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Book Review By Elana Starr
The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld

In 1909, Sigmund Freud paid his only visit to the U.S. and returned to his native Vienna convinced that Americans were "savages." What happened during his stay here to make him feel this way? This is at the heart of "The Interpretation of Murder," the debut work of fiction by Jed Rubenfeld.
Shortly after Freud and real-life protege Carl Jung arrive in New York, two wealthy, beautiful women are brutally assaulted in similar acts of passion mixed with rage. One dies, and the other, a 17-year-old heiress named Nora Acton (probably based on Freud's famous patient Dora), survives but cannot remember the details of the attack. Under Freud's aegis, Stratham Younger, a handsome, young alienist (what early psychiatrists were called), tries to resuscitate Nora's memory. While Freud admittedly plays only a background role, he does get to express his ideas, especially his staunchly held beliefs about sexual repression and the Oedipal Complex.
At the same time that Dr. Younger tries to break through Miss Acton's hysterical paralysis, a savvy junior police inspector and the local coroner try to track down the sadistic killer. Clues lead them into the rarifed drawing rooms and political circles of the superrich and powerful.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - depressing/sad
How difficult to spot villain? - Challenging
Time/era of story:
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 30%
Murder of certain profession?
Misc. Murder Plotlets - Big focus on autopsies
Kind of investigator
Any non-mystery subplot?
descript. of violence and chases - 10 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes
Amnesia story? Yes
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - jealousy
The antagonists are: - Drug kingpins
How sensitive is this character?

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast
Water? Yes
Water: - drowning
City? Yes
City: - New York - wealthy
Misc setting - fancy mansion

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey references to deaths/dead bodies and torture
Explicit sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - actual description of sex - rape (yeech!)
Unusual forms of death - asphyxiation
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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