Hey, y’all! Before I left for South Korea, I decided to start reading The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides because one of my friends wanted to buddy read a book together. Hehe, and here I am now talking about the book after almost 10 months! Surprisingly, I still finished the book before my friend that I’m buddy reading it with😂

This book has intrigued me for a while because I find psychological aspects in books, movies, or shows to be fascinating. I have also been wanting to read a story that involves intentional muteness ever since I found a fanfiction story that had that element. However, the fanfiction story was deleted before I was able to finish it, which is another reason why I wanted to read this novel.

The book is about a woman named Alicia Berenson who refuses to speak after being convicted of killing her husband, Gabriel. After, she was moved to a psychiatric unit called the Grove. Theo Faber started working at the Grove with one goal: find a way to truly reach Alicia Berenson. We see both this psychotherapist’s work life and home life throughout the novel. We also see the consequences that happen once personal feelings come into play as Theo begins to delve deep into Alicia’s past by talking to all her friends and relatives.

Although it took me a while to finish this novel, it was actually quite interesting. Once I found the motivation to read again, I became enthralled and pretty much read the last quarter of the book in one sitting. The second half of the book is a little bit faster-paced than the first half, so it kept my attention easier. The thriller elements became more prevalent, and there were some scenes that caused me to feel tense from the suspense.

⚠️SPOILER ALERT paragraph…kind of⚠️The first half might have seemed slower because there were some backstories and information that I did not think was interesting or relevant. HOWEVER, I now know that everything had a purpose! I did not care about Theo and his wife, Kathy, at all, but I suppose the backstory was crucial for the audience to understand Theo’s passion (maybe obsession) towards his wife. Honestly, my brain kept trying to come up with conclusions and guesses about what would happen in the story. I thought that Kathy’s affair would drive Theo to Alicia. I was very oblivious during the chapter that alluded to some chapters having a different timeline, and I completely did not even guess that Theo knew Alicia before the Grove. My mind was blown, and it made me want to read the story again. I wanted to see how different my perspective would be if I had known that this novel showcases two different timelines. ⚠️SPOILER OVER⚠️

Rating: 8.21/10

Thank you to everyone for checking out my blog! It feels good to finish a book. I read a lot of translated short stories in Korea, so keep an eye out for those posts. Some of the stories were very… interesting. What are some of your favorite translated works? Leave them in the comments below. I hope you all enjoyed reading! See y’all in the next post~