Trauma

by Patrick McGrath

I had high hopes for this not-too-suspenseful novel. After all, I had heard great things about one of his other books, Asylum, and I had read a positive review of this novel. The reviews referred to his unreliable narrators, which really appealed to me.

The narrator, Charlie Weir, is a psychiatrist who specializes in victims of trauma. Traumas treated by him include: rape, war, and even the trauma of killing someone (accidentally) with one's car. Two of his notable patients include the aforementioned driver and his late brother-in-law, who served in Vietnam and eventually killed himself.

As we learn more about Charlie, we discover that his childhood was not great (no surprise), that he is engaged in heavy duty sibling rivalry with his older brother Walt, an artist (also no surprise), and that he's not great at relationships with women. What we don't learn is what Charlie's own experience with trauma is.

And when we do learn about his trauma experiences, we don't care. Lame is a good word for what I thought of McGrath's attempt at an unreliable narrator. Really lame.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this slim novel. The psychiatrist as narrator was interesting, and McGrath created a certain level of suspense, which kept me reading. I just wasn't impressed with the ending.

4/30/08