The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides

 

Characters
Alicia Bereson	Theo Farber Forensic psychotherapist	The Grove
Vernon – father, suicide Eva – mother, killed in car accident   Gabriel – husband   Max – Gabriel’s brother, lawyer Tanya – secretary, fiancé   “Alcestis” – painting Alicia did after Gabriel’s death   Lydia Rose – Alicia’s aunt, raised her after mother’s death Paul Rose – son   Jean-Felix Martin - gallerist	Father - abusive   Kathryn – Theo’s wife   Ruth – Theo’s counselor	Staff Lazarus Diomedes – professor, forensic psychiatry Stephanie Clarke – manager Christian West – psychiatrist, at university with Gabriel Rowena Hart – art therapist Indira Yuri   Patients Alicia Elif

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: All page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       On page 57 Alicia wrote that if she painted with a plan, nothing worked.  But “if I’m really paying attention, really aware, I sometimes hear a whispering voice pointing me in the right direction.  And if I give in to it, as an act of faith, it leads me somewhere unexpected.”   Do you think this is a good description of how are happens?

2.       As you were reading, what were you predicting would be the ending?

3.       Discuss Theo’s marriage with Kathy.  On page 102 Ruth suggested he chose Kathy “to prove that my father was correct – that I’m worthless and unlovable.”

4.       In the same vein, Alicia overheard her father, Vernon, say after Eva died in the accident, “Why did it have to be her?  Why didn’t Alicia die instead?” (page 255).  How do you think this affected Alicia?

5.       Both Theo and Alicia felt unloved by their parents.  How did this play into their separate and joint stories?

6.       When Theo was talking to Alicia, he said “We leak all kinds of information about ourselves unintentionally – by the color of my socks, or how I sit or the way I talk” (page 92).  What things do you look at in other people and then make judgements, intended or not, about that person.   What do you think about you conveys who you are?

7.       What did you think about Max, Gabriel’s brother?  In chapter thirteen of Alicia’s diary Max told her that he loved her (page 123).  Alicia then wrote, “I don’t believe that Max is in love with me.  I believe he hates Gabriel, that’s all” (page 124).  

8.       Why did Theo go to the Grove and treat Alicia when he didn’t want her to recover and tell what really happened? 

9.       In Alicia’s diary, Theo read that Christian had been treating her privately before Gabriel’s murder.  Why do you think Christian never told that to anyone at The Grove?

10.   What did you think of the ending?  Were you surprised?  Was it realistic?

11.   Would you recommend this book to a friend?

12.   In the acknowledgements of his second book, The Maidens, the author paid homage to the great female mystery writers including Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, P. D. James and others.  How well did this novel compare to the classics?