The Hypnotist's Love Story

“She [Ellen] wanted to know every detail. She wanted to understand what was going through this woman’s head.”

Patrick’s confession that his ex-girlfriend is stalking him is the inciting incident of the plot. Ellen’s immediate curiosity is about the woman and her wish to understand her motives and perspectives. Part of this interest is due to Ellen’s character, but the interest also prepares for the ways Ellen and Saskia will share certain parallels as the story unfolds, especially when Ellen begins to question some of her own choices. Ellen’s interest in Saskia also points to a larger problem Patrick experiences, in that male targets of stalking are sometimes dismissed as victims instead of having their fears taken seriously.

“Breakups felt like your skin was being torn from your body. It was actually strange that more people weren’t like Saskia, instead of being so well-behaved and dignified about it.”

The Difficulties of Losing a Relationship forms an important theme in the novel, as shown through the experience of several characters. Ellen believes she can identify with Saskia’s heartbreak because of her own experience with an ex-boyfriend. This image of peeling skin represents the pain an emotional wound can inflict. Ellen’s tendency to downplay Saskia’s stalking—her belief that “It was actually strange that more people weren’t like Saskia”—reflects the fact that Ellen misconstrues stalking as a form of love when it is, in actuality, a form of control that causes real psychological, and sometimes physical, harm to victims.