The Interpretation of Murder

by Jed Rubenfeld
The Interpretation of Murder  
published 2007 by Headline Review
binding Paperback
isbn 0755331427   (isbn13: 9780755331420)
pages 544
description 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 th...more
date added
05-08-07



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 651)



Jim
Jim rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
06/26/07

Read in March, 2006
recommends it for: Fans of historical fiction set in early 20th century New York
When you think about Sigmund Freud, do you think of cigars? Cocaine? Coney Island?

The Viennese psychoanalyst arrived in New York in 1909 to deliver a serious of lectures at Clark University in Massachusetts, but surprisingly little is known about his stay in the city except that he went to Coney Island. Freud’s only visit to America is the jumping off point for a pair of fictional investigations into what makes us tick and, as is the case of Jed Rubenfeld’s historical thriller The Inter...more
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Coy
Coy rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
03/19/08

Read in March, 2008
recommended to Coy by: Kenneth
When I sit down to what I hope will be a great meal, I look forward to the side dishes, but it's the main course that is central. Don't get me wrong, I love potatoes, but give me the steak! Interpretation of Murder is a side dish and not a potato side dish, more like peas or carrots or something.

Reading the author's notes at the end of the book gave me a better appreciation of the novel. I respect that it was well-researched, but to borrow from the same analogy, I like a little history wi...more
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  1 comments

Elaine
Elaine rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
11/12/07

bookshelves: mystery
Read in November, 2007
In 1909, Freud made a visit to America, his first, and it formed an irrevocable impression on Freud -- to wit, American could go to the dogs for all he cared. This mystery thriller started with the psychoanalysis of a victim of a sexual assault who had lost her voice and suffered amnesia from the trauma. Poised at the cusp just before Freudian thinking gained widespread popularity in America and the Oedipal complex became a household word in treatment of the unconscious, this genre-bending mur...more
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Tanashie
Tanashie rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
11/05/07

bookshelves: english, fiction, mystery
Read in November, 2007
This book, while entertaining, is certainly not among my favourites. I might not have been a wholly objective reader, though, since I'm no fan of Freud's and generally don't read murder/detective stories.

You can tell the author is fairly inexperienced when it comes to writing novels and was more interested in keeping the reader guessing until the last minute than keeping his story continuous. (Which I find more and more authors doing lately, why is that?) The conculsion of the murders and th...more
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jill
jill rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
05/25/08

bookshelves: mystery
Read in April, 2008
I really like crime fiction set in the Victorian age (and into the early twentieth century), especially when it is well researched. It's a period of pioneering in both the science and psychology of crime, and I usually find a lot of interesting historical details, even in the not-so-well-written books.
I enjoyed this as a story. I don't know that much about Freudian psychology, although as an English major I've obviously been exposed to Freudian and Jungian interpretations of various works...more
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Irene
09/18/07

Read in September, 2007
Ini buku cukup rumit buat dibaca. Butuh waktu dan asah otak untuk memahami keseluruhan novel ini. Judul The Interpretation of Murder itu sendiri sebenarnya berhubungan dengan Sigmund Freud dan karyanya, The Interpretation of Dreams. You're right. Buku ini emang memadukan teori psikoanalisis-nya Freud (serta pertentangan utamanya sama Carl Gustav Jung, muridnya), Shakespeare (terutama Hamlet) dan quote ngetopnya "To be or not to be, that is the question", dan teori-teori tentang pembunu...more
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Res
Res rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
10/18/07

Read in October, 2007
The one where Freud comes to New York in 1909, and a young disciple of his is called in to psychoanalyze a young woman left amnesiac by a brutal attack.

I was expecting Freud to be the detective, and of course he's not; his participation sticks pretty close to what's historically verifiable. Still, I enjoyed the book a great deal. I liked the characterization of the historical figures (and the incredible variety of psychoses that the psychoanalysts have), and I really enjoyed Dr. Younger and ...more
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Jill
09/19/07

bookshelves: book-club-picks
Read in September, 2007
recommends it for: Alienist lovers
First off, in my defense, I took such a long time to read this book for a reason. I only read at the gym. And lately, I have become rather, bouncy, while on the elliptical machine. When I'm bouncy, I can't read because I get seasick. So at first I'm doing ok on the machine, reading away, really into the book, and then suddenly, a bout of bounciness strikes, and I'm forced to close the book and put on my ipod. But tonight I persevered and pushed through said bounciness and kicked this book's ass!...more
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Nicole
Nicole rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
10/20/07

Read in October, 2007
Yes, the book ended long after the plane flight. In fact, while reading it, I had time to go to the local book store and discover it was an international best-seller...and wonder why. It wasn't a bad book, but did it meet the glowing reviews on the cover? Maybe if you really like Freud and Freudian musings on Hamlet, you'd agree with what everyone said. What it all came down to for me, though, was yet another author relying on some salacious sexual perversions, though with the newer twist of...more
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Kenneth
Kenneth rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/12/07

Read in August, 2007
recommends it for: Murder Mystery Fans
I bought this book in the London airport for one reason....I wanted to buy a book from a vending machine. Why did I pick this one? I based my purchasing decision only on the cover. Hmmmm....a book about psychology. A cover that is nearly identical to the Alienist (a book that I love). It worked on me!

