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eleri_j's review against another edition
3.0
Intelligent and interesting. I really enjoyed it and I wish I'd been able to start it at a time when I wasn't so busy as I did lose the plot for a bit while not reading for days at a time. Once I had the chance to get into it properly I really got into it and couldn't put it down.
I'm normally a huge fan of multiple narratives going on but I did feel it jumped around a bit too much for my liking a lot of the time.
I'm normally a huge fan of multiple narratives going on but I did feel it jumped around a bit too much for my liking a lot of the time.
margyly's review against another edition
4.0
This murder mystery imagines what might have happened during Freud’s single visit to the U.S. in 1907 – why did he dislike America so much? A fun read.
dozylocal's review against another edition
3.0
It was ok. I found it super confusing most of the time, probably because of the Freud/Jung parts. I'm still not 100% sure that that "main theme but not the main theme" was really necessary. I suspect that the actual murder mystery would have been far more engaging without the distractions offered by the battles for and against schools of psychoanalysis. I did enjoy the parts focused on the crime aspects and there were some surprises.
dozylocal's review against another edition
3.0
I struggled initially with this book because I was reading it on the back of another quite psychiatry/psychology focused novel. However, once I'd got over yet more psycho-babble, I was actually pleasantly surprised and it kept me guessing to the end. After the first couple of chapters, the psychology does take more of a backseat and one can sit back and just focus on 'whodunnit'?
roseannmvp's review against another edition
5.0
Rave, rave, rave about this book if you know someone who likes a good, well-researched, historically-based but not necessarily fact story!
Rave if they like Freud. Rave if they like murder mysteries of the utmost. I loved this one. Sometimes a bit draggy when you want it to roll, but it drew out the ending, and was a fairly quick read.
Rave if they like Freud. Rave if they like murder mysteries of the utmost. I loved this one. Sometimes a bit draggy when you want it to roll, but it drew out the ending, and was a fairly quick read.
holly_117's review against another edition
4.0
The story begins with the bizarre murder of one wealthy young woman and an attack on another in early 20th century New York city. There are several suspects and several people working the investigation, including police, doctors and the coroner, each with their own theory on who killed Miss Riverford and when he may try to finish the job on Miss Acton.
This novel features Sigmund Freud as a character and incorporates many details of his one visit to the U.S. in 1909. The book starts off a little slowly, since there is a lot of character development going on in the early chapters. I really enjoyed the historical details that the author included, things like the technical innovations that made building of bridges across the Hudson river possible in the late 1800s. I didn't enjoy the psychological discussions between Freud and his disciples very much, mostly because they're so chauvinistic, but I understand that this was the mindset of men at the time and that these ideas about female weakness and Oedipal complexes hung on for a long time in psychiatry.
Overall, this book was a pretty quick read once it got going. The ending is pretty satisfying and I like that characters who seem minor in the beginning take on major roles toward the end. I would recommend this book to people who like mystery/thriller novels and can stomach the historically accurate (but infuriating) attitude of Freud.
This novel features Sigmund Freud as a character and incorporates many details of his one visit to the U.S. in 1909. The book starts off a little slowly, since there is a lot of character development going on in the early chapters. I really enjoyed the historical details that the author included, things like the technical innovations that made building of bridges across the Hudson river possible in the late 1800s. I didn't enjoy the psychological discussions between Freud and his disciples very much, mostly because they're so chauvinistic, but I understand that this was the mindset of men at the time and that these ideas about female weakness and Oedipal complexes hung on for a long time in psychiatry.
Overall, this book was a pretty quick read once it got going. The ending is pretty satisfying and I like that characters who seem minor in the beginning take on major roles toward the end. I would recommend this book to people who like mystery/thriller novels and can stomach the historically accurate (but infuriating) attitude of Freud.
meganstreb's review against another edition
5.0
A book that combines psychology and mystery, throws in an alternative explanation of the Oedipal complex and of Hamlet's famous soliloquy, includes loads of information about New York's elite and architecture, teaches me about the building of the Manhattan Bridge and a true crime story about a crazy rich murderer who was treated like a king in jail. It has my vote.
laus3012's review against another edition
5.0
It's been a while since I read this book, but it has stuck with me and now I'm on Goodreads I wanted to share.
I loved the concept of this book (I'm a fan of crime and historical fiction but combing the two was perfect)
The book kept me gripped right till the end.
I loved the concept of this book (I'm a fan of crime and historical fiction but combing the two was perfect)
The book kept me gripped right till the end.
amanova's review against another edition
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this "summer mystery read" that I picked up on a book swap table in our first apartment in Paphos. It is intelligent and licentious, clever and outrageous, historical with obvious fictionality.
I'm not well studied on Freud or Jung (my main connections to them have been via lit crit), but I think their characters and positions were portrayed in an interesting way, and felt familiar but fresh. I particularly liked the author (and protagonist's) interest in Shakespeare, especially Hamlet and the connection to psychoanalysis and the crime(s). Good stuff. Well written, and there is something fascinating about New York in the early 1900s. Not to mention the criticism of America, and how what happened in the past still influences today. See esp. Freud's comments on America as well as the neurologists comments on psychoanalysis.
I'm not well studied on Freud or Jung (my main connections to them have been via lit crit), but I think their characters and positions were portrayed in an interesting way, and felt familiar but fresh. I particularly liked the author (and protagonist's) interest in Shakespeare, especially Hamlet and the connection to psychoanalysis and the crime(s). Good stuff. Well written, and there is something fascinating about New York in the early 1900s. Not to mention the criticism of America, and how what happened in the past still influences today. See esp. Freud's comments on America as well as the neurologists comments on psychoanalysis.