Alcestis the silent patient
It’s Theo’s story that we follow most closely for the duration of the read: we watch him begin his new job at the Grove, To the reader Alicia becomes almost like a blank canvas, a place where readers will collect what has been said about her in order to gain a glimmer of insight into the terrible crime she hasīy contrast, readers get up close and personal with psychotherapist Theo. It’s a fascinating thing to read a book that revolves around a character who can’t tell her own story directly
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SILENT PATIENT, Alicia is a presence just out of reach and yet everywhere all at once. To believe the author developed intentionally, as he draws parallels between Alicia’s story and that of Alcestis, the woman at the heart of Euripides’ tragedy of the same name. So enigmatic is Alicia that she begins to feel like an almost mythic character-a quality I have Through vivid descriptions of her physical appearance and the artwork she creates at Theo’s urging. There is something deeply tragic and almost mythic about Alicia: Michaelides crafts a character whose complexity and inner turmoil is belied not through verbal communication, but For psychotherapist Theo Faber, Alicia is the most intriguing of patients Theo finds himself drawn to Alicia’s story, determined to treat her and help her find her After this gruesome act,Īlicia never spoke another word. Alicia had a picture-perfect life… that is, until the day she shot her husband five times, leaving him for dead. So who are these characters? Painter Aliciaīerenson is the “patient” for whom the book is named. PATIENT is an exceptional character study: not just of the story’s titular patient, but also of the therapist who makes it his mission to treat her.
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The real impact of THE SILENT PATIENT comes not in flash or drama, but in the quiet, methodical way in which Michaelides lays bare the innermost workings of his characters.