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brostoyevsky 's review for:
The Silent Patient
by Alex Michaelides
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Why are we still here? Just to suffer? Because this is the only emotion I got when finishing this book.
I don't read psychological thrillers often, so I didn't really know what to expect - I just knew there was a big twist at the end, and that I should feel suspense when reading it. Suffice to say that I didn't really feel anything at any point in the story. I also didn't understand what kind of story exactly the author was trying to craft - is it a mystery with an unreliable narrator? Is it a thriller with a shocking plot twist at the end? Is it an exploration of how trauma impacts our ability to connect with others, forcing us to reenact familiar dynamics that have fucked us over? Is it, at least, a tragic story of a woman that has been silenced and objectified by every man in her life until the very end? The fact that I'm so uncertain makes judging this book 10 times harder - like, it has to has a twist, but that comes at the expense of giving very little to its characters in terms of personality and motivation. Ill start with our protagonist/narrator:
For a book that is so heavily focused on psychoanalysis and psychiatry, we barely see Theo explored as an actual unreliable narrator (I'm not even sure he's intended to be one)/a person who's capable of committing such gruesome murder in cold blood before the final big reveal, and that makes his character seem unfinished. I could see the chapter about the weed and his framing of Kathy's concerns and grudges with him as disingenuously framed, but it doesn't come close to him being a full fledged murderer - and his established self hatred/guilt/shame didn't show itself through his narration enough to make him an interesting/compelling protagonist/narrator that intentionally or unintentionally projects his trauma/feelings on Alicia (it's *said* he does that, but straight up saying "I saw myself in her" isn't the most interesting way to frame this kind of dynamic). He is objective throughout most of the book, and besides that doesn't really have any defining personality traits that would make me care about him as a character or his struggles.
Alicia is a better case than Theo but only because the author had a clear vision for her - alcestis, a woman that is defined by nothing but her trauma and the men who silence and betray her. She's almost like a sacrificial lamb, only existing to serve the plot, and thus has no personality besides being mentally ill (and being a painter, but as an artist myself I can say that the way her art was described just irked me). And in that role she is a successful character - it's just that I'm not sure I find this kind of approach compelling.
Besides the main pair, not a single character has any kind of personality. They were all hollow plot devices/red herrings the author wanted to throw in for the whodunit mystery. I don't understand how I'm supposed to follow a book that claims to grapple with trauma induced cycles of violence and the way the past shapes a person in the present when it doesn't treat its characters as people who have more in their life than just that trauma. I don't care about it being a thriller and having to have a shocking plot twist that requires the character to be just plot devices, if you establish certain themes you cannot just throw them away, and this cynical portrayal of mental illness is not only simply miserable to read about, it's also kinda offensive, especially when Alicia and Elif are described as being "monstrous" and "imhuman" during scenes of breakdowns.
I guess the pace of the book is good, and it does lure you into its mystery and keeps you interested. So if you're looking for a thriller with a shocking reveal at the end to read in 1-2 days - sure, go for it. But if you like thinking about what you read I'm not sure if this book is really for you.
I don't read psychological thrillers often, so I didn't really know what to expect - I just knew there was a big twist at the end, and that I should feel suspense when reading it. Suffice to say that I didn't really feel anything at any point in the story. I also didn't understand what kind of story exactly the author was trying to craft - is it a mystery with an unreliable narrator? Is it a thriller with a shocking plot twist at the end? Is it an exploration of how trauma impacts our ability to connect with others, forcing us to reenact familiar dynamics that have fucked us over? Is it, at least, a tragic story of a woman that has been silenced and objectified by every man in her life until the very end? The fact that I'm so uncertain makes judging this book 10 times harder - like, it has to has a twist, but that comes at the expense of giving very little to its characters in terms of personality and motivation. Ill start with our protagonist/narrator:
For a book that is so heavily focused on psychoanalysis and psychiatry, we barely see Theo explored as an actual unreliable narrator (I'm not even sure he's intended to be one)/a person who's capable of committing such gruesome murder in cold blood before the final big reveal, and that makes his character seem unfinished. I could see the chapter about the weed and his framing of Kathy's concerns and grudges with him as disingenuously framed, but it doesn't come close to him being a full fledged murderer - and his established self hatred/guilt/shame didn't show itself through his narration enough to make him an interesting/compelling protagonist/narrator that intentionally or unintentionally projects his trauma/feelings on Alicia (it's *said* he does that, but straight up saying "I saw myself in her" isn't the most interesting way to frame this kind of dynamic). He is objective throughout most of the book, and besides that doesn't really have any defining personality traits that would make me care about him as a character or his struggles.
Alicia is a better case than Theo but only because the author had a clear vision for her - alcestis, a woman that is defined by nothing but her trauma and the men who silence and betray her. She's almost like a sacrificial lamb, only existing to serve the plot, and thus has no personality besides being mentally ill (and being a painter, but as an artist myself I can say that the way her art was described just irked me). And in that role she is a successful character - it's just that I'm not sure I find this kind of approach compelling.
Besides the main pair, not a single character has any kind of personality. They were all hollow plot devices/red herrings the author wanted to throw in for the whodunit mystery. I don't understand how I'm supposed to follow a book that claims to grapple with trauma induced cycles of violence and the way the past shapes a person in the present when it doesn't treat its characters as people who have more in their life than just that trauma. I don't care about it being a thriller and having to have a shocking plot twist that requires the character to be just plot devices, if you establish certain themes you cannot just throw them away, and this cynical portrayal of mental illness is not only simply miserable to read about, it's also kinda offensive, especially when Alicia and Elif are described as being "monstrous" and "imhuman" during scenes of breakdowns.
I guess the pace of the book is good, and it does lure you into its mystery and keeps you interested. So if you're looking for a thriller with a shocking reveal at the end to read in 1-2 days - sure, go for it. But if you like thinking about what you read I'm not sure if this book is really for you.