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Freud's Sister

by Goce Smilevski, Гоце Смилевски, Christina E. Kramer (Translator)

3.39 · Rating Details · 841 Ratings · 143 Reviews

Vienna, 1938: With the Nazis closing in, Sigmund Freud is granted an exit visa and allowed to list the names of people to take with him. He lists his doctor and maids, his dog and his wife’s sister, but he doesn’t list any of his own sisters. The four Freud sisters are shuttled to the Terezín concentration camp, while their brother lives out his last days in London.

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Paperback, 288 pages

Published August 28th 2012 by Penguin Books USA (first published 2007)

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Feb 08, 2016 Owlseyes marked it as to-read

Shelves: macedonian, psychoanalysis, freud-under-analysis

A-Back in 2004, I bought an issue of the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, entitled “La psychanalyse en procè”*. I could freely translate the title as “Psychoanalysis on trial”.

(mine)

The magazine depicted on its cover a S. Freud seated on a couch….himself under analysis. It contained a series of articles by several experts dealing with questions such as the scientific character of Psychoanalysis; …was Freud the inventor of the Unconscious?; is it really a psychotherapy?;... healing: ...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Cynthia rated it liked it

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

Fascinating History of Mental Health Care in Europe

The first 20% o this book is riveting. The opening is set in 1942 Germany and Freud’s four sisters are caught up in the Nazi plan to hunt down, inter, torture, and kill millions of Jews and others. Sigmund Freud and his immediate family have already fled Germany for the safety of England. The story focuses on Freud’s youngest sister Adolfina. She and Freud, as the first and last born children in their family, had been especially close as childre ...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Chris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lit-fiction-misc-europe, historical-fiction-ww-ii, netgalley-and-other-arcs, feminist-fiction

Disclaimer: I received a copy via Netgalley.

It is perhaps a little known fact that Freud’s sisters died in the Holocaust while the man himself and other members of family were able to escape. That is pretty much all I know about the Freud family. Regardless, it made me interested enough to request a copy of Freud’s Sister by Goce Smilevski.

I’m not entirely what I was expecting but the book wasn’t quite it. And that’s not a bad thing. It is the books that surprise us, but that don’t disappoint Disclaimer: I received a copy via Netgalley.

It is perhaps a little known fact that Freud’s sisters died in the Holocaust while the man himself and other members of family were able to escape. That is pretty much all I know about the Freud family. Regardless, it made me interested enough to request a copy of Freud’s Sister by Goce Smilevski.

I’m not entirely what I was expecting but the book wasn’t quite it. And that’s not a bad thing. It is the books that surprise us, but that don’t disappoint us, that are gems.

Smilevski’s novel is told from the viewpoint of Adolfina and starts with the days prior to the Second World War before moving into the War and then into the past, tracing Adolfina’s life . Mr. Smilevski writes in his author’s note that “The silence around Adolfina is so loud that I could write this novel in no other way than in her voice”. I find myself thinking about that line as I think about this book and struggle to do the book justice with this review.

For while the book wasn’t quite what I thought it would be and while it is quiet in terms of action, it is a beautiful, stunning, and powerful book. What Smilevski has done is taken a quiet life and made a quiet, yet engrossing story. While she is acquainted with famous men – her brother and Klimet - Adolfina’s story is her story. It is a story of a life that does shake the universe, a life that doesn’t call down the heavens, and a life that doesn’t seem to change anyone who history declares matter. If you take the action of the book alone, and just the action, then you have a book where what is of most interest is the discussion of philosophy and psychology. That’s it – well, that and a desire to smack Freud upside the head (as if the whole women wanting a penis thing didn’t make you want to do that already).

To look at the book in terms of action and solely in terms of physical action does the book and Smilevski a huge disservice. It is the language of this novel that makes the novel, that shows that there her brother, and her lover that makes the book. The language is like a melancholy poetry that yet, somehow, contains a kernel of hope in it.

Adolfina’s view of life is different, and perhaps more real, than her brother’s, a brother who the reader seems to only know though his coming and going, a figure that seems as distance and as dream made as the trees that other residents of the Nest see.

Ah the Nest, some of the best writing in this book deals with the Nest, a madhouse that is center in two ways to Adolfina and her friend Klara, sister of the famous Klimet, who campaigns for woman’s rights as well as more encompassing view of love and family than that expressed by Freud and Klara’s own family.

In many ways, this juxtaposition of two sisters of two famous men seems to be part of the point, the theme of the novel. It is like Woolf’s Shakespeare’s sister. What could have these women done if they had been offered more support in terms of parents and siblings as well as society? Part of the tragedy is how alone some of the characters are, as they are separated in various ways from both family and the society . It is hard, impossible really, to not think of Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own when reading this book. The sense of waste and undervalue simply because of the sex of the characters, because of the gender of the characters is major aspect of the novel.

While the book may not have been what I thought I wanted, it was exactly what I needed to read. The quietness of life is an aspect that gets overlooked in much fiction, undoubtedly because it is difficult to write an interesting book about it. There is a reason why stories end with the happily ever after – it’s boring to read about it. What Mr. Smilevski has done is take what many authors would only show as boring and make it magical.

