To like it or not to like it? That is the question...

books:

	• The Interpretation of Murder: A Novel Jed Rubenfeld Henry Holt and Co., 2006 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 62 reviews view larger image
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Masters of Psychoanalysis in Manhattan!

A murder mystery with insight into psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud and his colleagues in the 1900's, each character has been psychoanalyzed and though this is a peice of fiction - i must say that the accounts are dazzling!
I loved the portrayel of the 1900's Manhattan (which i haven't seen unfortunately in real life!) with the details around the the construction of the skyscrapers, the high society, the mental asylums and real characters bound together in this crafty yet educating work... I give it 5 stars

Unexpected Pleasure

I wasn't aware of all the apparent hype surrounding this book when I chose it. I love mystery novels, adore history and am fascinated by psychology so it seemed that I couldn't go wrong.

I read the book in a day as I was travelling and the long, usually tedious hours stuck on a plane just sped by. I like Freud, although I prefer Jung's theories, so I was a little taken back how Jung was portrayed, but I'm open to the possibility that he may have been a total schmuck.

The research for this book was obviously very in-depth and New York in the early 1900s must have been a great place. It really comes alive in this story and the little facts and anecdotes thrown in are a treat.
I have read that others say the chracters are flat and not real enough. I didn't find to be the case at all. I loved one or two, liked a few, disliked others and hated the villians. I would have preferred more about the young policeman Littlemore. He was great.

My overall concusion is that this is a great novel and will keep you reading and entertained.

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Succeeds in some ways, but the ending is a let-down

In 1909, Sigmund Freud paid his one and only visit to the US, when he went to accept an honorary award from Clark University. On his way to Massachusetts, he stopped briefly in New York. But not much is known about the visit, or why Freud vowed never to return. In this novel, Jed Rubenfeld tries to fill in the gaps.

Accompanying Freud is Dr. Karl Jung; waiting at the pier in New York to greet them is Dr. Strathan Younger, a young doctor loosely connected with the wealthy elite of New York City.

On the day after Freud's arrival, a young woman is found murdered in a penthouse uptown. Later, another young woman, Nora Acton, is attacked, but she can remember nothing of the attack or her attacker. Freud uses his psychoanalytic powers to help solve the crime, with Dr. Younger at his side. Similar in scope to Caleb Carr's The Alienist, The Interpretation of Murder focuses on the upper stratum of New York society, whereas The Alienist focuses on the poor and the seediest underbelly of New York crime.

Rubenfeld's descriptions of early 20th century New York are fascinating--I was especially struck by his descriptions of the subway system, so different today from what it was 100 years ago (believe it or not, the stations actually had chandeliers in them!). Also intriguing are the descriptions of how the Manhattan Bridge was built. It's clear that Rubenfeld has done his historical research. The murder is intriguing and the way the crime is solved is ingenious. But Dr. Younger isn't a very intriguing narrator; at least, not as interesting as The Alienist: A Novel's John Schuyler Moore. As with all first novels, the book is clunky in some places, especially the ending--the denouement is more of a tell-all than a show-all.

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La interpretación del Asesinato.-

Entrando ya en nuestra materia, en principio, las quinientas treinta y cinco páginas se ven algo amenazantes para un lector que se encuentra revisando a un escritor debutante. Pero pronto veremos que esas páginas, finalmente se harán pocas. Nos encontramos en New York a principios del siglo veinte y la ciudad vive un momento de auge. Los rascacielos comienzan a erigirse en toda la ciudad y el lujo toma terreno con una fuerza inusitada llegando en muchos casos al mal gusto del dinero en exceso. Los Astor y los Vandervilt. Es a ese ambiente al que llegan Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung y Sándor Ferenczi directamente desde el tradicional viejo mundo, invitados por la Universidad de Clark, para remecer el ambiente intelectual norteamericano con su psicoanálisis.

Siempre se ha sabido que Sigmund Freud no quedó con la mejor de las impresiones de Estados Unidos -lo anterior fue dicho sutilmente-. Este libro propone una ficción sobre hechos bases históricos que tratan de explicar el por qué de ese sentimiento. Un par de ataques a mujeres con alta connotación sexual serán la piedra angular del texto y, por idas y vueltas, la labor policíaca se sumará a la psicológica y se logrará una investigación a todas luces llamativa.

Rubenfeld en su primera novela construye varias historias paralelas, relatadas de manera intercalada, juega con los tiempos y en varias ocasiones se ríe del lector, sugiere respuestas y las descarta con ironía. Creo que quienes han visto a Jack Bauer en la notable "24" entienden lo que acabo de decir. Otro de los puntos altos de la novela es el trabajo investigativo realizado en ella. La ciudad, los temas y la sociedad en sí son reflejadas con rigor historiográfico y eso hace a la novela algo más sólido que una simple historia bien narrada.

