Point of View

The Silent Patient is told in the first person point of view through writings by Theo and Alicia. At first, the reader is led to believe that Alicia’s diary entries take place six years prior, and all of Theo’s writing are in the present day. However, it is revealed at the end of the novel that Theo is writing retrospectively, and every scene with Kathy takes place six years before his time in the Grove. Both narrations complement each other, as Alicia’s diary entries often contradict things that some characters, such as Max and Jean-Felix, tell Theo in the present day. However, both Alicia and Theo are painted as slightly unreliable narrators and both of them have mental illnesses that make it difficult for them to understand what they are doing or how other people are doing to them. Ironically, despite Alicia...