Brilliant!
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Nov 23, 2012 Laurie rated it liked it

Sigmund Freud had several sisters; Adolfina was the one he called ‘the sweetest and best of my sisters’. She never married, was treated poorly at home, spent years in a psychiatric hospital, and ended her life in a Nazi concentration camp. This book is historical fiction, not biography- it would be difficult to write a biography of Adolfina as there is not much known about her. But it’s more than a fictional biography; it’s also a treatise on the lack of meaning of life and how horrible most liv ...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Gayle rated it it was amazing

Some Spoilers.

A fascinating novel about the life and death of Freud's sister Adolfina and told in her voice. being part of Sigmund Freud's family and also about how being female child resulted in being valued less than the golden son. In this family, Sigmund was literally called "my golden Siggie" by his mother.

All four of his elderly surviving sistersultimately were deported by the Nazis from Vienna to the concentration/death camps. None of them survived the war. The horrifying facts about thei Some Spoilers.

A fascinating novel about the life and death of Freud's sister Adolfina and told in her voice. being part of Sigmund Freud's family and also about how being female child resulted in being valued less than the golden son. In this family, Sigmund was literally called "my golden Siggie" by his mother.

All four of his elderly surviving sistersultimately were deported by the Nazis from Vienna to the concentration/death camps. None of them survived the war. The horrifying facts about their deaths isn't just that they were exterminated, but that Freud did not include them among his party when he left Vienna for London. He took his children, his sister-in-law and his DOG, but NOT his sisters. While the author portrays Freud as thinking Hitler couldn't last, but by then he had been in power for 5 years. Hitler clearly had staying power and the Western democracies weren't showing any backbone in their dealings with them. If he truly thought his sisters would be safe, he was totally delusional. I can't help but think that his refusal to include them demonstrates Freud's misogyny.

Despite the emphasis I give to Freud's desertion of his sisters, the novel is really about how hard a life his sister Adolfina had. Despised by her mother and denied a fuller life by a society that valued only beauty and submissiveness in women when she had little beauty and was not totally obedient, she took refuge for years in a mental asylum, the Nest. While the Nest had its share of the truly mentally ill, some of its patients were like Adolfina, just different and therefore rejected by society. Gustave Klimt's sister Klara is another one of the different, also hated and rejected by her mother while the son Gustave is the center of the family's world. and it is with her that Adolfina shares a deep friendhip. Klara's madness included agitating for women's rights and wanting to wear trousers in a world a corsetted women.

The novel is written/translated in a poetical style. That is to say that it isn't a story told as a poem but that the style penetrates your consciousness in the way that a truly profound poem does.

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Nov 04, 2015 Doreen rated it did not like it

Shelves: personal-library

I kept coming across glowing reviews of this book, winner of the European Union Prize for Literature, and so looked forward to reading it. I was very disappointed. The first two chapters promise an enjoyable read, but then the drudgery begins. The author stated his intention - to “rescue in fiction one of the many lives forgotten by history” - but what he wrote is more of a philosophical treatise than a fictional biography.

According to Smilevski, Adolfina, Freud’s “sweetest and best” sister, did I kept coming across glowing reviews of this book, winner of the European Union Prize for Literature, and so looked forward to reading it. I was very disappointed. The first two chapters promise an enjoyable read, but then the drudgery begins. The author stated his intention - to “rescue in fiction one of the many lives forgotten by history” - but what he wrote is more of a philosophical treatise than a fictional biography.

According to Smilevski, Adolfina, Freud’s “sweetest and best” sister, did not have an easy life: as a child she was sickly; as a young girl she was emotionally abused; as a young woman she had an ill-fated love affair; as an adult she institutionalized herself in a mental hospital; and in her later years she had to care for her ailing mother. At the end of her lonely existence was death in a concentration camp.

This is not an uplifting book. It is full of abuse, loneliness, abortions, suicides, and deaths. Adolfina’s mother keeps telling her, “’It would have been better if I had not given birth to you’” (34) and has only “words of contempt and ridicule about how [Adolfina] ate, how [she] laughed, how [she] walked” (48). (Maternal abuse almost seems a motif; the mother of one of Adolfina’s friends “tied her sons and daughters to their chairs” (68) and “burned all the clothes and books” (69) of one of her daughters.)
The “meaningless of existence” (137) is a topic of conversation over and over and over again.

Virtually everyone Adolfina meets suffers from depression. Rainer, her lover, “stared into an absence . . . His gaze fled from everything and fastened on the emptiness” (47). Klara, a friend, is “lost to a kind of emptiness” and “Her gaze drifted somewhere far, far beyond the wall” (96). Adolfina compares herself to Venus de Milo: “I lacked something inside me, as if the arms of my soul were lacking, and that absence, that lack, that feeling of emptiness, made me helpless” (99). Her mother “looked with an absent gaze” (232). Another friend’s gaze “was fixed on a point, as if there, where her eyes looked, something immobile swallowed her gaze, swallowed her very self” (194). Yet another “looked into the emptiness . . . everywhere in that absence around her” (213). The constant repetition of “absence” and “emptiness” and fixed gazes is tedious. It’s not surprising that Albrecht Durer’s engraving, Melancholia, receives a two-page description.

