In the preface to the ‘clinical case’ (Impedimenta, 2022), Graeme Macro Burnet (Kilmarnock, Great Britain, 1967) tells how the story we will find in this book came into his hands. In 2019, she received an email from someone named Martin Gray who said he had several handwritten notebooks by his cousin. In these diaries I can find a series of accusations against psychotherapist Collins Braithwaite, a character Macrae Burnet wrote about in a blog in the past.
Macrae Burnet reads five notebooks in one day: The testimonies told in them are gripping. But he lacks any evidence to show that these memories are correct. What if it’s all a Martin Gray tale? Although well thought out, what does it matter if the information they contain is correct, creating a work of fiction with it? In one way or another, scottish writer noir novel begins to write a ‘clinical case’ with the data in hand.
As in her first novel, The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau, we are reinventing a Russian doll approach that the reader has to accept the game.or to enter the narrative. The accuracy of the information in the preface is irrelevant to the reading of this book. Although it is true that we will not cease to be in constant doubt as to whether what we read really happened, this way we will keep the interest in the plot high.
Rebeca Smyth is a fictional character created by the author of the diaries Macrae Burnet writes here – with a Greek i that she dedicates herself to pointing out every time she appears. We do not know who is hiding behind this nickname, but we do know some of the reasons for his choice –Daphne du Maurier and her Novel Named ‘Rebeca’ and they’re more than obvious too—. Rebeca chooses another name to attend Braithwaite’s consultation. After a few sessions with the psychotherapist, she wants to understand the reasons that drove her sister to commit suicide by throwing herself on the train tracks. Veronica believes she is being coerced or suggested because she is not the kind of woman to end her life.
Rebeca’s first-person story will be replaced with a third-person biography of Collins Braithwaite. In this way, she tries to resist the unreliable narrator’s appeal as doubts about Rebeca’s character are steadfast. She tries to create a personality that is far from herself, much more carefree, confident and daring. However, in sessions with Braithwaite, true memories of his childhood resurface. Or are they just the product of your imagination? Should a psychotherapist perceive these delusions, or should the diagnosis be based on the image we project? All this serves to make us question fiction within fiction even more. The author pushes the limits of deception until it makes us doubt every page. and break the fourth wall: break the fictitious deal and shows us the puppet’s strings. Those who enjoy meta-literary games will find exciting entertainment in this work. But if you don’t want your status quo questioned, stay away from this book.
‘clinical case’
Author: Graeme McRae Burnet
Translation: Alicia Frieyro
Editorial: corruption
352 pages. 23,95 €