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A review by whatcourtneyreads
Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
3.0
In Case Study, the author (GMB) receives a package containing the journals of an anonymous woman written in the 1960s. The woman had become convinced that her sister Veronica suicided after being coerced by her psychotherapist, Collins Braithwaite. Armed with a pseudonym, ‘Rebecca Smyth’, she starts seeing Braithwaite as a patient, determined to expose him for the charlatan that he is. For us as the reader, this meta storyline unfolds against research the author has done on Braithwaite himself.
I found this very readable, but that’s not to say I found it overly enjoyable. I’m certainly confused as to what I was supposed to “get” from it. Something about identity and the Self and different personas that we all contain, I guess.
I felt like this book built tension as though it was going to be a thriller and then just fizzled out towards the end. There are no real answers to be found in the ambiguous ending, which felt quite anticlimactic and a bit confusing (please DM me, I need answers).
The R word is also used twice. I know that it’s set in 1965 and really, people didn’t stop using that word until quite recently, but the book would have been the same had this word been omitted. Mental health is also handled quite poorly just generally, I felt.
I know this review reads as though I hated it. I didn’t, but in the end this was just “fine” and I probably wouldn’t read any of this author’s other books if I’m being honest. I found the concept of this story and the structure really interesting, but it just didn’t pack the punch I was hoping for.
I found this very readable, but that’s not to say I found it overly enjoyable. I’m certainly confused as to what I was supposed to “get” from it. Something about identity and the Self and different personas that we all contain, I guess.
I felt like this book built tension as though it was going to be a thriller and then just fizzled out towards the end. There are no real answers to be found in the ambiguous ending, which felt quite anticlimactic and a bit confusing (please DM me, I need answers).
The R word is also used twice. I know that it’s set in 1965 and really, people didn’t stop using that word until quite recently, but the book would have been the same had this word been omitted. Mental health is also handled quite poorly just generally, I felt.
I know this review reads as though I hated it. I didn’t, but in the end this was just “fine” and I probably wouldn’t read any of this author’s other books if I’m being honest. I found the concept of this story and the structure really interesting, but it just didn’t pack the punch I was hoping for.