Graeme Macrae Burnet

Divided Memories

Read by: Caroline Hewett
Length: 9hours 10 minutes

Mind Parasites, The Divided Self, sanity and madness in the sexual sixties, oh it all came roaring back to me as I read Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Case Study. The idea that craziness was in the eye of the beholder, that psychiatrists were the mad ones, that the nuclear family was dangerous - all this was layered onto the slowly growing acceptance that woman have sexual feelings too.

I found Case Study a difficult and patchy read. This may have been because of the structure of the book, which is divided into alternating chapters between diary notebooks and third person descriptions of an unqualified pop-psychologist - both the notebooks and the psych being fictional.

The diaries are those of a disturbed young woman who is journaling her quest to discover if the self-educated psychologist Collins Braithwaite is responsible for her sister’s death. She tricks Braithwaite into taking her on as a patient, using the fake name of Rebecca Smyth. All this is with the background of Swinging Sixties London.

Are the notebooks genuine or not? The fictional writer of the novel is unsure. The notebooks have no provenance. The writer of the notebooks presents herself to the reader as demure, introverted sexually-ignorant, much like de Maurier’s nameless character in her novel Rebecca. Both de Maurier’s and Macrae Burner’s Rebecca’s are sexually provocative and flirtatious. Case Study is full of fiction upon fiction. At times I think it’s just too clever for its own good.

There’s a lot of darkness and a lot of humour. It’s both funny and sad as we see the sexually-provocative Rebecca gradually take control of the demure sexually repressed young woman who has invented her. The scene where Rebecca seduces a young man in a snug in a London bar and the two personalities start talking to each other is a brilliant piece of comedy noire.

I had to read the novel in half-hour chunks, as the writings of R.D. Laing and his ilk contributed to the breakup of my first marriage. In retrospect at the anti-psychiatry movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s was probably necessary for the development of theories of mental illness. But back then, along with other social upheavals, it took a heavy toll.

Graeme Macrae captures the times so well, and even though some readers have nitpicked at minor details such as placing a Lyons teashop in the wrong (by a few meters) place, as he points out in his Postscript to the Second Edition, these are minor and have no bearing on the story.

Having lived and worked in London 1969 through 1971 I can vouch for the authenticity of Graeme Macrae’s description of London as it pertains to the novel.

I will certainly be reading more from this writer, and though I found it difficult to read, I feel this was more because of my own experiences revolving around the subject matter.

The sex scene in the snug will go down in my memory along with Flaubert’s Emma Leon and in the coach at Lyon, and the car-wash scene in Julian Barnes’s Before She Met Me.… (more)

This was an interesting one. When I first heard about this book, I was drawn to its unusual format and premise. Essentially, it's a number of (fictional) documents all relating to a 19th century murder case in the Scottish Highlands. That and I heard that it was supposed to be extremely scary. Except that I made the last bit up—I think I got confused with something else (and I still have no idea what). So I dived into it thinking, Yes, something scary for October! And it wasn't that at all, which made it feel quite slow. BUT, once I was about halfway through, my initial reaction didn't matter anymore. I went from not being quite sure about it to being totally absorbed, and I now understand why it made the 2016 Man Booker shortlist. Burnet has created an astonishingly realistic account (at least to me, in my limited knowledge of its subject and setting) and I have become very invested in it. Please read so we can discuss.… (more)

i'd wanted to read this because it hits some points of interest for me - 1960s, r.d. laing, history of psychotherapy. on that front i will say it absolutely delivered. i thought the writing was compelling and the book was an easy read, took me a matter of days. this book's greatest strength is the character work, which is multi-faceted and intelligent, and points to a great deal of thought.

HOWEVER, as for some ** SPOILERS **, i found the ending super unsatisfying. i love a good twist and i figured from reviews that there was one coming, but i'd also hoped for at least some clarity as to how the "story" relates to "reality" (in-universe). instead we get an open, ~how much is really real?~ ending, which i can't really be bothered with. i understand the thought process behind it and obviously don't mind a bit of ambiguity, but i prefer a book that can commit to its own truth. though i guess that's the point? lol… (more)