Book Information
Title: THE SILENT PATIENT
Author : ALEX MICHAELIDES
Publication Date : February 5, 2019
Genres : Fiction, Murder, Suspense, Psychology, Thriller
Pages : 308
ASIN: B07D2C6J4K
Main Characters
Theo Faber: Psychotherapist. The first-person narrator of the novel.
Alicia Berenson: A painter. A person who killed her husband Gabriel and became quiet afterward.
Gabriel Berenson: A fashion photographer. Alicia’s husband. A person who got killed by Alicia.
Max Berenson: Gabriel’s adopted brother. Alicia’s lawyer.
Lazarus Diomedes: The boss at Grove where psychiatric patients are treated.
Kathy Faber: Theo’s wife.
5 Key Elements of the Story
- Being Silent By Alicia
Alicia and Gabriel had been married for 7 years. One day, Gabriel was murdered at their house in cruel ways. The only person who was in the situation was his wife Alicia. After the case was found, all she did was become quiet. Even After, she was moved to Psychiatry Grove, she remained quiet. The reason why she kept being quiet is the first and important point. - Theo and Alicia’s love
More people get involved in the story besides the main characters. Theo extremely loved his wife, Kathy, and Alicia loved her husband, Gabriel. This depth of love is one of the key elements that cause the murder. - Past Traumatic Experience
Throughout the book, the author reveals how the past experience impacted Theo and Alicia’s lives. Why did Theo become a psychotherapist and start investigating Theo’s murder? The old experience is highly correlated with the murder and the reason for being quiet by Alicia. - Ancient Greek Tragedy
In this book, Ancient Greek Tragedy is connected to the reason why Alicia became silent. The Greek story is that Alcestis’s husband Admetus sacrifices her life to protect his life. Afterward, Alcestis was able to be back to the world, but she became silent. This story is one of the most important points to understand why Alicia also became silent. - Alicia’s Diary
The last key element of this story is Alicia’s Diary. It provides us with a lot of new and important information. This is because the first narrator is Theo, so most of the information is from the perspective of Theo’s. It tells us the truth about the story, and it especially affects the story’s outcomes at the end of the book. Without this diary, this story would be unresolved.
How I felt about this book
I do not remember why I picked this book up, although I remembered that it was on the top-ranking bookshelf in the bookstore. At that time, I would have liked to try to read fiction. After picking up this book and looking over it, I felt it sounded exciting and scary. So, I decided to read this book. That is what I remember…
I eventually read this book twice. So far, this book is the most favorite book although I have not read fiction books very much. I experienced for the first time a situation where I did not want to put down the book. As I read this book, I realized I was so into this book. This book starts with a lot of things that readers have questions about. For example, I was not sure why the wife killed her wife brutally, and she became completely quiet afterward. Such questionable things are resolved at the end of this book. That is why, especially in the end of reading this book, I could not help but keep reading it. I just wanted to know why every odd thing happened. I recommend this book to people who like suspense and thrill books.
From the standpoint of the difficulty of reading this book, I could understand what is happening in the scenes although there are some of the words and sentences that I did not understand. Also, there are not many main characters in this story, so it is relatively easy to understand the relationship between each character. I experienced a situation where there were so many characters in the story, and I forgot some of them and lost the story. As a person whose second language is English, I could understand the story and enjoy the whole book. In other words, this book can be read quite easily. Thus, I recommend this book to every person.
Whom I recommend this book
- People who like mystery or thriller
- People who have never read an English book
