Trauma

By Patrick McGrath

Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "an uncommon storyteller [with a] trademark ability to probe the layers of the human psyche," Patrick McGrath has written his most addictive and enthralling novel yet.

Charlie Weir's family is comprehensively dysfunctional — abandoned by his father, his mother ravaged by that betrayal, and his brother, Walt, a successful artist, less Charlie's ally than his rival. So it's hardly surprising that he should find a vocation in psychiatry in New York City, counseling traumatized war veterans returning home from Vietnam. Agnes Magill, the sister of one damaged soldier, soon becomes Charlie's wife. But the suicide of her brother, Danny, ends the marriage, leaving Charlie to endure a corrosive loneliness even as Manhattan grows steadily more dirty and dangerous around him.

Then, in the haunting aftermath of Charlie's mother's death, Agnes returns to offer him the solace that he has never been able to provide for her. Almost simultaneously, he is presented with a quite different anodyne — a volatile woman whose irresistible beauty, tinged though it is with an air of grievous suffering, jeopardizes everything he has hoped might restore his dwindling faith in his calling, his future and himself.

As Charlie's hold on sanity weakens, and events conspire to send him reeling headlong toward the abyss, the themes of family, passion and madness - by now synonymous with Patrick McGrath's writing — rightly assume "the inevitability of myth," as Tobias Wolff has written of his work, in "fiction of a depth and power we hardly hope to encounter anymore." A genuine psychological thriller, Trauma is an experience at once unnerving, unsettling and utterly riveting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 29, 2010
• ISBN: 9780385673815

Patrick McGrath

Patrick McGrath is the author of several modern gothic novels, including Asylum and Spider, and two collections of stories. He lives in New York, where he is on the writing faculties of the New School and Princeton University.

Reviews for Trauma

[kwskultety · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Meh. Didn't like the writing style, didn't like the way the MC communicated despite his being a shrink...borrrring

[chrystal_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Intense psychological portrait, a quick read about a psychiatrist and his trauma and the trauma of his loved ones. Set in the 70's before PTSD was an accepted condition, Charlie Weir is one of the first shrinks to coin the term, and he has plenty of subjects, including himself, to study. A close up look at how the mind and relationships work. This was a dark work packed with feeling and awe.

[squeakychu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I admit to being a little disappointed in this book. I've grown accustomed to some superb gothic-like, creepy books among this author's works. In this novel, I found the story of a troubled psychiatrist who lives in New York city. Where did the dark and wet nights of England go? Not the same! The setting may be equally as bleak for someone in despair, but this was not what I was hoping for.That aside, I couldn't quite get into this story of an aging man, Charlie Weir, who divorced his wife Agnes after feeling responsibe for her brother Danny's suicide. He hooks up with Nora, another troubled individual but cannot give up his hope to return to his previous life with his ex-wife and their daughter Cassie, to whom he was very devoted. The ending of the story was there to explain more in detail about Charlie Weir. For me, though, I'd just like to catch the next plane to England to look for more of the characters found in this authors's other books such as Spider, Grotesque, and Dr. Haggard's Disease.

[oldblack-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

To me, this is not an optimistic or uplifting book, although I didn't entirely understand the ending - maybe there's meant to be an optimism there that I didn't pick up on. It's essentially a story about a man who fails to connect with people around him, both in a professional sense (as a psychiatrist) and in a personal sense (as a lover, father, son, brother). What makes him like that, and the stories of all his dysfunctional relationships, makes interesting reading, perhaps more so if you're a person who is similarly deficient in the relationship department.

[pdebolt_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of a psychiatrist traumatized by the suicide of a war veteran and by the events of his childhood, which unfold as the novel progresses. It is also a psychological study of several other characters in the novel. The end is bleak.

[aliastori · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not vintage McGrath, but good psychological suspense. Read Asylum.

[boutabook · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I loved Asylum, but just couldn't make myself finish this book. It dragged on, in my opinion.

[parthurbook · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Taught prose, creating a genuine sense of foreboding as central character uncovers the 'trauma' that he carries into every part of his life. Style resonant of Paul Auster. Haunting, unsettling.

[bookmarque · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Don’t you hate it when a book by a favorite author just evaporates in your memory? It’s not that Trauma is a bad book, it’s just less intense than McGrath’s usual stories and my rereading wasn't a waste of time. There were a lot of things that kept me at arm’s length though; the time frame (1970s), Vietnam, Charlie’s understated reactions, the time switching. Was the total better than the sum of its parts? Hard to say. I think part of why I felt faintly disappointed is due to the copy on the flap. It talks of Charlie’s slipping hold on sanity. What? Where? He takes a reasonable stand in the face of Nora’s episodes and refusal of help. His desperate yearning/imprinting on Agnes seems totally in the main for a man of his age and type. And what else is a man to do about a weirdo brother in his present and a depressive, hurtful mother in his past? Cope as best he can and it seemed to me Charlie was.I did like the slow reveal, as I do all of McGrath’s books. Things build, but you don’t get answers right away, not to every question. Like why does Walter seem to hate Charlie so much? What’s the deal with him and Nora? Why has Leon disappeared? Are Charlie’s recollections as faulty as hinted at? He was constantly giving himself an out by saying “at least this is how I remember things…”. The shadow of suicide was always upon him and that created a nice sense of dread. Who would be next?If you’re new to McGrath, this might not make you an instant fan, but if you appreciate an understated story of psychological trauma and the ripple effects of secrets, you can do a lot worse.