Much is left unexplained. For example, Adolfina does not attend school: “On the day I was to set off to school for the first time, I begged my parents to allow me to stay at home. I stayed home the next day as well, and the days that followed” (39). Her education comes from Sigmund: “he took out one of his textbooks and leafed through the pages, telling me what he thought I needed to know” (39). There is no reference to her learning to read, but she reads Plato, Hegel and Schopenhauer (63)! There also seems to be a lot of purposeless name-dropping. Adolfina becomes acquainted with Johann Goethe’s grandson, Gustav Klimt’s family, Franz Kafka’s sister, and Hermann Broch’s mother!

The portrayal of Sigmund Freud is not flattering. Everyone kowtows to him. His mother, believing her son will be a “great man,” calls him “’my golden Siggie’” (38). When Freud’s grandson is seriously ill, “it was clear to us that he was not going to live long” (224), his health is largely ignored because Sigmund had surgery : “no one asked him how he was doing . . . every day we forgot to take his temperature . . . We were all thinking about Sigmund” (225). When his doting mother is dying, Sigmund ignores her requests that he visit her (233). He is a misogynist who does not let his daughter study medicine because “Sigmund did not believe that studies were for girls” (245). His arrogance seems to know no bounds; he says, “’And this explanation of mine, that religious belief originates in the search for comfort, will last longer than any religious belief’” (248). Most damning is the fact that Sigmund acquires exit visas for himself, “his wife, their children, and their families, . . . his wife’s sister, two housekeepers, . . . [his] personal doctor and his family . . . [and his]little dog” (10), but not for his four sisters who consequently die in concentration camps.

Much has been made of the lyrical language in the book. My problem with the language is the constant repetition. For example, this sentence appears on p. 167: “A smell of raw, disintegrating flesh, of excrement, of sweat, and, in the middle of this stench, of bodies tossing on the eve of death, and bodies stiffly awaiting it.” This same sentence appears again on pages 175 and 242. And then there are the long sentences: "At that moment, if someone had told us this was our final moment on earth, and that later no trace of us would remain, it would not have pulled us from our rapture, because we believed that what was between us, what made the two of us one, was eternal, and that if our material being were taken from us we would continue where the forces of nature and the laws of decay and transience have no power, and where the human soul is stronger than all the heavenly bodies, because they are condemned one day, millions of years after their creation, to burn out, whereas the soul in which our rapture and yearning were interwoven would last even after not a single particle of dust from all the matter in the universe remained"(106).

There is some useful information in the book. The history of the care of the mentally ill was certainly interesting. Some of the discussions (the nature of mental illness, the roles of the conscious and unconscious, religion) were less so. The discussions about religion are pedantic:
"According to my brother, the cult of Yahweh was spread among the Egyptians by a Midianite shepherd with the same name as the Egyptian leader, Moses. But this one, this second Moses, preached a God who was the complete antithesis of Aton: Yahweh was venerated by the Arab tribe of Midianites as 'an uncanny, bloodthirsty demon who walks by night and shuns the light of day.' Although 'the Egyptian Moses never was in Qades and had never heard the name of Yahweh whereas the Midianite Moses never set foot in Egypt and knew nothing of Aton,' they stayed in memory as one person, because 'the Mosaic religion we know only in its final form as it was fixed by Jewish priests in the time after the Exile about eight hundred years later,' by which time the two men named Moses had already fused into a single person, and Aton and Yahweh into a single God, as different in their essences as day is to night, precisely because He is two gods in one"(184). A summary of Freud’s book, "Moses and Monotheism," belongs in a book purportedly about the life of Freud’s sister?

I read a translation of the original Macedonian text. Perhaps much was lost in translation?

Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
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Dec 21, 2013 E. Chainey (Bookowski) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: tarihi-kurgu

Ayrıntılı İnceleme ve Yorum: http://bookowski101.blogspot.com/2013...

Kitap çıktığında merak etmiştim; Sigmund Freud gibi ünlü bir psikoloğun pek de bilinmeyen ailevi hikayesini ele alıyordu. Sigmund Freud, Nazilerden kaçarken neden kızkardeşlerini ardında bırakmıştı? Ya da bunun bir nedeni var mıydı?

Adlofina Freud'un ağzından yazılmış kitap. Adolfina hiç evlenmemiş ve ağabeyi Sigmund ile aralarında garip bir bağ varmış yazılana göre. Öyle ki bu bağın birbirlerinin ruhlarını çözümlemeye çalışan v Ayrıntılı İnceleme ve Yorum: http://bookowski101.blogspot.com/2013...

Kitap çıktığında merak etmiştim; Sigmund Freud gibi ünlü bir psikoloğun pek de bilinmeyen ailevi hikayesini ele alıyordu. Sigmund Freud, Nazilerden kaçarken neden kızkardeşlerini ardında bırakmıştı? Ya da bunun bir nedeni var mıydı?

Adlofina Freud'un ağzından yazılmış kitap. Adolfina hiç evlenmemiş ve ağabeyi Sigmund ile aralarında garip bir bağ varmış yazılana göre. Öyle ki bu bağın birbirlerinin ruhlarını çözümlemeye çalışan ve birbirlerinde garip bir huzur bulan iki kişinin arasındaki bağ gibi bir bağ olduğu izlenimini edindim. Tüm kitap aslında bir nevi inancın ve inançsızlığın, ölüm ile yaşamın, mutluluk ile mutsuzluğun, sevgi ile nefretin ve daha bir sürü karşıt olgunun etrafında şekilleniyor gibiydi: Adolfina, Akıl Hastanesinde kalırken (aslında kalmamış, sadece evinde duran yalnız ve evlenmemiş bir kadın olarak dört duvarın verdiği hissiyat okuyucuya geçirilmek istenmiş) Doktor Goethe'nin o ve feminist arkadaşı Clara Klimt'e dediği gibi, "Siz aslında burada eğleniyorsunuz. Ne delisiniz, ne akıllı. Bir nevi ikisinin ortasındasınız." Bir yandan Adolfina'nın deli olabileceğini düşünürken bir yandan da deliliği sorguluyorsunuz. Ya da rüyaları, imgeleri, gerçekleri... Kitapta dikkatimi çeken sözlerden birisi de şuydu: "Normallik hep aynıdır, ama delilerin delilikleri hep farklıdır." Doğru olduğunu düşünüyorum. Normallik belli bir çerçevenin içinde olmak demektir, oysa delilik o çerçevenin dışındaki tüm alandır.
Sigmund Freud'a gelecek olursam eğer (kendisi Tanrısız Yahudi olarak anılıyor ve Alman sistemine ve insanlarına olan hayranlığı ile biliniyormuş), kitapta onunla ilgili pek fazla açık bilgi yok gibi. Sadece Freud'un saplantılı bir şekilde inandığı şeyleri savunduğunu görebildim. Ve Freud gibi karakterleri mesleği ve yaptıklarıyla özdeşleştirdiğimizi. Sonuçta o da insandı, öyle değil mi?
Kitabı cidden sevdim. Altı çizilesi cümleler vardı içinde. En sevdiğim karakter ise Klara oldu. Kadın hareketine verdiğim önem ile doğru orantılı bu beğeni. Bir de Franz Kafka'nın kız kardeşi Ottla Kafka'yı da kitapta okumak ayrı bir sürpriz oldu zaten.

Kısacası Goce Smilevski'nin, çok sürükleyici olmayan ama bir o kadar merak ettiren, çözümlemeye zorlayan, incelikli, sağlam bir kurgu ile gerçeği birleştirerek bir meraktan yola çıkarak yazdığı romanını oldukça başarılı buldum. Sadece Nazi kamplarındaki çarpıcı sahneler ile birlikte Adolfina'nın sonunun kampta gelmesini de okusaydık kitabın ruhu daha da perçinlenmiş olurdu diye düşündüm. Zira ölüm doğal olduğu gibi zorlayıcıdır da, kimi zaman doğa alır sizleri bu dünyadan kimi zaman da insanlar kendi zalimlikleri ve ölümcül güçleriyle sizin sonunuzu hazırlar.

Kitap benden 4 YILDIZ aldı. Okumanızı tavsiye ediyorum.
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Apr 12, 2016 Beste Bal rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nora-kitap

Çok acayip bir hikaye. Kişiler o kadar gerçek ki, anlatılanlar hakikaten doğru mu diye sora sora okudum. Bir yandan da doğru olsa ne fark eder kendi küçük dünyamda, bunu düşündüm. Psikanalizle ve Freud'un metinleriyle fazlasıyla haşır neşir olduğumdan sanırım sarsıcı geldi. Avrupa Birliği Edebiyat Ödülü almış, o ödülün anlamını bilemem ama onlarca dile çevrildiğine - ve hakkını vererek çevirdiklerini düşünerek - seviniyorum. Okunulası. Yazarın diğer kitaplarını da merak etmekteyim.

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Jun 19, 2012 Danniau is currently reading it

Recommended to Danniau by: The author

The author came to Brussels last week and was asked questions on why he choose for this topic. He was intrigued he said by the question : why Freud did not put his four sisters on the list of people he could take with him to London. To write this book he took seven years to read many letters Freud wrote to his family and colleagues and went through lots of archives to get a picture of the time and on psychoanalysis as well.

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Apr 09, 2013 Orsolya rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, library-2

I am (admittedly) not a fan of Freud and could sit and discuss his many flaws for hours. When I learned that he didn’t save his sisters from the fates of Jewish death camps; I was even more appalled. Goce Smilevski explores the life of Sigmund’s oldest sister, Aldolfina, in “Freud’s Sister” (translated from Macedonian).

“Freud’s Sister” is a novel work of art and is masterfully written; combining WWII historical fiction, a biography of the Freuds, psychology, character studies, and philosophy. “ I am (admittedly) not a fan of Freud and could sit and discuss his many flaws for hours. When I learned that he didn’t save his sisters from the fates of Jewish death camps; I was even more appalled. Goce Smilevski explores the life of Sigmund’s oldest sister, Aldolfina, in “Freud’s Sister” (translated from Macedonian).

