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The Silent Patient
Overview for The Silent Patient
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Fav Character: Alicia who just needed the proper attention and mental health care to avoid the initial incident, but was failed then and continued to be failed with a broken psychiatric team. Least Fav Character: Theo. Aside from being psychotic to his core, he’s selfish and in the wrong line of work for all the wrong reasons which is what breaks the system for proper mental healthcare. He continually contradicts himself with nature vs nurture and with how we deserve and should accept love in response to Kathy’s infidelity, exemplifying his lack of mental stability at its core.
Rating: 6.5 The author introduced a lot into the plot to distract us that they just dropped and didn't follow through resolving like Paul’s gambling goons. You could tell it was the authors first book as it had a lot of promise but wasn’t thought out to its full potential. Negatives aside, I could gradually see Theo’s psychosis spiral and appreciated the clues along the way to the ultimate reveal.
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Favorite Character: Barbie Hellman - What a funny lady! I immediately took note of her name when she was introduced in the first few pages as being the neighbor that called in the gunshots and thought she was gonna be a throwaway name that we wouldn’t see again.. But then we see her multiple times after in diary form and talking to Theo and each time I couldn’t get enough. She may be a big personality and self-centered but really if you compare her to nearly every other character in the book then a loud funny alcoholic is the least of our worries.
Least Favorite Character: Kathy Faber - If you boil down why exactly the entire story takes place it lies in her infidelity. If she never would have started sleeping around with Gabriel, then Theo doesn’t spiral and obsess over her cheating. If Gabriel & Vernon Rose (Alicia’s dad) emotionally/spirtually killed Alicia then Kathy is just as responsible for emotionally/spirtually killing Theo. As well, the fact that she is going around fucking men in woods who she is bound to know is in a relationship (much like herself) and then has the audacity to berate and constantly shame Theo for smoking pot as if he is doing something much worse than her. She is never able to reconcile her emotions over the death of Gabriel and lives in constant denial and turns into a husk of a person who purposefully stays in a seemingly loveless marriage just so she doesn’t have to admit shes just as fucked up if not even more than Theo. This streak of infidelity even extends to before she was with Theo as seen early on when she is introduced as having been in a committed relationship and leaving it just so she can be with Theo. While it takes two to tango and not one person is solely responsible for the cheating, she has shown multiple times in the story that she is not faithful.
Favorite Character: Alicia. She was mysterious and elusive throughout the novel and the core of the story was ceneted on her character and backstory. I was the most intrigued by sections she narrated and in her character's outcome. Least Favorite Character: Max. He was a jerk the whole time and his side plot led no where.
Rating: 8.3. A good read from start to finish. I always enjoyed the plot twist at the end.
Creating this thread for our fourteenth overall book but our 2nd book of round 4.
Please share your final ranking and thoughts below