"La interpretación del asesinato" es una novela de aventuras y misterio, recrea el género detectivesco y si su objetivo era divertir, claramente lo logra, y con creces. No extraña que haya sido best seller y ello no nos debe alejar de su lectura; al contrario, aquí tenemos una novela que toma todo lo bueno de la aventura en su sentido clásico y a ello le suma bastante erudición; obviamente el producto no puede ser malo. Un Indiana Jones literario.

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To like it or not to like it? That is the question...

Mainly, this book refers to Dr. Freud's first and only trip to New York at the beginning of last century (1909) for some lectures about psychotherapy, which was just beginning in the USA. He was accompanied by Dr.Carl Jung and Dr. Sandor Ferenczi. I think that the author's own background (Mr. Rubenfeld wrote his thesis about Freud at Princeton and additionally studied Shakespeare), offers a very knowledgeable insight into this particular trip, after which it seems Freud returned to Europe feeling forever odd about his American experience.
Based on this fact -for many agree that Dr.Freud was somehow `traumatized' during his sojourn in the USA and biographers never could quite understand why- the author introduces us to the first fictitious character, Dr. Stratham Younger, a young psychoanalyst who welcomes his much admired and distinguished guest and his entourage upon their arrival. And this is where facts meet fiction.

`The Interpretation of Murder' is the product of the author's imagination trying to give an answer to what could have happened in New York that caused Dr. Freud so much distress. So in comes Dr. Younger, Freud's disciple. The day Freud arrives, a very beautiful young heiress is found murdered, the following day another young lady from a prominent family is found wounded and traumatized, but alive. It seems both crimes have been perpetrated by the same person. The second girl has lost her speech and remembers nothing. This is when Dr. Younger is contacted, to try and psychoanalyze this girl, Nora Acton, in order to help her regain her speech and memory. Younger seeks Dr. Freud's advice and the main story takes off from here, with the involvement of the local coroner and Detective Littlemore.

New York and part of its wealthy society are the main background. The City's skyline was constantly changed by the construction of new skyscrapers at the time and it is evident that the author made a thorough and diligent research into many historical and architectural details.

Parts of the book are spoken in first person (Dr. Younger's) and this adds credibility, almost an illusion that that was what really happened.

However, I think that unless you are really fond, into, or well informed about psychoanalysis in general, Freud, Jung, the Oedipal complex, the Hamlet etc., there is a fair chance that at least part of this book cannot be appreciated in its entirety. Learning, revising or freshen up on some long-ago studies can be an added bonus (it was for me), but the blending of too many theories and concepts can also depreciate the story. For example, Younger's many references to Shakespeare's Hamlet, with all due respect, were (my humble opinion) possibly connecting but mostly distracting, diverting attention from the main story line. To some degree, I think confusion -for the reader- prevailed, spoiling a quality that transpires but it is also obscured, made less perceptible.

To be or not to be? I wish I knew the answer. For now, I give this book 3 stars as it did not convince me in full, although I cannot say I `hated' it. On the one hand it is quite informative, on the other the murder mystery within is intriguing. Worth a try.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

In this ingenious, suspenseful historical thriller, Sigmund Freud is drawn into the mind of a sadistic killer who is savagely attacking Manhattan?s wealthiest heiresses
Inspired by Sigmund Freud?s only visit to America, The Interpretation of Murder is an intricate tale of murder and the mind?s most dangerous mysteries. It unfurls on a sweltering August evening in 1909 as Freud disembarks from the steamship George Washington, accompanied by Carl Jung, his rival and protégé. Across town, in an opulent apartment high above the city, a stunning young woman is found dangling from a chandelier?whipped, mutilated, and strangled. The next day, a second beauty?a rebellious heiress who scorns both high society and her less adventurous parents?barely escapes the killer. Yet Nora Acton, suffering from hysteria, can recall nothing of her attack. Asked to help her, Dr. Stratham Younger, America?s most committed Freudian analyst, calls in his idol, the Master himself, to guide him through the challenges of analyzing this high-spirited young woman whose family past has been as complicated as his own. The Interpretation of Murder leads readers from the salons of Gramercy Park, through secret passages, to Chinatown?even far below the currents of the East River where laborers are building the Manhattan Bridge. As Freud fends off a mysterious conspiracy to destroy him, Younger is drawn into an equally thrilling adventure that takes him deep into the subterfuges of the human mind. Richly satisfying, elegantly crafted, The Interpretation of Murder marks the debut of a brilliant, spectacularly entertaining new storyteller.

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