“Freud’s Sister” is a novel work of art and is masterfully written; combining WWII historical fiction, a biography of the Freuds, psychology, character studies, and philosophy. “Freud’s Sister” is a ‘thinking novel’ which strips away the bells and whistles of a traditional piece and exposes emotions and thoughts on the real meanings/fears/loves/hates of life and living.

The novel begins with a WWII introduction which is very moving on its own. In fact, it is so powerful, that the simplest of comments induced tears and images which caused me to close the book because the material was difficult to digest. This suggests Smilevski’s talent in bringing the plot and imagery to life. Making the novel even more powerful, is its calm and steady storytelling and characterization of Adolfina which is more memorable than having an agitated or angry environment relating to the subject matter.

Although the characters are not “formally” introduced; the reader will already feel camaraderie and will dive into the story of an “old friend”. Also relatable is Smilevski’s plot. Either he has an abusive mother or is an even more remarkable writer than thought, as the actions of Aldolfina are spot-on and hit on personal level for those with such experiences. These events allow one to understand Adolfina’s psyche and Sigmund in “real life”.

Smilevski’s writing style and language is simple and yet colorful, beautiful, and easy-to-read even though the work is a translation. There are some areas which are slightly choppy which is either due to the editor or a loss in translation.

“Freud’s Sister” isn’t a typical novel following a plot progression and character arc and is instead more of a stream of consciousness which resonates deep within the reader, questioning our own thoughts/emotions. Yet, Smilevski seems to know both the characters and the readers so intimately, that it chillingly feels like we are simply reading a self-diary. This will disappoint those seeking a standard HF novel featuring Freud’s family but will satisfy those who like to be affected by a book that helps consider their own lives.

Due to “Freud’s Sister” being based on Adolfina’s thoughts and memories, some portions of the novel feel repetitive or confusing. On the contrary, Smilevski also introduces wonderful “real” figures such as Kara Klimt (Gustav Klimt’s sister) which encourage further reading and research.

It is worth mentioning that chapter 6 is a long chapter, forming the avant-garde, highly symbolic portion of “Freud’s Sister”. Although it is bouncy; the bounciness is smooth and natural solidifying representation, symbolism, and poetry which make much sense of the novel and of life itself. Strengthening the novel and making it even more unique; Smilevski exemplifies skill and creativity.

The calm, ethereal quality of “Freud’s Sister” contrasts strikingly with the plot depicting madness and depression until the very tip of the conclusion which is simple and yet thought-provoking.

“Freud’s Sister” is not a “happily ever after” novel and is more suited intellectuals or those seeking philosophical empowerment. Smilevski seamlessly conjoins depth with a story and flows with the touch of classical literature. “Freud’s Sister” is a multifaceted work of literature art.
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Nov 28, 2015 Petra rated it it was ok

After reading this book, I had to look up Adolfina's real history and found that there isn't one. She's briefly mentioned in Sigmund Freud's Wiki bio and a picture shows a dreamy, weak looking young lady. Not much to go on when writing a book. The author had his work cut out for him.
All in all, this is a depressing book telling a story of a very depressing life. I can only hope that Adolfina's real life was happier than this.
It's almost as if the author has made Adolfina a female Freud, living t ...more

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Jul 12, 2015 Steve rated it it was amazing

I probably gave this book too many stars, but I really enjoyed reading it and was so impressed by the author's ingenuity, imagination, and style. To give voice to Sigmund Freud's sister Adolfina--wonderful challenge to set oneself. Through Adolfina, we experience something of the lives of late 19th-early 20th century women in Vienna; we gain new insights into Freudian psychology and philosophy (because he didn't just write "science," he wrote about ideas and theology); we experience the emotiona ...more

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Nov 27, 2013 B.Kitanov rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed-books

Апсолутно воодушевен!
Книгата си го заслужува успехот низ светот, и се‘ побројната читателска публика на Гоце Смилевски. Самиот факт што книгата е преведена преку 30 земји во светот, зборува дека македонскиот писател успеал да напише едно несомнено брилијантно дело за фиктивниот живот на сестрата на Фројд, Адолфина. Маестрално четиво со доста длабока позадинска поука. Го препорачувам на секој љубител на историскиот роман со примеси на философски мисли.

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Aug 24, 2014 Dulce rated it really liked it

Conocer la vida y las ideas de Sigmund Freud a través de la voz y perspectiva de su hermana menor Adolphine, es el eje de esta novela. Demostrar el valor de la fuerza femenina a través de las hermanas de dos celebridades de la humanidad, su cometido.

La hermana de Freud (Smilevski, 2013 Alfaguara) es una novela en la que a través de la voz de Adolphine Freud imaginamos la vida del creador del psicoanálisis desde el seno de su familia.

