Rating: 
Summary: VERY ATMOSPHERIC...ELEGANTLY WRITTEN...BUT MISSES THE MARK
Review: This is an intriguing novel about the murder of Dora, a young eighteen year old woman found dead in a park. The contents of her stomach at the time of death contained a half digested fig. She was also a patient of Dr. Freud. You see, her murder happened in Vienna, Austria in 1910.The case is assigned to a nameless inspector, who is trying to investigate this homicide according to certain principles set forth in a book of criminalistics written at the turn of the century. It is an intellectual and cerebral approach to a criminal investigation. It is also an interesting look at a turn of the century police procedural. Meanwhile, Dora's murder has captured the imagination of the inspector's independent, Hungarian born wife, Erzebet, who, unbeknownst to her husband, has begun her own parallel investigation based upon intuition and her own cultural proclivities. She is joined in her endeavor by her friend, a governess who is at loose ends while her employer is away. During the investigation, this elegantly written novel paints an atmospheric, three dimensional portrait of turn of the century Vienna, lush with details about everyday life. It is this part of the book that is the strongest and the most interesting, as it is highly evocative of a place and time gone by. The mystery itself, however, ends up not being much of a mystery, after all. In the final analysis, the promise of this highly ambitious novel remains unfulfilled, as the author simply bit off more than she could chew. The novel whets the appetite but, ultimately, fails to sate it.
Rating: 
Summary: I enjoyed The Fig Eater
Review: I have owned this book for years but it just never begged me to read it. Having run out of things to read around the house, I reluctantly picked it up, and was not disappointed. I was soon engrossed in this book and it's fascinating details of early forensic science, which were not belabored (in my opinion) but simply explained and quite ingenious considering what they had to work with at the time. I was also fascinated by the eccentricities of the main female character who has many superstitions and customs in rigorous accordance to her Hungarian gypsy upbringing, and yet she is also very instinctive and intuitive and this helps her to move toward solving this crime. And it was good to see a woman so independent and strong in a society that was very oppressive to women. She is moody and not apologetic about it. She is resentful of the way society treats women, but she has been clever enough to choose a husband for herself who respects her very much, in every way, and whom she also loves. However, I did not like the ending, and was sorry that such a brilliant book ended in this rather abrupt and somewhat disappointing way. However, it's not the ultimate conclusion that was disappointing, just the way it was written. So, I could not let the quick ending take too much away from the very interesting journey of reading this book. I take away only one star for the ending. I respect the opinion of others and this is a somewhat unusual book. But I think a book is good if it keeps you wanting to see what's around the next corner, and if you care enough to want to know what will happen to your favorite characters, and The Fig Eater fits this bill for me.
Rating: 
Summary: I can be a coroner now
Review: Let me begin by stating that it is difficult to critique an author's hard work, but here it goes. This was an unfortunate choice as a second read for a new bookclub. The author spend most of the time discussing the coroner's processes vs. the story line itself ultimately making it a difficult and boring read. My bookclub has now been together two years and we rate and track each book that we read. As of date, The Fig Eater has rated the lowest at 1 out of 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Freud Versus the Gypsies
Review: "The Fig Eater", by Jody Shields is the most interesting historical mystery I have read in some time. It resembles "The Alienist", but with darker shadows and greater ambiguities. Set in the Vienna of 1910, it centers on the search for the murderer of Dora, the eighteen-year old daughter of a respectable haut-bourgeois family. She is also probably the famous "Dora" from Freud's case study of female hysteria, but that information is of no help in solving her fictional murder, except to alert us to the sexual overtones of the plot. Shields evokes pre-WWI Vienna with sensuous descriptions of the food, dress and landscape. She shows the diverse cultures, the ancient superstitions, and the new inventions that roiled this capital of an unraveling empire. The Inspector (whose name we never learn) investigating the crime is experrt in the latest scientific police procedures -- photography, fingerprinting, autopsy -- and is a student of Prof. Hans Gross who pioneered the psychological study of crime. His investigation leads him (and us) through some of the more bizarre medical practices of the day. The Inspector's wife, Erszebet, an artist steeped in her native Magyar-Gypsy mysticism starts her own secret investigation of Dora's murder. She is independent, tough-minded, and completely unfettered by the restraints under which her husband operates. Erszebet enlists the help of a young English governess she met (by accident?) on a path beside the Danube. Their detection is fueled by intuition, tarot cards, and frequent doses of torte and kuchen. They also engage in more derring-do than the Inspector does in his plodding, legitimate investigation. The Inspector and Erszebet live and move in the same affluent milieu as the victim's family. Like his name, the source of their wealth is undisclosed. They attend a Fasching Ball and visit friends in the country for a wild boar hunt -- a Central European version of Roderick and Troy Alleyn. One of the many tensions in the story is watching the effect their joint but separate obsession with solving Dora's murder has on their marriage. Unlike conventional mysteries, all the characters in this novel are changed by their connection to the central crime. They discover the sexual cross-currents beneath the proper middle-class veneer and are affected by that discovery in different ways. In the end, we learn the identity of Dora's killer, but Shields leaves us with an unanswered question: Do shape-shifters really roam Vienna in the night? "The Fig Eater" is an ambitious and impressive first novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Who Gives A Fig?!?!?!
