A review by zephyrscape
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

dark medium-paced

3.0

This book read to me like someone with only a passing understanding of therapy and mental illness sat down to write a story centered around both of those topics. I don't think the intention was for Theo to come across as an incompetent therapist overall, but he really, really did, like he'd received no training at all. In almost every conversation that he has, he's telling others what to think and putting words in their mouths (he even mentions that he's diagnosed someone on the basis of one informal conversation). Likewise, the depiction of mental illness and the effect of childhood trauma came across as very simplistic. I could kind of enjoy the story if I put those things aside, and the writing style wasn't jarring or anything, but the depiction of mental illness just left a very artificial taste in my mouth.
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