentality early on in the book. I did recognize him as unreliable immediately, but I thought it was because he was more severely mentally ill and unrecovered than he understood. If the book had ended differently, or if the book had the same ending with some tweaks to the delivery in the final chapters, I would've easily given it five stars. But, purely for my own tastes and not the overall merit of the thing, I felt betrayed not by Theo as a character (which I know is the intention), but the actual story being told.
ps. This is the longest book review I've maybe ever written. That goes to show how much I loved this book and how passionately I felt about it, so this isn't a scornful review as a whole. Just a personal lack of satisfaction.
God, I loved this book. I loved it so much while I was reading it. I was fascinated by it. It was every bit as captivating as everyone said. I loved Theo, and his delusional, codependent, projecting relationship with Alicia. I was mostly fascinated because I expected that he was being manipulated by her, but also that he was allowing himself to be manipulated because he was genuinely projecting his own feelings onto her so heavily that he could do nothing but sympathize with her. I couldn't wait to get to how the murder took place, what pushed Alicia to do what she did or if she was framed, as she set up with her diary and story.
Unfortunately, I was hoping that Theo would end up mirroring Alicia. I thought he'd end up killing his wife, or killing her lover in a similar way to the way Alicia killed her husband. When I got to the ending and discovered he wasn't an unreliable narrator, but a blatantly lying one, I was just insulted. I know some people love a book like that, but I absolutely hate it. It's really not for me. Why invest all this time into reading a novel, just to discover the narrator lied to you the entire time? I thought, when Theo accused Christian so thoroughly, that he was again projecting his own trauma onto other people. He made Christian a villain from the start, even though he really didn't do anything worse than being arrogant and a douchebag. So I thought maybe Theo was delusional, looking for someone to blame but it was all in his head. Or even that the professor had something to do with it from the start. To get to the end of the book and have this sudden final admission from Alicia on what she thought was her deathbed (which I was hoping was a forgery or another manipulation by her, proving she was sicker than the reader—and Theo—thought she was), and then Theo's half-assed exposition and internal admission of guilt just made me feel like I wasted my time reading this. To me, this wasn't some amazing plot twist. In fact, to me, an incredible plot twist would've been that Alicia was as malicious and psychotic as the media and the other doctors thought she was, and Theo sympathized with her enough to follow in her footsteps without even realizing he was doing it. But turning around and having Theo say "oh by the way, all the motivations I told you for why I was interested in this case was a lie, and I had just been keeping things from the audience the entire time" was annoying. I would've preferred if he was just crazy. If the revelation that he had done those things all those years ago was a total shock to him, like he had a psychotic break or a fugue state and Alicia lying about what happened with Gabriel was a trigger in him remembering why he had such a draw toward her in the first place.
To put it simply, I was unsatisfied. I understand that other people definitely love that Theo had just been manipulating the reader and lying from the start. I have no doubt that that's exciting and different and likely came as a huge shock to most readers. But it fell so flat to me and made the journey the book brought me on feel like a waste of time. He went through all these efforts to "solve the mystery" but he knew all along, so reading page upon page of his detective work is now a waste because this book could've been one page for me. Purely in my experience, I would've liked this better as a short story than a massive time sink.
That being said, I was completely drawn in up until the reveal. I was totally captivated by this book. I thought the characterization of Theo was fantastic, and it was so difficult to know who to trust and who not to. This was geniusly written, because he seemed to not trust every man he met, based on instinct alone. I thought that was masterfully crafted, as a person who understood Theo's mentality early on in the book. I did recognize him as unreliable immediately, but I thought it was because he was more severely mentally ill and unrecovered than he understood. If the book had ended differently, or if the book had the same ending with some tweaks to the delivery in the final chapters, I would've easily given it five stars. But, purely for my own tastes and not the overall merit of the thing, I felt betrayed not by Theo as a character (which I know is the intention), but the actual story being told.
ps. This is the longest book review I've maybe ever written. That goes to show how much I loved this book and how passionately I felt about it, so this isn't a scornful review as a whole. Just a personal lack of satisfaction.
mysterious
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed this and won’t be the least bit surprised to see this turned into a movie. Interesting characters, a twisty tale, and enough clues to get an idea of what’s coming but enough questions not to care.
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I had started this book last year but paused it because of other books. So when I saw it was on Libby I put it on hold! I’m glad to have finished it. The story was interesting and my brain was itching at the end.
That was a plot twist that I was shocked at. I was really hoping everything would be fine in the end but it seems it just wasn’t meant to be.
That was a plot twist that I was shocked at. I was really hoping everything would be fine in the end but it seems it just wasn’t meant to be.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
medium-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
I appreciated how things came together at the end, but I wasn't personally that interested in the characters or plot.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was SO disappointed in how this book progressed and ended. It was incredibly promising, but it just got too predictable. I also think that the character introductions took too long, which made me reluctant to continue reading.
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes