Product Description

A dazzling literary thriller - the story of Sigmund Freud assisting a Manhattan murder investigation. Think SHADOW OF THE WIND meets THE HISTORIAN.

THE INTERPRETATION OF MURDER is an inventive tour de force inspired by Sigmund Freud's 1909 visit to America, accompanied by protégé and rival Carl Jung. When a wealthy young debutante is discovered bound, whipped and strangled in a luxurious apartment overlooking the city, and another society beauty narrowly escapes the same fate, the mayor of New York calls upon Freud to use his revolutionary new ideas to help the surviving victim recover her memory of the attack, and solve the crime. But nothing about the attacks - or about the surviving victim, Nora - is quite as it seems. And there are those in very high places determined to stop the truth coming out, and Freud's startling theories taking root on American soil.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19622 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 529 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Experienced readers of crime and thrillers tend to stifle a yawn these days when they encounter a mountain of hype about a new book or author. But the fevered word of mouth that has been generated by Jed Rubenfeld’s The Interpretation of Murder is, for once, justified. This is a remarkably ambitious book, taking on a powerful suspenseful narrative, assiduously researched historical detail and a brilliant evocation of time and character. It's not surprising that the book has already been sold in 20 different countries, and is already something of an international publishing phenomenon. The secret, of course, is in plotting, and few carry this off as adroitly as the author does here. But there is some wonderful historical detail here also, and a conjuring up of real-life characters that is very intelligently done.

Despite the outward success of his visit to the USA, Sigmund Freud always spoke as if some trauma had befallen him there. He blamed the country for physical ailments that afflicted him long before his visit. Freud’s biographers have been bemused by his reaction, wondering whether some terrible unknown event might have happened in America that could explain this. The Interpretation of Murder is strikingly written literary thriller constructed around Freud’s American visit. An attractive young debutante is discovered bound, whipped and strangled in a luxurious New York apartment and another society beauty narrowly escapes the same fate. But nothing about the attacks--or the victims--is as it seems.
--Barry Forshaw

Sunday Telegraph
'Rubenfeld writes beautifully, his style skillfully evoking the
period...fascinating'

Review

‘A spectacular debut... fiendishly clever... a fascinating recreation of a golden age in which much of the New York of today is recognisable’

'Rubenfeld writes beautifully, his style skillfully evoking the period, as he weaves all these threads into an intriguing mystery with a fascinating glimpse into the early days of psychoanalysis’

'An unusually intelligent novel which entertains, informs and intrigues on several levels'

Customer Reviews

Freud, Hamlet, Murder and New York History
OK I'll admit it I'm a fan of the Richard and Judy book club! When I heard the review of this book I knew that I would have to read it, as it deals with three of my favourite things: - Freud, Murder literature and New York (not necessarily in that order). The author is the current Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law at Yale University. At Princeton he wrote his senior thesis on Freud and at the Juilliard School of Drama studied Shakespeare. Both of these influences are clearly seen in this his first novel. The title is a play on Freud's famous work `The Interpretation of Dreams', the central character Nora, is modelled on the case study of `Dora' and many references are made to the Oedipal explanation of Hamlet.

This book is a work of fiction, but there are some historical truths. Freud did indeed make his one and only visit to New York in 1909, along with Jung. His biographers have long puzzled over the trauma that must have happened there as he refused to speak about it and in fact labelled Americans `savages'.

The story begins with Freud's arrival in New York, the very next morning a beautiful heiress is found bound and strangled in her apartment. The following night another, Nora Acton is discovered bound and wounded, but still alive. The attack has left her unable to speak or remember anything about her ordeal. Freud and a young American, Stratham Younger are enlisted to help Nora Action recover her memory in order to catch the killer.

Being a thriller, the story has numerous twists and turns and, of course, the obligatory twist at the end. However, along the way it beautifully blends fact and fiction, psychoanalytical theory and a vibrant picture of New York society and history. I was particularly fascinated by the engineering and human story behind the construction of the Manhattan Bridge. I hadn't realised that many men had died from the effects of decompression as a result of working below the surface in caissons building the foundations of the bridge. Discoveries were made then, that still benefit divers today, about how to minimize the effects, by slowly coming to the surface, in order to reacclimatize the body.

I thoroughly recommend this book to you. Once I started I could not put it down. Slip this book into your suitcase; it will make a brilliant holiday read.

A very entertaining read
Although I am not much of a reader of crime novels, I found myself devouring this book in a matter of days. Rubenfeld has a weaved a captivating and complex plot, placed it in a highly interesting context, added some effective suspension techniques, hereby creating a compelling narrative that is difficult to put down.
Set in New York City during the early 1900's, this book involves Sigmund Freud and his revolutionary psychoanalysis movement, bringing the reader not only suspense but also food for thought.
The author has clearly performed meticulous research on the novel. There are many historical details of New York City, involving not only major architectural changes such as sky scrapers and suspension bridges, but also the goings on in high society, and the poor living and working conditions of the less fortunate. Also impressive is his knowledge of psychoanalysis, which he successfully breaks down into basics, educating the reader in the process.
However, I found the unraveling of the plot a little too farfetched. Furthermore, I believe the characters are not well enough developed; even though this book is full of psychological theories, the characters remain flat as a board. I would therefore not call this a psychological thriller, but a crime novel with psychological aspects.
Also I found Rubenfeld's description of the scenes a little poor. He focuses mainly on what can be seen or heard, but he hardly describes how the characters feel, what they smell, etc., making this more an account of events, herein failing to bring the reader a sense of presence and creating distance between the story and the reader.
So my conclusion is that this book is definitely interesting enough to pick up, it is a very entertaining and educational read, though by no means is it groundbreaking or revolutionary.

And the point is...?
Too many superfluous characters, unconvincing plot, tortuous literary and psychological analyses, confusing narrative view-points, irrelevant social and historical context, feeble development of the trauma supposedly suffered by Freud himself to lead him to despise America, too many misleading clues without even the subtlest nudges to the truth of the matter..... This book is many things that a bad whodunnit is.

There are, however, a couple of redeeming features. The emerging character of Detective Littlemore is very appealing, and the gripping scenes in the caisson hundreds of feet underwater below the Manhatten bridge are fascinating and terrifying. More of this and less of the other will gain Mr Rubenfeld a larger fan base.

(If psychological history is of interest, check out Sebastian Faulks' "Human Traces". I read that a little while before this and found a few points of commonality - though Faulks' book I found a better overall read.)