The Mookse and the Gripes discussion
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Case Study
Booker Prize for Fiction
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2022 Booker Longlist - Case Study
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(last edited Jul 27, 2022 01:40AM)
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rated it 4 stars
Jul 26, 2022 05:06AM
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Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
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Three chapters in I am getting strong 'TRUST' vibes...the juror fighting for this one may very well be the same. Old documents mysteriously ending up in the author's possession... are they authentic? And if they are, are they true? The other three GMB novels I read started with a similar frame narrative.
I loved His Bloody Project when it was nominated, and I think I expected something similar with Case Study. It's told through different written sources, which is akin to the way His Bloody Project was told, but the unreliable narrator, the twists and turns, wasn't quite the same with this one. I loved the how the therapy sessions affected our heroine (if you can call her that) very differently than she expected, and that it didn't really turn in to a big murder mystery, but was more introspective and straightforward. Still, I think I expected more of a bang from this one, though it did have surprising character development and was a fun read.
Well, poo. This sounds better than I originally thought. I just ordered it for my lives’ long best friend’s birthday gift. She’s a therapist looking for a vacation book. This sounds perfect for her.I guess I’ll be reading this too.
My review - 12 out of 13 books read now and this is 10th for me https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
People may be interested in GMBs 2019 blog post as it is explicitly referenced in the Preface as what lead to the book being writtenhttps://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
I just started this tonight and have to admit I'm loving it. I haven't read His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae so it seems fresh to me.
David wrote: "Brilliant, Robert!"Thanks!
The most important person of all is a big fan of Robert’s review of this one …. The authorhttps://twitter.com/gmacraeburnet/sta...
Congratulations Robert, always nice to get that reaction. Interestingly McCrae Burnet copied in Dan James of Ezra Maas fame suggesting he take a look
I think that is because Robert explicitly mentions that book at the end of his review
So a little bit behind the scenes as Daniel and I were discussing Case Study on Instagram. When I pointed out that the chapter Kill Your Self reminded me of Ezra Maas, James reacted positively. Although I make it a point to never compare books, I felt it was 'safe' to do so as I think both authors are friends.
Actually, Daniel James has recommended this book on his instagram months ago.
Cristiano wrote: "Actually, Daniel James has recommended this book on his instagram months ago."I guess I missed out on that - IG algorithm is a bit funny
Very surprised this has slipped to the bottom of our rankings. I'm about a third of the way through (finished Second Notebook) and see this really working for me. I like the 1960s setting which seems like a deliberate pastiche rather than an attempt at historical fiction.
It's obviously popular with judging panels, David, I see it's now been shortlisted for the UK-based Gordon Burn Prize too. the only novel to make the list:https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
David, I am just about to start the second notebook and am having rather the opposite experience to you…
It definitely fits the bill for the GB prize. Nice to see it there.
What isn’t working for you, Neil?Part of my positivity on this is due to being pleasantly surprised.
For me I could not see how the premise really went anywhere that I cared about. I was not a great His Bloody Project fan but the 19th Century crofting setting was intriguing and so well captured. The sixties in London seems so overdone as a novel topic.
I think the rankings are very fluid though currently as many are sensibly only just starting the longlist - and on the Paul method this is around half way up
Cindy wrote: "Robert wrote: "https://youtu.be/c3wI_uMBgyI"Just saw this Robert. Terrific!!!!"
Thanks!
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Up to 12th on that first list but I don't think any of the 13 is a book there will be a consensus of dislike for this year. I am still in the early stages but enjoying it.
I agree with Hugh - I think whatever book finishes last will still have a good overall rating from the group this time.
This was not bad, 3,5* for me - the writing is good, the character Rebecca is fantastic and the start was intriguing, but my enthusiasm waned as I progressed... the end is too open for me and ultimately I am not sure I learned much about the history of psychotherapy. I found Trust more accomplished and rounded off.I am a fan of GMB and read all his previous novels so it's also surprising for me this will very likely fall outside my top-10... But as GY says: the quality of the longlist seems very high this year.
David wrote: "What isn’t working for you, Neil?Part of my positivity on this is due to being pleasantly surprised."
It's really just that I am bored when I read it. I guess I need to let it run for a while longer before making any definite decisions about my feelings on it, but I find myself increasingly frustrated as I read it because it doesn't seem to go anywhere. Well, not anywhere that is interesting me at the moment, anyway. 25% in and it's sitting at the bottom of my rankings so it has some work to do in the other three-quarters!
Ruben wrote: "I found Trust more accomplished and rounded off."That's pretty damning!
Not really as Reuben was a big Trust supporter - has it just ahead of The Colony. Neil I think your “not anywhere interesting to me” was my issue as well but I did find it entertaining and I did like the way some parts of it developed - there is (at least I thought) a great attempted seduction scene in a pub with three characters but only two people
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Not really as Reuben was a big Trust supporter - has it just ahead of The Colony. I may still switch those around, but I tend to rate very much on the basis of 'how much did I enjoy reading this' rather than a profound appraisal (for which I am far less qualified than most of us here!). The Colony is giving much more food for thought though than Trust...
The seduction scene was indeed a highlight of Case Study (but unfortunately that was the last we saw of Tom).
Can you blame him though!!
Trust was a bit more polished and (for me) more predictable. I have no idea where Case Study is going. That's perhaps why I am enjoying the latter more - although I may well change my mind by the end.
I have made it to halfway. But I am giving serious thought to stopping. Like David I have no idea where it is going. But, unlike David, I don’t care.
A bit of tedium is setting in with the second half. I'm still enjoying it but it probably won't make my personal shortlist.How can you not care about these wonderful characters, Neil??! (joking)
I gave it 4 stars in the end just because I enjoyed the first half so much. It does get tedious in the second half, so much so that I stopped caring what'll happen with either case study so to say, which is unfortunate.
I am a bit worried by these comments suggesting the first half is the good bit.
I’m not seeing anything in the second half that would spark the interest of someone who wasn’t keen on the first half.
Given the judges clear interest in novels assembled from disparate parts - maybe the judges could shortlist their own book assembled from the first half of Case Study and the second half of Trust?! More seriously I did feel the parallel interleaving of the two stories worked well here and still think Diaz took an easier to write but sub-optimal to read route in having his books set out serially.
I’m still liking this and I’m not entirely sure why. I think the complex nesting of identities and the narrative framing are fascinating on an intellectual level. I also enjoy the deliberate over the top 60s setting. I don’t know why the 60s conceit is working for me when Díaz’s setting didn’t work, but somehow it does.All that said, I can see why this wouldn’t work for many people.
endrju, I see you just finished and gave it 4 stars. What did you like about it?
It's closer to 3 if I were strict and counted in the second half but I chose to feel generous because of its complete artifice and its arch humor. It felt veritably drag queen campy.
Agreed. It’s very camp (I wouldn't say campy though). Perhaps the most queer work on the longlist.
Well other than Seven Moons I guess
Which I hope to get to next.
And me too after After Sappho (which I hope dearly includes trans women).
I will withhold spoilers for After Sappho.I was being a tiny bit provocative by saying Case Study is the queerest book on the longlist but I stand by that assessment (with two books yet to read). The element of adopting/changing identities is a classic element of queer art (and survival). Setting this book in the mid- to late-sixties drives that point home. The book is also full of nuanced attention to incongruous details that strongly falls into the genre of camp (again, I would distinguish this from campy). Very well done, even if it does get dry in places.
I admire the panel for including a work of queer fiction that is intelligible as queer fiction only to the initiated. The book does work on other levels but obviously not entirely satisfactorily.
I don’t wish to appear perverse, but I am really enjoying the second half of the book. Ever since the meeting with Miss Kepler it feels like a far more interesting book.
It certainly passed me by David - have you seen the author refer to that in interviews. I will be curious to see what you think of Seven Moons and the author’s choices there.
The Mookse and the Gripes
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