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A review by amyvl93
Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Case Study piqued my interest when it was Booker longlisted and I quite enjoyed this look at the 1960s - both in terms of psychology and the changing social mores that were beginning to be seen.
The novel is split between Burnet's fictionalised research into the psychologist Collins Brathwaite, exploring his relative rise to prominence in North London from the North of England by way of Oxford - and the diaries of a young woman who is convinced Brathwaite influenced her older sister to commit suicide, and who takes on a new identity in order to attend sessions with him.
I was surprised by how often funny this novel was, and I felt that Burnet did an good job of capturing the ways in which women could find themselves stuck by societal expectations - the unnamed narrator seems class-obsessed but it also felt like this was a response to her own position in society, and she seems (at first at least) to revel in the experiences she gives herself permission to have in her identity as Rebecca.
This really starts as a page turner, both in terms of 'Rebecca' trying to puzzle out what may have happened to her sister, in addition to grappling with her own sanity - and in unpacking the backstory of Brathwaite, a thoroughly unlikeable individual. However, as others have said, it feels like it slightly runs out of steam towards the end which left me wondering what I was really supposed to take from the novel.
The novel is split between Burnet's fictionalised research into the psychologist Collins Brathwaite, exploring his relative rise to prominence in North London from the North of England by way of Oxford - and the diaries of a young woman who is convinced Brathwaite influenced her older sister to commit suicide, and who takes on a new identity in order to attend sessions with him.
I was surprised by how often funny this novel was, and I felt that Burnet did an good job of capturing the ways in which women could find themselves stuck by societal expectations - the unnamed narrator seems class-obsessed but it also felt like this was a response to her own position in society, and she seems (at first at least) to revel in the experiences she gives herself permission to have in her identity as Rebecca.
This really starts as a page turner, both in terms of 'Rebecca' trying to puzzle out what may have happened to her sister, in addition to grappling with her own sanity - and in unpacking the backstory of Brathwaite, a thoroughly unlikeable individual. However, as others have said, it feels like it slightly runs out of steam towards the end which left me wondering what I was really supposed to take from the novel.