Case Study

Terrific!

There are two narrators in this novel, and one is highly unreliable. The first narrator receives five notebooks written by a woman who believes her sister was pushed to suicide by her psychiatrist in the 60s during the anti-psychiatry, myth of mental illness era. He publishes the notebooks as a book which also includes a chapter after each of the notebooks containing biographical details that he has written about the offending psychiatrist.

A look at identity and madness that is both playful and disturbing, I read this in a couple of sittings. I'm about to start His Bloody Project by the same author and shortlisted for the Booker in 2015.

Entertaining read, I really loved the character development of "Rebecca Smyth" and how difficult Burnet makes it to take this as fiction. It is one of those books you start and finish in one go.

5/5