Author: Alex Michaelides
Goodreads rating: 4.18
Alicia Berenson's picture-perfect life is painted red when one day she decides to shoot her husband in the face and go completely silent.
Theo Faber, a psychotherapist, decides only he can help Alicia speak.
Right after completing this book, I was in complete awe of it. I was in love with the writer, how he described the characters, and the way he narrated the story. All of it. I kept thinking about how every little detail added something to the story.
But then the magic of the book started to fade.
The more I kept thinking about the story, the more messier it it got. But before talking about what I didn't like let's get first to what I loved.
The two main characters, Alicia and Theo. They were the heart and soul of the book. The equation between those two was unmatchable. I kept turning pages to get to the part where they two finally met each other. I mean who wouldn't wanna see two psychos communicating? Every conversation would carry the story to another level. The back stories of these characters aligned perfectly with their actions. Whenever these two were in a room together, it was chaos.
“You become increasingly comfortable with madness - and not just the madness of others, but your own. We’re all crazy, I believe, just in different ways.”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient
This book made me scream and shout at so many points in the story which I think is really good. I was actually feeling what Alicia might've felt. Her emotions in the story reached perfectly from the pages of the book to me. Even her madness.
The part of the book that no one talks about is how it portrays relationships. Every step that Theo and Alicia take, every decision they make is because of the person they love.
Though this book tackles mental health, relationships also make a big part of it. If it wasn't categorised as psychological thriller then I think it fits as a tragic love story.
“Well, I’d rather be lonely than be with the wrong person.”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient
Now the part I didn't like. The characters were interesting. But way too many that it became messy. Each character had a backstory and everything but it just didnt fit right. New characters are expected from a murder mystery but it felt like with every new character author was trying to fit a puzzle piece in the story where it didnt belong. But I guess that's the only thing that bugged me.
It's really hard to write about this book because I'm still not sure how I feel about it. At the very least I can say is that it was unpredictable. The author did an awesome job there. The author excelled in convincing me what he wanted me to believe. Every time I would reach a conclusion the author would effortlessly throw me off the track . I would fall into his trap every single time. It all adds up to one thing, this book left me speechless. it was completely unexpected and the change in character dynamics were great. I'm already a big fan of books about mental health and this did really great in that criteria.
“I didn’t want to die. Not yet; not when I hadn’t lived.”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient
I hope you like this book too and if you have a book journal or something, I would love to take a look at it. Recs would be appreciated.
See you next time!
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