La historia inicia por el final y narra la biografía de Adolphi ...more

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May 02, 2013 Rafael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: in-spanish

Una historia desgarradora, cuenta en el primero y corto capitulo la internacion en el primero y en el seguno campo de concentracion donde son asesinadas las cuatro hermanas de freud. Despues contara su niñez y adolecencia de Adolphine y su cercania con su hermano sigmund con el que dialogaba intensamente. El desencuentro con él. Los malos tratos de su madre a ella. Una parte donde se explican ligeramente las teorias del "Yo" usando los ejemplos de los enfermos mentales, su entrada al hospital Ps ...more

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May 20, 2013 Annette rated it liked it

Before I begin my review, Freud's Sister is FICTION. It is not a work of non-fiction. It is not a memoir, nor biography. I even hesitate to call it historical fiction. The author states in the Author's Note that little is known about Freud's sister Adolfina. There is a lot of freedom for artistic expression or interpretation by the author in Freud's Sister. The author chose to use the first person voice of Adolfina (I'll explain more about that underneath My Thoughts).

Summary:
Adolfina was born E ...more

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Sep 16, 2013 Temz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

,,Отдавна се гледаме двама'' с бездната… А когато сутрин мислите в главата ми се блъскат по стените, няма по-добър ескейпизъм от книга ( с чаша горещ/о кафе/чай според настроението). Несъзнателното ми отдавна е кръвнало, затова ,,Сестрата на Зигмунд Фройд'' бе най-добрият избор за деня.
Срещата с психоанализата не е нещо ново за клиничен случай като мен. Естествено, началото бе поставено с хер Фройд. Затова и новината за излизането на книгата на Гоце Смилевски предизвика буквално Радини вълнени ,,Отдавна се гледаме двама'' с бездната… А когато сутрин мислите в главата ми се блъскат по стените, няма по-добър ескейпизъм от книга ( с чаша горещ/о кафе/чай според настроението). Несъзнателното ми отдавна е кръвнало, затова ,,Сестрата на Зигмунд Фройд'' бе най-добрият избор за деня.
Срещата с психоанализата не е нещо ново за клиничен случай като мен. Естествено, началото бе поставено с хер Фройд. Затова и новината за излизането на книгата на Гоце Смилевски предизвика буквално Радини вълнения в увредената ми душица.
След ,,Разговор със Спиноза'' на запознатия със стила му читател определено би следвало да са високи. Дълбаенето му в психоаналитичните дълбини на семейство Фройд е меко казано предизвикващо интерес. Казвам интерес, а не емоция, защото все пак не ме сграбчи за гърлото. Това, че книгата е написана през погледа на една от сестрите на Зигмунд Фройд е повече от впечатляващ, когато това се ражда от ръката на мъж. И все пак. Женската любов към детайла ми липсваше. Хладна логика лъха от преживяванията на героинята на сбогувания с любими хора, аборти, престой в лудница, разочарования от семейството и ужаса на концентрационните лагери. Война на фронта, война между поколенията, война между половете, война между Аз-овете. Под алената буква на несъзнателното, влиящо на всяко наше решение.
На второ четене, обаче, тази логика е напълно обяснима, когато читателят осъзнае сложния Аз на лиричната ми. ,,Лиричната ми'', защото когато бездната погледне в теб, единственият изход е сякаш зимата и различието на лудостта.
Гоце е. Фройд е. Сестрата на Фройд е
психиатричната клиника за…
Всеки, който
Бяга от битката.
Със себе си.
И въпреки това.
Продължава войната.

...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Cynthia Mcarthur rated it it was amazing

Adolfina Freud was one of many children, and was a sickly child. Her only comfort as a child were the special times she would spend with her older brother Sigmund. He helped rid her of the torture of her mother's cruel words of regretting her birth because of her strangeness, her sickliness. As time went on and the family's golden Siggie began to grow apart from them all, and Adolfina finds her own introspective view point constantly at odds with the rest of the world, still she finds that her w ...more

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Nov 23, 2015 Isaura Pereira rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biblioteca

Este era um livro há muito tempo que estava na minha lista de leituras, por se tratar de uma história inspirada em acontecimentos verídicos.

Começou por ser uma leitura bastante interessante e empolgante. Todo ele é contado do ponto de vista de Adolfine, uma das irmãs de Sigmund Freud. Contudo, a autor vai partilhando com o leitor pedaços da história de vida de seus pais, dos seus irmãos, e principalmente de Sigmund Freud, provavelmente a personagem que mais conhecemos.

Esta história passa-se, es ...more

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Jan 19, 2015 Oscar Ram rated it it was amazing

La época que me gusta, al rededor de personajes que me gustan. Muy bueno en general.

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Dec 18, 2015 Gabriel Calancea rated it really liked it

This books present the life of the sister of Freud Adolfina and her views upon those times of despair. I think that the book is rather dark and filled with negative emotions, but during those circumstances I would have felt the same way. It is a good read, but we can't really know what part of it is fiction and what is real, although I understand that Goce studied her life in detail. It is worth your time if you can realize that a book is more than happy things, adventure and joy ,you have also ...more

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Jun 05, 2014 Bookblog.ro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary-literature

Povestea din romanul Sora lui Freud se conturează pe măsură ce este citită, începutul cărții reușind să inducă ușor în eroare cititorul. Dacă din primele capitole cititorul ar putea întrevedea încă una din cărțile despre holocaust, în capitolele ce urmează va descoperi că, de fapt, are în față o biografie destul de elaborată a familiei marelui psihanalist, privită din perspectiva Adolfinei, sora lui Sigmund Freud. Conflictele dintre membrii familiei sunt analizate dintr-un unghi mai special, pov ...more

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Sep 04, 2015 Francesco rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Storie di morte, malattia e fallimento.

