Silent patient.
This book is captivating and unpredictable; I cannot wait to get to the ending. The book started out with Alicia's journal entry about her life as an artist and about her husband Gabriel. The first official line of the book is "ALICIA BERENSON WAS THIRTY-THREE YEARS OLD when she killed her husband." Talking about an unexpected turn! like what do you mean she killed her husband? she was just writing in her journal about how much she loves him!
Right off the bat I don't she killed him, yes the police found her standing next to her husband body in the dark with the gun on the floor, she had bruises on her hand signaling she scratched her husband but how can this be? and yes it was only her finger print found on the gun. After they found her she stopped talking! she never said a word. She was put in jail and released out on bond but she never talked! the only form of communication after the murder was a drawing she did. It was her standing naked in the painting looking at a blank canvas with a paint brush in hand dripping red paint or is it blood? she had fresh markings on her wrist signaling a suicide attempt or self harm? her painting was shown in her art gallery and there was a line of people waiting outside to see her panting. People found the painting to be unsettling and yes I thought it was weird but she called the painting "Alcestis" it's a greek story about someone giving their life for another...
she was then admitted into a psych ward because she never spoke at the trial so everyone assumed she lost her mind, but did she? everyone thought she was faking to avoid years in jail but then it's been years and she never spoke so she was never release at the psy ward. She was forgotten by the media and people stopped talking about her until a psychotherapist named Theo took interest in her and applied to work at grove psych ward where Alicia is. At first glance Theo thought Alicia was took drugged up to even see her surroundings, so Theo requested for a lower dose of meds for Alicia. Then Theo became her therapist, it's mostly him talking Alicia never said a word but Alicia does acknowledge him and at times she would nod her head no. That's a start, but one day Alicia Attacked Theo and slammed his head on the pavement! The did not back down he kept seeing her hoping one day she would talk.
Theo is married to Kathy and they have a pretty good life according to him that's the love of his life, they met while they were dating other people and they ditched their partners and got together. Then now Theo finds out Kathy is cheating on him on her laptop! he chose not to say a word and just pretend he never saw anything because he was afraid to lose her. Theo had a rough upbringing he was abused by his father who had personality disorder and he would become violent towards him and his mom. He was troubled as a child and he tried to commit suicide but his therapist saved him (according to him) then he chose to study psychology to better understand himself and in part help others...
My favorite part in the book is when Theo went to see his therapist after he finds out Kathy is cheating on him, she told him “I think you must leave.
And I’m not saying this as your old therapist—but as your old friend. I
don’t think you could go back, even if you wanted to. It might last a little
while perhaps, but in a few months something else will happen and you’ll
end up back here on this couch. Be honest with yourself, Theo—about
Kathy and this situation—and everything built on lies and untruths will fall
away from you. Remember, love that doesn’t include honesty doesn’t
deserve to be called love.”
We'll touch based when I finish the book. I should finish it by tomorrow.
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