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224th out of 535 books
—
552 voters
August
Originally published in 1983, this bestseller is a compelling portrait of a young woman's experience in psychotherapy.
Paperback, 376 pages
Published
September 1st 1997
by Mariner Books
(first published 1969)
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This is one of the all-time, hands-down, best novels ever written about psychoanalysis. Dawn, a brilliant, artistic college student is still emotionally crippled and self-destructive after four years of treatment with an incompetent therapist when she’s referred to the office of Dr. Lulu Shinefeld, a 40-year-old Manhattanite, who’s own life is a chronicle of bad judgement and accommodation. Gradually, the women work together to uncover the mystery of Dawn’s disease. Dawn is haunted by her own ar...more
I checked the copyright date on this one, because I felt like it had a very late 70s feel. I'm probably right; it was published in 1983. On the one hand, that made it feel rather cliched to me, but on the other hand, when viewed from an "it was an era" perspective, it was also rather interesting.
I felt sorry for Dawn the vast majority of the book, but at the same time I wanted to tell her, "ASK THE QUESTIONS!" I felt as if she would just man up and ask Vera (or anyone else) the questions that a...more
I felt sorry for Dawn the vast majority of the book, but at the same time I wanted to tell her, "ASK THE QUESTIONS!" I felt as if she would just man up and ask Vera (or anyone else) the questions that a...more
August cockteases for 200 pages then goes right the fuck off the rails when the book and the main psychiatrist character put all their focus on a completely uninteresting character. We do not have the new Carol Shields here, people! Although I would like to read a couple of her other books, Rossner does not have a poetic way with a sentence like what I love about Shields, and any similar intimacy-exactifications they share seem to be August's only trick, where it's a starting point for Shields w...more
After reading "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" and "Perfidia," I was really looking forward to reading this, but, alas, it is quite a slog. After 200 pages, I must take a well-deserved break. Neither one of these women is particularly interesting, and Dawn is one of the most irritating literary characters in history. I don't think I can stand to read "Dawn burst into tears" one more time. We know she bursts into tears, Ms. Rossner. She does it every few seconds, like breathing.
Wow, am I glad I grew up in the era of cognitive behavioral therapy instead of Freudian analysis! The story of a young woman and her female analyst was an interesting read, mainly to see how dated everything seemed. I never bothered to look at publication date and see if this was written in the era or was a painstakingly researched look at 1970s New York pop culture. However, the characters do grow and change emotionally, which is always a sign of an intelligent writer.
I forced myself to read at least 100 pages of this book, thinking surely I would get into it at some point because the premise of the analyst and her patient, Dawn, sounded interesting. Finally I acknowledged this just isn't my cup of tea, since I lose patience with all this talking in sessions that doesn't seem to have any point or relevance....
Absolutely fantastic. Excellent portrait of real psychoanalysis and the stories of both the patient and therapist. For those who have experienced psychotherapy in real life, this book will keep you reading on an on. Also, we learn that therapists themselves don't always have a perfect life and in fact they struggle with their own.
AGOSTO È IL MESE DELL’ABBANDONO
Agosto è il mese in cui gli analisti vanno in ferie (per mia esperienza, di solito, cominciano a luglio e finiscono a settembre: ma tant'è, si sa che gli americani sono stakanovisti).
Facendo un confronto con "Un paese di madri" di A.M.Homes (si tratta di due scrittrici che raccontano entrambe un rapporto più o meno professionale tra psicoterapeuta donna matura e giovane paziente donna), e usando il sistema brevettato da Andy Luotto, Rossner 'buono', Homes 'no buono...more
Agosto è il mese in cui gli analisti vanno in ferie (per mia esperienza, di solito, cominciano a luglio e finiscono a settembre: ma tant'è, si sa che gli americani sono stakanovisti).
Facendo un confronto con "Un paese di madri" di A.M.Homes (si tratta di due scrittrici che raccontano entrambe un rapporto più o meno professionale tra psicoterapeuta donna matura e giovane paziente donna), e usando il sistema brevettato da Andy Luotto, Rossner 'buono', Homes 'no buono...more
I couldn't really get into it. I got about halfway through, and I had to move on to another book. Maybe later I'll try to finish it, but it just moved way too slowly for me. I guess I'm just not into reading the back and forth between a doctor and her patient.
Written from the point of view of the analyst, it is a bit of a patient's fantasy of what their doctor is doing when they're gone on vacation. And also what the patient might mean to the doctor. Very seventies, but moderately interesting nonetheless.
This is definitely a different book. I kept thinking where's this "story" going. Well, like real life, it has no neatly wrapped up package. It gives the inside feelings of both a psychoanalyst and her patient. It has a lot of male versus female aspects.
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I read this book in my young adulthood, before I became a psychotherapist. I loved it then. I would love to read it again and see how 20 years and my career have changed my perspective.
Mar 30, 2009
Katie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Jessie
Recommended to Katie by:
Cathy
Shelves:
novel
I thought that this book was just ok overall. Certain aspects of the main characters, Dawn and Dr. Shinefeld, really annoyed me. There were also parts of the book that I thought were downright boring. That said, I thought that it was interesting that the feel of the early 80s really came through in this book. I could just picture Dr. Shinefeld in a power suit. The struggle of being a woman and breaking societal roles was pervasive.
As far as Dawn's analysis goes, I was annoyed with her a good por...more
As far as Dawn's analysis goes, I was annoyed with her a good por...more
I read this book in the 80's and really can't remember too m uch time out it. I remember it was good at the time.
A much better version of Prince of Tides without the Southern angst.
Read this years ago. Cant remember much of it, but I remember I liked it.
one of my favorites - i keep reading and re-reading this book.
Jun 28, 2007
Jeremy
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people I don't like very much
Slog city. I wanted the characters to jump out of the book and track me down some fake people with personalities. Make themselves useful instead of blah blah blalglbglb. What led me to read the whole thing, I cannot be called upon to surmise. I should be nicer to me than that.
Jul 25, 2008
Thu
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people interested in psychotherapy; people interested in romance
Recommended to Thu by:
the faculty of my graduate school program
Shelves:
fiction
I rather enjoyed this book's depiction of the client-psychologist transference relationship. The sessions were well-written and interesting to me, since I am studying to be a therapist. However, I found much of the actual plot sluggish and somewhat boring.
Nov 26, 2007
Stephy
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
not
Shelves:
it_was_a_book_it_was_there
Maybe it is just me, but I think I have had a belly full of people who think the story of their psychotherapy is interesting to someone besides them. That said, this is still a moving story, well put together.
Quite a good novel. Amazing account of a therapeutic relationship with a parallel story of events in the therapist's personal life. Judith Rossner was an amazing mind.
My most favorite story of a woman's relationship with her therapist who goes on vacation for two weeks every August.
An amazing dialogue between therapist and patient - best I have ever read.
Great read for a somewhat realistic jouney through psychotherpy.
Mar 30, 2010
Michele St John
added it
August by Judith Rossner (1983)
Nick Hornby without the humor.
a book about a therapist, her client and the parallel process of being lost.
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Judith Perelman Rossner was an American novelist, best known for her 1975 novel Looking for Mr. Goodbar, which was inspired by the murder of Roseann Quinn and examined the underside of the seventies sexual liberation movement. Though Looking for Mr. Goodbar remained Rossner's best known and best selling work, she continued to write. Her most successful post-Goodbar novel was 1983's August, about t...more
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