Questo romanzo ha l'indubbio merito di svelarci un fatto storico, dal quale prende avvio la vicenda narrata in prima persona da Adolphine Freud, una delle tre sorelle del viennese Sigmund, ovvero la compilazione, da parte di questi, di una lista di persone da salvare e condurre in salvo a Londra nel momento in cui Freud lasciò la città di Vienna per sfuggire al nazismo. In detta lista, che comprendeva persino il cane del nostro, il suo medico e la famiglia Storie di morte, malattia e fallimento.

Questo romanzo ha l'indubbio merito di svelarci un fatto storico, dal quale prende avvio la vicenda narrata in prima persona da Adolphine Freud, una delle tre sorelle del viennese Sigmund, ovvero la compilazione, da parte di questi, di una lista di persone da salvare e condurre in salvo a Londra nel momento in cui Freud lasciò la città di Vienna per sfuggire al nazismo. In detta lista, che comprendeva persino il cane del nostro, il suo medico e la famiglia di quest'ultimo, non vennero incluse le tre sorelle, che perirono pertanto, in seguito, in un campo di sterminio. Questa, signori, è storia. Si sappia.
Sulla base di questo e altri fatti, l'autore ricostruisce una versione romanzesca della vita di Adolphine, in parte imperniandola sul rapporto tormentoso e ambiguo (fino a rasentare un amore incestuoso, anche se mai consumato) con Sigmund, dipinto, forse persino con magnanimità, come un uomo saccente, misogino, anaffettivo, a tratti piuttosto ottuso e innamorato solo di se stesso. Del resto, tutto ciò era già noto.
Date le buone premesse, il romanzo scade in una celebrazione del "malessere del vivere" e della malattia mentale che è quasi peggiore di quanto si proponeva di demistificare, ovvero la grande truffa della psicanalisi freudiana. Nella sua vita disgraziatissima, Adolphine conosce e si innamora di un uomo depresso e suicida, abortisce con dolore, trascorre lunghi periodi in un manicomio viennese (il "nido", gestito da un certo dr. Goethe, emulo del suo maestro storico, Pinel) e stringe rapporti con altre "sorelle" di celebrità, come Klara Klimt (personaggio inventato) e Otta Kafka. Quello che ci chiediamo è perché, avendo a disposizione le deroghe concesse dall'invenzione romanzesca, l'autore abbia deciso di donare alla sua protagonista un'esistenza segnata dalla pedissequa e reiterata dimostrazione che la vita è dolore, che l'esistenza umana è sofferenza, e che nessuno possa farci nulla. La demistificazione della truffa della pseudocultura freudiana fa leva su argomentazioni di stampo basagliano e antipsichiatrico, fra le quali troneggia come un mantra ripetuto più volte l'assurdo "Tutte le persone normali sono normali allo stesso modo, tutti i pazzi sono pazzi ciascuno a modo suo". Come a dire che la malattia è originale e dà identità, quando l'universalità delle dinamiche della patologia psichica è sotto gli occhi di tutti, e non occorre essere psichiatri per rendersene conto. Ciò che è diverso da individuo a individuo non è la malattia, dacché quella, data una diagnosi in particolare, è uguale per tutti; è bensì lo stato di sanità a dar dimora alle diverse identità delle persone. Adolphine Freud invece si getta (mai verbo fu più indicato in questa esaltazione non dichiarata dell'esistenzialismo più cupo e disperante) a capofitto nella sofferenza, nell'impotenza, nell'impossibilità assoluta e totalizzante di andare oltre la mera sopravvivenza. E si badi bene, non stiamo parlando degli ultimi anni nel lager, ma di tutto ciò che viene prima, di un periodo in cui la ricca famiglia Freud vive nella Vienna borghese (ci chiediamo fra l'altro come si sia potuto pensare una storia simile lasciando il nazismo perennemente fuori dalla porta di casa, al punto che le auto-procurate sofferenze di Adolphine non se ne alimentano affatto) in condizioni tutt'altro che disagiate, stando almeno alla ricostruzione dell'autore. Adolphine è la negazione della donna; falsa ribelle all'impotenza e alla prepotenza fraterne, assiste le amiche e gli amici forse più nelle scelte di morte che di vita; madre mancata, suora di carità, sorella succube, amante orgogliosa del ruolo auto-assegnato di malata mentale, affezionata al suo manicomio (del quale con stile ripetitivo fino alla coazione a ripetere di psichiatrica catalogazione ci vengono elargiti dettagli gratuitamente repellenti), e infine, nelle ultime pagine, preda di una crisi mistica totalizzante e senza scampo che la vede contrapporre al fratello razionale e anaffettivo la sola irrazionalità che buona parte del mondo è disposta a concedersi, ovvero la stucchevole e abusata mistica del peccato originale e della vita ultraterrena. Insomma, peccato, davvero un peccato che per dire una grande verità, cioè che il pensiero di Freud è fallito su tutti i fronti, si sia tentato di dar la colpa di ciò alla natura costituzionalmente maligna e perversa dell'essere umano, che della sedicente "teoria"freudiana è il fondamento stesso. Goce Smilevski confuta Freud rivelandosi freudiano fino al midollo.
...more

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Jan 28, 2015 Alison rated it liked it

A very interesting story, but it left me feeling very sad and depressed. There is no explanation given, and perhaps none is known, why Sigmund Freud failed to put his four sisters on his list for visas for England and was prepared to leave them to the fate of the Nazis. All four of his elderly sisters perished in the gas chambers and yet Freud had had it in his power and influence to save them.

