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backpackfullofbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“I could feel London pulsing into my body.”
“This is what people did. They sat in pubs drinking beer and gin and listening to each other talk. They pretended to be interested and then took their own turn talking. It was difficult to see the point in any of it.”
“She would be better off without me.”
~
An author researching a mostly forgotten phycologist is presented with five notebooks relating to a specific patents experiences with said phycologist. He can’t quite believe his luck.
With the reality of these notebooks called into question from the outset of the book we then get alternating perspectives for the remainder of the book. One from the author of the notebooks, a repressed and nieve young woman who is try to piece together her sisters suicide and starting to mentality unravel herself. The second from the author of the book chronicling the phycologists influence and life.
These narratives are simultaneously disparate and intimately connected. This combined with the contents of the book makes for a strange and intense reading experience.
~
This isn’t usually my kind of thing at all but I found it so incredibly readable I finished the entire thing in one day.
It is extremely intense and weird I couldn’t put it down.
The sense of what is real and want isn’t is completely thrown and you just have to commit to the story and not worry about the truth.
I actually decided to pick this up as the author came in the shop to sign some copies and was really nice. I’m glad that I did as it’s completely out of my normal comfort zone.
~
I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys unreliable narrators and phycological confusion. Or to be honest is looking for something a bit different but still gripping.
“This is what people did. They sat in pubs drinking beer and gin and listening to each other talk. They pretended to be interested and then took their own turn talking. It was difficult to see the point in any of it.”
“She would be better off without me.”
~
An author researching a mostly forgotten phycologist is presented with five notebooks relating to a specific patents experiences with said phycologist. He can’t quite believe his luck.
With the reality of these notebooks called into question from the outset of the book we then get alternating perspectives for the remainder of the book. One from the author of the notebooks, a repressed and nieve young woman who is try to piece together her sisters suicide and starting to mentality unravel herself. The second from the author of the book chronicling the phycologists influence and life.
These narratives are simultaneously disparate and intimately connected. This combined with the contents of the book makes for a strange and intense reading experience.
~
This isn’t usually my kind of thing at all but I found it so incredibly readable I finished the entire thing in one day.
It is extremely intense and weird I couldn’t put it down.
The sense of what is real and want isn’t is completely thrown and you just have to commit to the story and not worry about the truth.
I actually decided to pick this up as the author came in the shop to sign some copies and was really nice. I’m glad that I did as it’s completely out of my normal comfort zone.
~
I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys unreliable narrators and phycological confusion. Or to be honest is looking for something a bit different but still gripping.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Sexual content
rcampbell's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide
anna_i3's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide
Minor: Rape and Death of parent
samsearle's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
natashak1's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Not quite another His Bloody Project, but certainly in the same vein. Sticking with the wonderful practice of melding fact and fiction, this book takes things a little further and combines found diaries with the biography of the psychologist our main character is investigating. Both parts of the book, notebooks and biography, were well written, and the change in style between the two provided respite in places where fatigue may have otherwise set in. The progression of the mental state of Rebecca and the ongoing description of Braithwaite's life balance and contrast one another perfectly, and in this case the whole is certainly worth more than the sum of the parts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis