Asylum [Paperback]

Patrick McGrath (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 1998

From our most celebrated writer of the psychological thriller comes this nerve-wracking yet eerily beautiful work of erotic obsession and madness.

In the summer of 1959 Stella Raphael joins her psychiatrist husband, Max, at his new posting--a maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane. Beautiful and headstrong, Stella soon falls under the spell of Edgar Stark, a brilliant and magnetic sculptor who has been confined to the hospital for murdering his wife in a psychotic rage.

But Stella's knowledge of Edgar's crime is no hindrance to the volcanic attraction that ensues--a passion that will consume Stella's sanity and destroy her and the lives of those around her.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The New Yorker review praised Patrick McGrath's "ornate, deadpan style . . . distinguished by its unusual seriousness, its lack of camp," and described Asylum as a "layered, implicating book, whose terrors and malignities aren't quite the ones we expect, and are a matter of mood and viewpoint as well as of plot." McGrath's fourth novel (his other three are also highly recommended) features a subtly deceptive narrator whose confident, musical voice seduces you--a voice that mirrors, in its meter, emotions ranging from lyrically obsessed, to meticulously fond, to cautious and stiff with horror. And the imagery is unforgettable: the grim architecture of the asylum; a ravaged human head with empty eye sockets; a drowning in a pool on a barren heath. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

McGrath (Dr. Haggard's Disease) has a mind that revels in the toxic side of things. In this tale of headlong descent into darkness and despair, the toxicity comes from obsessional love. Stella Raphael is the lovely but dissatisfied wife of Max, a resident psychiatrist at an asylum for the criminally insane in the countryside near London. She becomes infatuated with Edgar Stark, a sculptor who murdered and mutilated his wife in a delusionary fit, and the two contrive a passionate affair when Edgar is assigned to work in the Raphaels' garden on the asylum grounds. Stealing Max's clothes, Edgar escapes to London and goes underground, where Stella eventually follows him. When he begins to manifest the same furious jealousies that led to his wife's murder, she flees home again, only to find she has ruined her husband's career. The Raphaels, with their young son, Charlie, are exiled to a remote hospital in rural Wales, where further disaster strikes as Stella drifts into her own desperate delusions. The story is told by another psychiatrist at the asylum, ostensibly through interviews with Stella. Although the doctor's own interpolations are sometimes a relief in the supercharged atmosphere, this seems an unnecessary device, and the intended frisson of his participation in the somber conclusion doesn't come off. In every other respect, however, the book is hypnotizing, with its own strange but darkly convincing pace and style; and the way in which nature and climate are woven into the fabric of the bizarre couple's strange love is masterly. 75,000 first printing; paperback rights to Vintage; rights sold in the U.K. and six European nations; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (March 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679781382
• ISBN-13: 978-0679781387
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tragic Story, Beautiful Writing, October 29, 2003

By 

Patrick O'Brien - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asylum (Paperback)

"Asylum" was my first Patrick McGrath novel and it's so good it's definitely turned me into a total "McGrath junkie." I fully intend on reading every work of fiction this very talented man has published.

"Asylum" is the story of beautiful but damaged Stella Raphael, a woman who, it would seem, has much to live for. Stella's decisions, however, as well as her solutions to her problems, are far from the best and she caues herself and those around her both tragedy and pain.

This is a book that could have so easily spilled over into melodrama...but it didn't. McGrath's cool, highly-controlled writing keeps this book believable even at its most tragic points.

I think readers should be warned that even though "Asylum" is a masterpiece, it is a bleak, dark and depressing book. The darkness is not only unrelieved, it grows as one reads on to the ultimate, shattering end. Readers who need something lighter or a book with a "feel good" ending should probably choose something else.

While "Asylum" is a deeply psychological novel, it isn't at all claustrophobic. McGrath's choice of an (almost) impartial narrator (and one who isn't quite reliable) keeps us from ever entering Stella's mind or the mind of Edgar Stark, the madman who so cunningly takes advantage of Stella's vulnerability.

McGrath's masterful use of locale only adds to the rich atmosphere of this book. We meet Stella in high summer in the gentle landscape of southern England when she seems to "have it all." Her seedy affair and descent into depression occur in Cockney London (within the sound of Big Ben). A tragic turing point occurs on the desolate Welsh moors and the book concludes back where it began just as the chestnut trees are beginning to blossom, bringing everything full circle.

I really can't praise this book highly enough. If you like dark, melancholy, tragic novels, psychological studies (without all the psychological jargon) and wonderful, controlled writing, you will probably love "Asylum" just as much as I did.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Psychobabble, March 17, 2001

By 

vanishingpoint - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asylum (Paperback)

A finely written psychological horror novel filled with wonderful psychobabble. Two fantastic traits about this book:

- The Freudian slant that constantly pervades the book. I never got tired of it. Every little action had so many dissections and possibilities.

- The seemingly reliable but ultimately unreliable narrator. I hope that isn't too much of a spoiler, though it's telegraphed fairly well by the middle of the book. Echoes of Poe, definitely.

I found the mad love between Edgar and Stella to be very real and very British -- all that social caste stuff fit right in with all the repression that was going on. The book never slowed down for a second, and I don't see a single thing wrong with it.

I read that Stephen King fell in love with this book so much that he adapted it for a screenplay, so expect it to come to a theater near you. There's a movie called Asylum coming out later this year (2001), I think, but that's not it. Rumor has it that this one will be starring Liam Neeson and his wife Natasha Richardson, directed by Jonathan Demme. I suppose Neeson will play Edgar the psychopathic sculptor and Richarson will play Stella the psychopathic mother; good choices. For Max, I see a slight bookish fellow -- can't think of one. Anthony Hopkins would be my man as Peter, the narrator.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Subtle, clinical, madness that slowly builds, January 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Asylum (Paperback)

I like the idea of the gothic thriller: dank, roaming vistas, be they an insane asylum or windswept North Wales landscapes, coupled w/ depressed, furtive movements by the main players. Asylum seemed to hold that promise when I saw it. This is my first McGrath book, but won't be the last. The narrative was taut and controlled, but also interestingly languid, one could sense the mental disintegration and exhaustion on all players as the story wore on and slowly rose to its crescendo. I caught myself thinking of Poe's "the Fall of the House of Usher" a couple times later in the story as the landscapes were described [black pools of water, barren landscapes] and the characters inner turmoil prodded their own heightened sense of self-awareness to come bubbling up. Considering the fact that most of the characters are either psychiatrists, or immediately influenced by them [wives, patients] one can see where they would have the vocabulary and insight to adequately describe their mania. Make no mistake, this is Stella's story. The madman Edgar Stark is along for the ride, but isn't fleshed out to make him a star ala Hannibal [the current read]. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it for those seeking a subtle, sublime entry into this genre.