His relationship to his sister, Adolfina, seems close but it seems sad to me that they spent so much ti ...more

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Dec 28, 2013 Pınar rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Sanırım biraz fazla beklenti yapmışım. Özellikle ilk 40 sayfayı okuyunca. Ondan sonra son 30 sayfaya kadar bir türlü istediğim gibi gitmedi. Psikoloji ilgi alanıma girmiyor, anlaşıldı (:

Yorumun tamamı için

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Jun 30, 2014 Andrea Paterson rated it liked it

Shelves: around-the-world-2014

Around the World: Macedonia

There's no doubt that this is a well written book with some powerful moments. But why, WHY does everything I read have to be so damned sad? There is beauty in this book, but not much by way of joy. The main character just suffers and suffers then suffers some more right up to her end in a gas chamber (not a spoiler, you find this out in the first few pages and then go back to review her life). I'm not sure how much of this is fact and how much is fiction but it certain ...more

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Nov 29, 2014 Alejandra C rated it liked it

Me pareció interesante porque pone dos puntos de ver la vida que son diferentes, no diré que esto me hizo ver a Freud de una forma diferente sino más bien como ya lo imaginaba porque a pesar de que aporto mucho al mundo sobre la forma de ver y entender la humanidad eso no quiere decir que todo lo que el decia era lo correcto y a mi a pesar de parecerme una persona muy culta me parecía alguien que ocultaba sus sentimientos y que de alguna u otra forma se sentía como el centro del mundo. Es una fo ...more

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Jan 31, 2015 Nina rated it liked it

Uz možda najbolje opise "ludila" koje sam ikada pročitala i potpuno novog Freuda kroz oči njegove sister, uz stil pisanja koji mi je poetičan i lijep, ipak mi je nedostajao vrhunac i rasplet da budem zadovoljnija kada ju pročitam. "Tijekom života iskustvo je oblikovala Ja onako kao što je more oblikovalo kamen tijekom mnogih stoljeća. Ja je gravitacijsko središte vlastitog svemira, ono je osjećaj za sebe i za svijet; ono ljudsko biće izdvaja iz svijeta, ali ga i povezuje s njime.
Postoje ljudi ...more

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May 24, 2014 Arun Lal rated it did not like it

do not get deceived by the European union prize for best fiction that smilevski won for this; this is a waste of time (though it takes only this much time to finish it) that you could've spent on mann or marias or murakami. the best thing to say about the novel is that there's a promise short-lived at some random points in the book, like when adolfina meets rainer right after she contemplates on durer...well, if only such short passages could save a novel!! but as it is, the novel doesn't deserv ...more

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Aug 30, 2015 Rana Ansari rated it it was amazing

First off, my favorite lines -
My brother said, "...The coarse give vent to their impulses; we abstain. We abstain in order to maintain our integrity. We do not squander our health, our capacity for enjoyment, our strength. We are saving ourselves for something, even though we ourselves often do not know for what. Rather than spend ourselves so shallowly and basely in animal gratification, we abstain, and our abstinence allows our feelings to deepen, to become more refined."

"ALL NORMAL PEOPLE ARE ...more

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See also: Гоце Смилевски

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Quotes from Freud's Sister

“There is no justice in this world. No single punishment can correct an injustice, because what is past cannot be changed, and those to whom injustice was done remain with their loss. But even if justice were attained in some other world, for what was lost in this one, if in some other world those who had been injured had returned to them what they had lost here, that is not a return of their life’s fulfillment; it is only consolation. What is lost at a certain moment can never again be compensated, because what is lost was needed at the moment it disappeared.” — 8 likes

“We were at an age of innocence when, through touch and sound, taste and smell and sight, once could sense things beyond the surface, when it seemed to use that blood flowed even through inanimate objects. We were at an age when we could not foresee that one day our senses would convince us only of our captivity in space and time, and not lead us to an awareness of somthing beyond. We were at an age of innocence when the soul is still soft clay and does not know that one day it will turn to stone or barren earth; we were at an age when the soul is clay that can easily be warmed by a kindred spirit, when it is possible for two to become one. We were at an age of innocence when a shy look and a secretly expressed longing make our souls erupt under the delicate and tender wrap of our bodies, an age when the soul and the body are still bound into one, an age when excitement does not know it will someday turn into indifference or to a simple urge to satisfy bodily needs, and that when one manages to infuse oneself with passion there is neither the capability nor the desire to turn that moment of pleasure into a brief eternity.” — 1 likes

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