Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Pacjentka by Alex Michaelides

3 reviews

nehaanna's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is the definition of a thriller mystery. There are unexpected twists that delve deep into the psyche of both protagonists, as the stand as foils to one another. The work is not bogged down with unnecessary psychological waxing as other works by this author do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

madisonpember's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Dysphoria

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Infidelity

readwithde's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Guys, I wanted to give this 5 stars, I really did. I thoroughly loved every minute right until the big twist reveal. 

So let's talk about that ending:

it is revealed that Theo's wife Kathy was having an affair with Alicia's husband Gabriel, and Theo was watching the house and Alicia before setting up the events that led to Alicia killing her husband. He made Gabriel choose who would die, and Gabriel chose to sacrifice Alicia for himself, just as in the play Alcestis.

While this is such an interesting twist, Theo's actions earlier in the book don't make a lot of sense.

I went back over his interactions with Alicia and concerning her, and even in hindsight, it doesn't make sense: Theo is obsessed with Alicia's silence, and especially her painting Alcestis, her only communication after the death of her husband. In the last five years, he never researched Alcestis? And when he did finally read it (about halfway point) he was in the unique position to understand exactly why Alicia connected with her and fell silent as Alcestis did.

The reality is, Theo had tons of better reasons to want to get close to Alicia, to want to treat her and investigate her, to be interested in her background, but his focus on her silence doesn't make sense in the normal flow of the book, given what we learn at the end.

He is never concerned with her recognizing him, and never tiptoes around certain things in an effort to remain hidden, despite the fact that he nearly gets away with attempting to murder her in the end. (Which is a whole extra issue: she is able to write an entire account of what he did after he injected her? Why not just let her write that between, give her a chance to say she's going to start speaking to him in order to try to get answers from him? It's just sloppy.)

The ending points to him at peace with being caught, but then why work so hard to cover his tracks? Why tear things apart looking for the diary?

It makes no sense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content