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A review by willowbiblio
Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
3.0
"I did not tell him that while I could (just) imagine the pleasure of feeling the sunshine warm my skin for one last time, I had not the energy to even think of going outside."
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I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. It was interesting to approach it as a sort of "found footage" from the 1960s, while interspersing the text with current day biography POV of Braithwaite. I don't always love unreliable narrators, but "Rebecca" was pretty funny. Her descent into actual mental illness was interesting, given that the premise of her visits was feigned mental illness.
I thought the blatant boundary crossing and abuse of power (with his clients) by Braithwaite was mildly overdone. His disdain for women and cruelty to them was unmitigated. I felt sympathy for "Rebecca" as she was clearly easily influenced and wildly insecure, but she was also a bit of a sociopath as evidenced by her need to learn to mimic emotions and concern.
The whole premise of her visits to Braithwaite was that he caused her sister's suicide, and yet she actually had no love lost for her sister beyond the impact to her own life. I guess that just didn't ring true and made the book as a whole feel false.
I thought Burnet overdid the use of Braithwaite's musings as a reflection of his characters lived experiences. I guess for all that it wasn't awful, the book just didn't do it for me. Some repetitive phrasing and missed the mark.
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I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. It was interesting to approach it as a sort of "found footage" from the 1960s, while interspersing the text with current day biography POV of Braithwaite. I don't always love unreliable narrators, but "Rebecca" was pretty funny. Her descent into actual mental illness was interesting, given that the premise of her visits was feigned mental illness.
I thought the blatant boundary crossing and abuse of power (with his clients) by Braithwaite was mildly overdone. His disdain for women and cruelty to them was unmitigated. I felt sympathy for "Rebecca" as she was clearly easily influenced and wildly insecure, but she was also a bit of a sociopath as evidenced by her need to learn to mimic emotions and concern.
The whole premise of her visits to Braithwaite was that he caused her sister's suicide, and yet she actually had no love lost for her sister beyond the impact to her own life. I guess that just didn't ring true and made the book as a whole feel false.
I thought Burnet overdid the use of Braithwaite's musings as a reflection of his characters lived experiences. I guess for all that it wasn't awful, the book just didn't do it for me. Some repetitive phrasing and missed the mark.