Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

10 reviews

ldstan's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I waited a couple days after finishing the book to write a review, because I was initially going to give it a lower rating. The premise is fairly interesting. Alicia Berenson is accused of murdering her husband and she’s spent the last six years in a mental care facility instead of jail - she’s also unresponsive and hasn’t spoken a single word since the night of the murder. Theo Fabre is a psychotherapist who has a MULTITUDE of his own issues and is abscessed with finding out why Alicia murdered her husband.

Because of the hype that was surrounding this book, I was expecting more. I thought it had a super slow start and couldn’t find myself to care about Alicia very much. The story itself seemed like a murder mystery lead-up to certain plot twist (no spoilers here) later in the book that was kinda easy to see coming.

I actually found Theo to be an intriguing character and liked all the inner monologuing we got through him. I was more interested in his fractured mental state throughout the novel than I was at the question of why Alicia murdered her husband. It was strange to see him play the role of detective more than psychotherapist.

Overall, the hype set up expectations for me that weren’t met, but that shouldn’t dissuade anyone from picking up this book and giving it a chance - it’s definitely gotten good reviews for a reason! I wanted a thriller and this had easily followed twists and turns.

Content Warnings

nindie's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

One of the first extreme psychological books I have read, and this was a fascinating read!

What I Liked About The Book

The complexity of the plot and characters overall kept me invested in the book. Its inclusion of the different perspectives of the two main characters makes the book tenser as they narrate the plot points from their view of things. The characters all have flaws and likeable traits, which captures how well-done the execution of realistic people in the book is. Overall a good book for people who like books exploring stuff like this!

What I Didn't Like About The Book

Unfortunately, when reading reviews about it, I got the main plot twist spoiled, and this made the experience a bit less suspenseful and shocking. Also, despite doing some research on the book before buying it, I was still unaware of some topics it would discuss in a bit of detail which I am not comfortable reading, which made it a bit of a discomfiting reading experience at times. It didn't help that I was reading this at school, and I think one of my teachers recognised the book. One last thing is that I still had some questions unanswered for the ending, but maybe that could have been intentional.

In Conclusion

I would not recommend this to the fainthearted who cannot read/deal with any of the content warnings I have put since this book is intense surrounding its topics and themes. I found the read to be not too bad but don't repeat my mistake of doing too little research on the content warnings, as it could be an unsettling read for some of you.

Content Warnings

stardustdreamer's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

xbeforesunrise's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Content Warnings

mikaelajf's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this book, while reading I thought yes this is a solid 4 star book but the last few chapters, that plot twist, had me shaken to my core I had to rate it 5 stars. So interesting, such an insight into the damaged mind. Really good read.

Content Warnings

oh_roudha_reads's review

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dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Tbh I loved this book I finished it so quickly but, the plot twist it seemed like a big thing but, it wasn’t. I mean was I surprised? Yes, I was. Did I suspect it? Yes, I did. It was too predictable to me. But nonetheless it was a very, very nice book.

Content Warnings