132,585
edits
Changes
From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld (view source)
Revision as of 11:03, 9 May 2018
, 11:03, 9 May 2018no edit summary
{{infoboxsortinfobox1
|title=The Interpretation of Murder
|sort=Interpretation of Murder
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=544
|publisher=Headline Review
|date=15 Jan January 2007
|isbn=978-0755331420
|amazonukcover=<amazonuk>0755331427</amazonuk>|amazonusaznuk=0755331427|aznus=<amazonus>0805080988</amazonus>
}}
Sigmund Freud went to New York in 1909. Outwardly the visit appeared to be a success but Freud himself always spoke of it as though some misfortune had befallen him whilst he was there and even went as far as to blame the visit for illnesses from which he'd suffered before the trip. It's something which has always bemused his biographers. Jed Rubenfeld has used this basic set of ideas to construct a wonderfully atmospheric story in which fact and fiction blend seamlessly together.
The book is backed by meticulous research, helped by the polymath author, who studied philosophy, acting and law. He's now a Professor of Constitutional and Criminal Law at Yale and has several academic books to his credit. The background of the book is painted in superbly. It's New York in that unstoppable period in the early part of the twentieth century when the growth of capitalism is reflected in the skyline and deep down below the East River as we watch the final stages of the building of the Manhattan Bridge. Despite this being the land of the free there's a rigid class system, the division between rich and poor grows and anti-Semitism is rife. It's the time too of graft and corruption and when honesty amongst public servants is the exception rather than the rule.
On the face of it there are some difficult concepts in this book. The title itself is a play on Freud's famous book [[''The Interpretation of Dreams]] '' and some of the thinking behind that work is brought out in the novel in a way that makes the ideas accessible. There's also a discussion on 'what women want' which left me amused and, er, thoughtful. I was less impressed by the strand running through the book about Hamlet and his 'To be, or not to be... ' soliloquy, which is clever and though-provoking but which I felt was a little overdone, possibly because Hamlet annoys the hell out of me.
What struck me most about this book was the way that the relationship between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung was woven into the storyline. The author says that 90% of the exchanges between Jung and Freud are taken from published sources but the time scale has been compressed. The breakdown of their relationship occurred over a period of about three years rather than the weeks which it would appear to have taken in the book, but the essence of the dispute between them and the way that Freud's thinking offended various sections of American society is an essential part of the story.
If you enjoy this book you will certainly enjoy Carlos Ruiz Zafon's [[Shadow of the Wind]].
{{amazontext|amazon=0755331427}} {{waterstonestextamazonUStext|waterstonesamazon=56026530805080988}}
{{commenthead}}
