Jonathan Maas
asked
Charles Graeber:
Charles - just gave 5 Stars to your incredible The Good Nurse. My question - how were you able to study such a difficult subject matter for 6 years, and stay sane yourself?
Charles Graeber
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[Thanks Jonathan! In the end it was closer to 9 years in total that I was involved- and in many ways of course I still am involved, though I'm out of the job of trying to be able to put myself in step with the mental processes and logic of a sociopath, this sociopath, and get it down on paper. So I guess the short answer is, I'm not sure that I totally succeeded in staying sane- or rather, as Cullen was deemed by the state sane enough to stand trial, I stayed sane. But in retrospect I realize that there was a stretch of time when I was more profoundly changed by the work and exposure and process than I realized at the time. Getting out of that space took time and normalcy, and I believe I've come back from that dark place. It's given me a greater empathy for people asked to step into a world with different, darker rules- like our soldiers for instance, asked to enter a world where taking a stranger's life is a daily option and job description- and then asked to step back into this world. There's no one reaction to that experience, but the dissonance can be deafening. I'd be interested to hear from vets reflecting on that and on this book, whether that makes any sense to them. Thanks for your question Jonathan. It's something I'm still working out. (hide spoiler)]
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