Freud vows never again (The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld)

Member Name: scuba_angel

Product:	The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld
Date:	31/07/07 (140 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: stopped the brain rot

Disadvantages: none

The latest book to fall off a supermarket shelf and in to my shopping basket (honestly they just jump off the shelves I dont pick them up at all, ever) was this debut novel by Jed Rubenfeld. The cover has printed on it that it was a winner at the 2007 Galaxy Book awards (Best Read 2007 - premature given its not even August yet) which I have to admit attracted me to it - theres only so many 'war/soldier' books a girl can swallow before getting bored of the same plots.
Of course it also sports a Richard and Judy book club sticker which generally is enough to make me tell the book to jump back on to the shelf it attacked me from (no my dislike of R&J book club is entirely irrational I'll read the books just as long as I dont know the book club recommended them).

The book is a crime book, but it is one set in the early 1900's New York, and is concerned with characters at the higher end of the New York Social Scene as well as depicting the lives and homes of lower class New York citizens in a realistic way. The book also is an explaination of events which turned Sigmund Freud against America forever (though the truth is noone really knows what caused this opinion) and how America began to see the benefits of Freud's brand of psychoanalysis.

Stratham Younger is the main narrative voice in the book and is both a follower of Freud and a man who's family have high social status making him an ideal person to welcome Freud to America on the behalf of the University he is due to lecture at. But during the period when Freud and his party (including Karl Jung) are visiting New York a murder occurs the victim a beautiful debutante living at one of the most exclusive adresses in New York at the time. But only days later a second young woman is attacked, in a manner disturbingly similar to that of the first yet she is not killed.

This survivor is Nora Acton, Freud and Younger are given the task of trying to get Nora to remember the event which occurred as she seems to have blocked ir from her mind, in order to discover who attacked her and murdered the first woman. The prime suspect seems to always have an alibi and is a family friend to the Actons, he also happens to be resident at the address of the first murder (New Yorks first apartment block for permanent residential use) and involved in the building of the Manhattan Bridge - this is important to the story but I darent say how.

Far from being a typical murder/crime/thriller book this is in some ways similar to the Val McDermid books featuring Dr Hill, as the psychology is vitally important to the plot, also the feel of historical detail made me feel that while reading the book you really could have been in early 20th century New York. While this wasnt a book I picked up and read cover to cover immediately it is one which I did feel I needed to read as quickly as possible and will definately be re-reading in the near future. That the author uses important historical figures gives it a more diverse reader base and he doesnt let you down with a 'light' read, you will need to engage the little grey cells to understand and keep up with the story but it isnt written in a way which will confuse people, in fact it explains Freud's beliefs better than some textbooks I have had the misfortune to read (my sister studied psychology and I tended to be the one helping her with the concepts she couldnt grasp). Simply this book strikes the balance between being intellectual and a good read, so many intelligent books are too much like hard work to read and others which have promise descend in to shallow assumptions and generalisations this does neither.

For a book which is recommended by Richard and Judy I was very impressed, though the glowing reviews on the back are from the more weighty newspapers (The Times, Sunday Telegraph and Independant) is also quite impressive - other books I tend to read will get good reviews from places like FHM, The Sun, or womens magazines.

It is possibly not a beach read as the thinking involved could lead to you getting an uneven tan on the forehead due to its wrinkling but definately it is a book to pick up at some point, maybe for enjoying on a quiet weekend when the weather is too poor to go out (as has been the case so often this summer).

Since I had forgotten originally the book is 522 pages long.

Summary: Using Freudian methods to solve a murder.