It is a very good read. I could not give it five stars as I thought that in doing so I would be diminishing the five star rating that I have given the Alienist and the end was a bit jumble...more
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Jessica
Jessica rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
04/02/08

bookshelves: fiction-novels
Read in April, 2008
I was really interested in this book when I first picked it up, the subject matter was enticing and who can pass up a book with Frued and Jung as characters? I managed to get through 3 of the 12 discs, and I enjoyed the story for the most part. But when I got to a part of the Audiobook version where some bastard hung a live horse from the hook of a crane I stopped being interested. I don't want to hear about that. If I saw that in person I would beat the crap out of the *&#%$*# who was doing...more
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Doogyjim
Doogyjim rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
11/23/07

Read in November, 2007
An extra star for being an undeniable pageturner but for all that it's a rotten book. I know, I know, millions of Richard and Judy viewers though it the best book of its batch but hey! what do I know?

Freud is less a pivotal character than a cypher to introduce psychoanalysis into the plot and my goodness what plot. It It's bursting with the stuff all over the place, weaving through 500 pages, about 100 of which is sheer exposition at the end. Spare me. There's even a hokey old Scooby Doo dev...more
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Elizabeth
Elizabeth rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
07/10/08

Lori recommended this one because it is about Freud and Jung in New York and there are some interesting historical tidbits about both the city and psychoanalysis, but I wasn't a fan. For one thing, the plot made no sense and the made up characters weren't well developed enough for the plot twist to work (which I think happens quite often in murder mysteries).

For another, they were rather harsh on Jung, as Lori put it.

The protagonist also just tries to cram too much in. Amongst what...more
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Nicole
07/18/08

Good book. Freud is visiting America for the first time with his collegues Jung and Ferenczi. He is met by another follower of psychoanlaysis, Stratham Younger, when he arrives. Younger is pulled in by the Mayor of New York to analyze a seeming victim of a violent crime similar to other recent crimes in the city. It is Younger's job to find the truth about the incident from Nora, the young woman who was attacked. Younger ends up on a quest to help solve all the murders with a green detective and...more
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Rachel
05/30/07

Read in May, 2007
I looked at this book for awhile before picking it up. I *believe* it got a starred review in Publisher's Weekly which I have found to be a pretty good judge if you want something interesting and well written -- never fluffy. The story is set in NYC in 1909, which is a fun twist. It reminded me a little bit of Laurie King's recent Holmes book (also excellent). Anyways, Freud and Jung are both characters in the book and there is a lot of emphasize on a young Freudian trying to psychoanalyze a...more
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Maria
Maria rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
09/30/07

Read in September, 2007
recommends it for: Freud lovers
I wrote a couple of weeks ago: "for the moment (i've been reading it for two days) looks very similar to The Alienist (Caleb Carr), which I really enjoyed, so I hope it to get better everyday. We'll see".
So, we've seen.
It has a great beguinning and good characters (Littlemore, Nora) and the murder the novel is about keeps you reading, but it's too long and tries to explain too many things; the main character is obsessed with hamlet and shakespeare and mixes this with his love tow...more
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Chris
Chris rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
03/19/08

i think the character development in this book is severely lacking and i found the pace of this book a little off. i think the book kind of dragged until the very end. i was also put off a little by portions of the psychoanalysis theory. i am not a prude but i was bothered by Freud's sexually perverse way of thinking.

the only thing i did like about the book was the bit of history included. the setting is early 1900's New York City in which we see the beginnings of skyscrapers and prevale...more
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Michele
Read in May, 2007
recommends it for: Almost no-one
Major problems with this book:

1. Managed to be both convoluted and boring.
2. Author, who is clearly a brilliant and learned man, nevertheless cannot sketch a character to save his life.
3. Author bio mentions that he studied Shakespeare at Juilliard and did his dissertation on Freud at Princeton. This book is obviously a colourless cobbling-together of the fruits of these two periods of study.
4. Does anyone care about Freud anymore? Has he not been discredited to the point of ridiculo...more
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Kelly
Kelly rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/12/07

bookshelves: adultfiction
Interesting, but a mess.

The good:

Interesting time period (first decade of 20th century).
Great historical characters, notably Freud and Jung
Fabulous
detective character. Livingstone acts the fool, but fools everyone in the end. (I was with him the entire way--I hope Rubenfel writes him again.)

The bad:

Mystery convoluted in a way that doesn't make any sense beyond taking the reader off track.
I didn't love the protagonist--a young pyschoanalyst named Junger.
Female char...more
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Powersamurai
Powersamurai rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/22/08

bookshelves: fiction
Despite what the reviews on Amazon say, I really enjoyed this book. Hamlet meets Freud and Jung in New York and all help to solve a murder. A brilliant murder mystery that educates you on Freud's and Jung's psychological theories while entertaining you. A page turner from beginning to end. Rubenfeld paints a great picture of New York in 1909. I bought this book after reading that fans of Caleb Carr's 'The Alienist' will love it. (OK, so I was sucked in, but didn't circum until it was on sale. &...more
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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 3.41 (651 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 3.34 (539 ratings)
number of reviews: 198






other editions

The Interpretation of Murder: A Novel (Hardcover)
The Interpretation of Murder: A Novel (Paperback)
The Interpretation of Murder (CD-ROM)