Review: As someone who loves mysteries, and adored "The Alienist" particularly, this book was a huge disappointment to me. There were too many loose ends which Shields deliberately left undone. It was pretty mystifying wondering why Shields chose to weave the story together the way she did...it's not a satisfying way to construct a novel at all. I re-read the last few pages over and over again wondering at first "Did I miss something here?" However, the way Shields evoked Vienna made me want to visit. She has a real talent for bringing a place to life even though most of her characters seem pretty wooden and aren't filled out enough. It also made me want to read more about Freud's "Dora" which was a more interesting character then the sketched out murder victim in this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Sinking into 1910 Vienna
Review: This is not a book that everyone will like or persevere through. There are several reasons I like it. When I finish a book, I ask myself "Am I glad i read this book" or "I wish I hadn't picked it up." I did enjoy the book.. I have always been fascinated by the turn of the century in Europe. The author really settles the reader into the Vienna of 1910: the sounds, music, food (espeicially the food), the people and their traits, the city itself. She even provides a map. The book is a mysery, one that evolves in a very gradual, languorous manner. Two people are trying the discover the murderer, the Inspector and his Hungarian wife. He is very methodical, mindful, sifting through every bit of evidence using the latest thinking of the criminologists of his time. She is impulsive, imaginative, emotional and very much a believer in "signs" and in the folklore and divinations of her Hungarian culture. This dual track of solving the crime I found fascinating. The novel has an almost dreamy quality about it. The reader may feels her is floating on a drifting barge immersed in the life and time and beliefs of 1910 Vienna. The book's evocation of atmosphere and characters interested me at least as much as the mystery. ( I usually don't try to figure out mystery.) As for the ending, it is one of those that leaves the reader a little mystified. Something I like.
Rating:
Summary: What About the Fig?
Review: This book was such a disappointment. It revolves around the murder of Dora (I didn't see any resemblance to Freud's Dora) in a fin-de-siecle Viennese park, the famous Volksgarten. The Inspector (his name is never given), a young police officer named Franz and Egon, a very strange photographer, officially set out to find her killer. One of the biggest clues seems to be that she had eaten a fresh fig very shortly before her death. The Inspector likes to talk about his work at home and his Hungarian born wife, Erszebet, who is of Gypsy ancestry, loves to listen. In the case, of Dora, she does more than listen, however. Disagreeing with her husband's methods, Erszebet decides to find the killer herself. She's assisted by an enigmatic Englishwoman, for reasons that are just as enigmatic. As Erszebet goes in one direction in an attempt to solve Dora's murder, her husband goes in another, and it's anybody's guess as to who will find the killer first and how. THE FIG EATER isn't a conventional mystery, which was fine with me because I really don't like mysteries; I bought this book because it takes place in Vienna, a city I visit often and love very much. And, it is extremely evocative of Vienna. I wasn't in 1910 Vienna, but Shields gives us so many details in THE FIG EATER that I really felt like I was. I think this wonderfully atmospheric setting, as well as the strong characterization of Erszebet are THE FIG EATER'S greatest strengths. Unfortunately, they are its only strengths. Structurally, THE FIG EATER is a mess. If this is supposed to be a fictionalized account of Freud's patient, Dora, then Shields didn't provide enough authentic details, yet she peppered her book with far too much gratuitous gore-gore that didn't exist in the "real" case of Dora (and strangely, as far as this book is concerned, the facts surrounding the "real" Dora were far more interesting). Most of the time, the book trailed off into meaningless plot strands that were never developed or never resolved. There were far too many red herrings. I know a red herring isn't going to lead us to the truth, but it does lead somewhere, or at least it's supposed to. In THE FIG EATER, however, it doesn't. The red herrings in this book aren't there to tantalize or serve any other useful purpose; they just annoy the reader. Shields hasn't learned to control her narrative and because she hasn't her plot is scattered and, ultimately, meaningless and unfulfilling. And what about the fig? Why go to all the trouble? I gave THE FIG EATER one star for its atmosphere and one for the characterization of Erszebet, but I can't recommend the book at all. It's a totally unsatisfying reading experience. I wouldn't even read another novel of Shields. She's lost my trust for good.
Rating: 
Summary: not a cozy mystery
Review: If you are interested in the book but discouraged by the one star reviews, click to "Search inside this book." The beginning seems representative of the work. The narrator maintains a distance between the reader and the characters. (Contrary to what a reviewer said below? above? the author does not jump between narrators; the narrator is omnipotent. The narrator's focus changes.) The lines are spare. There is police procedure. This is the best first novel I've ever read, as far as I recall. I do love mysteries, though. "If he'd asked her, Erszebet would have told him that his wish for a conclusion is delibab. Magical thinking. A mirage" (203).
Rating:
Summary: The ending that fell off the cliff
Review: Well if you like giving up your precious hours of bedtime reading to a book that doesnt deliver an ending -- than this is a book for you. The best part of the book is you'll learn more about syphlis (except how to spell it) than you'll ever want to know. Next time dear author -- let's spend a little more time on plot structure and a little less on your research of STDs.
Rating:
Summary: intriguing start, became a chore
Review: This book had enormous potential. The historical fiction was fascinating. I was hooked in the beginning, but the intrigue wore off about half way through. The book became a chore. The author jumps from narrators and the result is confusing. Just when something interesting happens, you switch to a new narrator.
I stuck with this book because I wanted answers to all the twists that were discovered (syphilis, the thumb, even the fig.)
Instead of learning the answer to those mysteries, we are given the murderer with a weak motive and all the other strings are left dangling.
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