The Interpretation of Murder: Summary and book reviews of The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld, plus links to an excerpt from The Interpretation of Murder and a biography of Jed Rubenfeld.
The Interpretation of Murder A Novel
by Jed Rubenfeld
Hardcover: Sep 2006,
384 pages.
Paperback: Jun 2007,
450 pages.
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.
In 2007 The Interpretation of Murder won the prestigious Best Read of the Year award from Richard and Judy's Bookclub in the UK (comparable to Oprah Winfrey in the USA).
The Dante Club meets the sexual manipulations of Les Liaisons dangereuses in this intelligent historical, first novel. (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
GQ
Fun and fantastic. You can look for the deeper meaning in Freud and Jung's lovers' quarrel, or you can just skip to the dirty parts.
New York Daily News
This baroque tale of egos and ids run rampant will be a welcome treat to fans of Caleb Carr's The Alienist . . . Find a couch and prepare for a page-turning session.
Rocky Mountain News
Readers who give this cerebral concoction even the slightest chance will be captivated by its myriad intrigues, its dubious cast of heroes and villains, and its palpable tension .... Proves once again that crime and literature need not be separate beasts. Grade A.
Publishers Weekly
While not as well crafted as Caleb Carr's similarly themed The Alienist, this well-researched and thought-provoking novel is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Library Journal
Filled with period detail, this historical thriller challenges the reader to reason out the mystery. Rubenfeld ....shows great talent for psychological suspense and uses shifting viewpoints to build tension. Fans of Caleb Carr will adore this work.
Kirkus Reviews
Meaty and provocative, though also grandiose and calculated.
Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club
...a richly motivated thriller that will make you reconsider the mysteries of Freud and Hamlet. Here is a novel that you'll only want to put down in order to think more about the book.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by LHM Great Read This novel is a historical thriller based around Sigmund Freud's only visit to America and the early development of Psychoanalysis. It has a great murder plot with interesting NYC trivia about life in early 19th century. The narrative jumps a bit,... Read More
Rated of 5
by esther fantastic I loved this book. On a usual shopping day, I noticed this book, bought it and saved it for when I had time to read it. Now that I'm through with it, I'm almost in withdrawal. I lent the book to a friend because she couldn't believe it could be... Read More
Rated of 5
by Victoria THOUGHTFUL This is on my top 5 favorite books of all time. It keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. Also I absolutely loved all the psychoanalyst stuff in it. I want to be a psychiatrist when I am older so it was very interesting to read and... Read More
The Interpretation of Murder is
inspired by the real-life mystery
surrounding Freud's one and only
visit to America in 1909 when he came to
deliver lectures at Clark University.
The trip appeared to be a tremendous
success and Freud was portrayed
glowingly in newspapers. However,
he returned to Europe referring to
Americans as "savages" and "primitives"
and blaming America for his breakdown in
health, even though he had been sick
well before visiting the USA.
Although many of Freud's theories have
been rejected, his memory, and some of
his methods, live on. One example
is the "Freudian slip" (medically known
as parapraxia - from the Greek para -
beside, and praxis - action) in which a
slip of the tongue is thought to reveal
a repressed motive. Another, is
the "talking-cure" - when Freud first...
An utter astonishment that captures an era through one life celebrated internationally - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and another entirely forgotten - George Edalji.
What is it to be human? This question, as in Birdsong, is at the heart of Human Traces. Set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this is an extraordinary novel that brings to vivid life, through the story of the volatile friendship and dedicated careers of two determined men, the epic quest to map the human mind.
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A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
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(564 words).
Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club
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by LHM
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