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. ( )

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 ( )

I bought this book at a bookstore on a whim, with little expectations and no prior experience with the works of Graeme Macrae Burnet. Although the plot is windy and at times bizarre, I thoroughly enjoyed the overall experience of this book. I found both narrators' voices to be engaging and felt pulled in even during the "historical" bits which ordinarily would bore me. The main character, Rebecca, had a story arc which reminded me a bit of the character from Catcher in the Rye, except with more relatability and intrigue. I rather liked the ending and appreciated the twists. Burnet's writing was so good that I truly did not even recognize which characters were fictional until I looked it up afterwards, which was a fun discovery. I would say that those looking for a book with a strong plot might not enjoy it, but those who enjoy unique and entertaining characters with a bit of mystery would be pleased with this book. ( )

I don't think I was in the right mood for this book. The structure seemed gimmicky and I wasn't engaged early on, so I gave up. ( )

A puzzle of a book told in both "found notebooks" the author received from a troubled young lady's cousin in 1960s London, mostly regarding her interactions with a therapist and the author's "biographical accounts" of that fictional psychotherapist. The girl writing the notebooks is drawn to the therapist after her sister speaks with him and commits suicide. Ultimately, this was an interesting way to tell a story but I was a little lost as to what the purpose was. Possibly to exist as a mystery, uniquely told. The young lady uses the name "Rebecca" after Daphne du Maurier, as a hint to what the mood is in this book. ( )