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Case Study (2021) by Graeme Macrae Burnet
“I have decided to write down everything that happens, because I feel, I suppose, I may be putting myself in danger.”
London, 1965. An unworldly young woman believes that a charismatic psychotherapist, Collins Braithwaite, has driven her sister to suicide. Intent on confirming her suspicions, she assumes a false identity and presents herself to him as a client, recording her experiences in a series of notebooks. But she soon finds herself drawn into a world in which she can no longer be certain of anything. Even her own character.
In Case Study, Graeme Macrae Burnet presents these notebooks interspersed with his own biographical research into Collins Braithwaite. The result is a dazzling – and often wickedly humorous – meditation on the nature of sanity, identity and truth itself, by one of the most inventive novelists writing today.
I saw his event at Cheltenham Literature Festival in October and bought Case Study which he signed. He is a very friendly book signer. I've only read His Bloody Project so far which I liked.
I am another who liked His Bloody Project but haven't read any more.
Haven't read anything of his Nigey but this latest one looks very tempting partly because I'm fascinated by the radical psychiatry movement Laing, Cooper etc Thanks for pointing it out.
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Hurrah - it makes all the difference
Thanks Ang
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....I loved it!
Review here....
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
5/5
More about Case Study (2021)…
“I have decided to write down everything that happens, because I feel, I suppose, I may be putting myself in danger.”
London, 1965. An unworldly young woman believes that a charismatic psychotherapist, Collins Braithwaite, has driven her sister to suicide. Intent on confirming her suspicions, she assumes a false identity and presents herself to him as a client, recording her experiences in a series of notebooks. But she soon finds herself drawn into a world in which she can no longer be certain of anything. Even her own character.
In Case Study, Graeme Macrae Burnet presents these notebooks interspersed with his own biographical research into Collins Braithwaite. The result is a dazzling – and often wickedly humorous – meditation on the nature of sanity, identity and truth itself, by one of the most inventive novelists writing today.
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His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae
...another winner
Case Study is outstanding . Such a fine portrait of the shockwaves going through psychiatry in the sixties . Sadly, after this , I didn't enjoy his French detective novels at all so have not picked up His Bloody Project . I should rectify that .
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I'd be fairly confident that you'd find much to enjoy and appreciate in His Bloody Project
I've only read His Bloody Project. Has anyone read his new book, Benbecula? The US publication date is this week, so hot off the press.
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EDIT: My library has two copies both on load. I've put in a reservation that I should get towards the end of this month
He is such a clever author! Im about to begin “A Case of Matricide” and have pre-ordered “Benbecula.” Hoping he’ll offer his trademark wit within the lines of another pompous side character.
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It's a GMB love in
I think I must be a fake fan as I'd never heard of A Case of Matricide. Off to remedy that now. Thanks again LA
EDIT: Ah, right. It's the third Inspector Gorski - excellent news. I enjoyed the first two very much.
AND my library has the audiobook! What a time to be alive
From the Booker-nominated author of Case Study and His Bloody Project comes the next adventure of Inspector Gorski.
In the unremarkable French town of Saint-Louis, the troubled Inspector Georges Gorski takes the case of a local woman who has called the to report that she suspects her son, a novelist named Robert, of plotting her death. Between the suspicious death of their dog, Robert’s callous disregard for his mother’s accusations, and her unreliable state of mind, Gorski decides to keep a close eye on their house. He visits with increasing frequency, trying to understand why—and how—a man might murder his mother. As Gorski’s closeness to the Duymanns swiftly slips from curious to dangerous, his grip on the case—and reality—irreversibly loosens.
In his unmistakably Nabokovian style, in which the line between fiction and reality blurs and narration and truth are questioned at every turn, Burnet constructs an elegant, bizarre, and destabilizing account of the ways guilt moves between mind and body, suspect and investigator, and writer and reader.
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It's great to be back in Gorski's world
Objectively these books are not up to the level of GMB's other work but I really find them immersive and beguiling.
It's the Inspector Georges Gorski character that is so compelling.
Gorski is the police chief in the small French town of Saint-Louis who has an insecure sense of self, partly shaped by his working class background and a failed marriage to the mayor's daughter.
He's a complete outsider and the books use Gorski's character to explore the rigidity of small town life. Despite his humble origins his police role is squarely middle class and he feels his position is precarious. He's also a source of social unease for the town's established tribes because he doesn't really fit anywhere.
I love him. He's plagued by a sense of melancholy and angst, and his personal problems are a central part of the narratives.
He lives with his mother, who has dementia and in the novels we are privy to his internal thought processes, complete with guilt, and sense of failure.
He's frequently preoccupied with minor embarrassments and the feeling of being judged.
If that sounds like your kind of thing then dive in. Social awkwardness ahoy! And usually aligned to an interesting and unusual crime/crime adjacent narrative.
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"There's a wonderfully unexpected plot development in the second half of A Case of Matricide (Georges Gorski #3) that changes everything. I'm really enjoying this book."
Finished....
This has the feel of a final volume but I cling to the hope we will get more Gorksi books.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4/5
Reading the 20th Century
Books mentioned in this topic
A Case of Matricide (other topics)A Case of Matricide (other topics)
A Case of Matricide (other topics)
A Case of Matricide (other topics)
Benbecula (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Graeme Macrae Burnet (other topics)Graeme Macrae Burnet (other topics)
Graeme Macrae Burnet (other topics)
I've read all three of his previous books (The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau (2014), His Bloody Project (2015), and The Accident on the A35 (2017)) and am really looking forward to getting my mitts on Case Study (2021).
What about you?