Rating: 
Summary: Annoying/intriguing/meticulous
Review: The book is well written but without soul or wit. I enjoyed the well researched historical references to daily life, criminal science and the almost drawn characters. But...geez, so many loose threads througout and with the sketchily drawn characters, I'm amazed I didn't just throw the book across the room. However, the writer does keep you riveted even if you can't stand it. I had to know, had to find out! Once I did, I felt I'd been reading a different book. DON'T YOU HATE THAT!!!Well written, but dry.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to start, but interesting nonetheless
Review: I don't really know what I thought of this book. It was very difficult to get into, but once I did, I found myself intrigued. I especially enjoyed the parts dealing with the relationship between Wally and the Inspector's wife. As for what others have said is Shields' overabundance of detail in the descriptions of Vienna, I didn't really notice that. I feel like I should give this another read, though. Somehow unsatisfying but can't quite figure out why. I get the impression that other reviewers feel this way, too. I look forward to seeing what else Shields does.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the struggle
Review: If you make it past the first 100 pages, you won't be disappointed. Initially, the Fig Eater is painstakingly slow. A body is found and all the reader gets is a laborious description of photography in the early 1900s. Were all the dust-jacket reviewers paid in cash for their glowing critiques? But hold on! Around about page 100, things start happening! Secrets are revealed - really hideous ones. Nothing is as it appears. Towards the end, you'll be turning pages as fast as you can. If only the first 100 pages were more enticing, this book would warrant 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Worst Formatted Novel Ever
Review: The other reviews adequately convey information about the plot and quality of this novel from a literary standpoint. I would like to address the content from a different yet, I feel, equally valid point of view: this work has the dubious honor of being one of the worst formatted novels I have ever read. - The page formatting is overly long and narrow, extending too far to the bottom of the page for easy reading, and the amount of whitespace between the bottom and top edges of the book and the text varies, at random. - The non-uniform section breaks are seemingly erratic and convey no information, and confound any sense of pause or flow they ostensibly are there to establish. Some are four or five lines of blank space (which is a lot; too much, some might argue); some are two. - The jerky typography with an overly serifed font (with particularly baroque "a" and "e") seems to have been chosen to try and convey a feel of turn-of-the-century Vienna, but is just frustrating to read. And the W. Don't get me started on the w. - There's a seemingly random use of the floral dingbat, again with no discernable use or consistency.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating Murder Mystery Set in 1910 Austria
Review: "The Fig Eater" revolves around the murder of Dora, a young, well-to-do, but sickly young woman whose body is found in a public park. The novel then follows the efforts of two teams to find Dora's murderer: the Inspector and the police force, and the Inspector's wife, Erszebet and the governess Wally. The book is a richly detailed account not only of life in turn of the century Vienna, but also of police procedures of the era. Those with delicate stomachs be forewarned--the book's detailing of these procedures is occasionally gruesome, as when the police determine what Dora had to eat on the evening of her death (the fig removed from her stomach proves to be a clue, hence the book's title). Entering into the mix is a wealth of fascinating and often duplicitous characters, including Rosza, Dora's former governess, who knows much more than she's willing to admit, Dora's parents, and a couple that is friends with Dora's family, the Zellenkas. By the end, I thought I knew who the murderer was, but I didn't care--the book is filled with expertly plotted hairpin twists and interesting characterizations. The one unresolved question for me is WHY Erszebet wants so much to find the murderer and what happens to her after the murder is resolved. But this is a minor quibble for a truly fascinating book.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting - mystery with history
Review: I was disappointed in the ending, but overall, liked the way it got there. Good look at historical Vienna and the history of criminal investigations.
Rating:
Summary: Bad Plot. No Biscuit.
Review: While The Fig Eater started out strong in story, mystery, and sexual tension, it fizzled out somewhere in the middle. As one review said, the picture it paints of early 20th Century Vienna is engaging. But it seems that Sheilds got so wrapped up in her research (Vienna, language, gypsy and other Eastern European folklore, and the like), she completely forgot about her characters and story development. By the end of the novel, I wasn't sure who I liked anymore (or was supposed to like), who I was supposed to be pulling for, and why I should care. And many themes that started off strong in the beginning (the fig, for one) were sort of forgotten by the end. I wouldn't recommend this novel, unless you're really into Vienna. Or, like me, need something quick to read in the airport and this is the only remotely interesting book the newstand has.
Rating:
Summary: Great atmosphere, but tension goes unresloved.
Review: I enjoyed this book, and was extremely impressed with the author's knowledge of early 20th century Austria, but in the end, I found the plot to be somewhat lacking. There is a mystery, which centers around a girl, Dora, found dead in a public park; the real action of the story, however, is in the complicated relationships of Dora's friends and family and the friends and co-workers of the detective (known only as the Inspector) and his wife. The mystery is eventually solved, but the relationships never resolve; it's kind of like real life, I guess, but it makes a somewhat uncomfortable ending. This was a good read and painted an interesting portrait of 1910 Vienna, but the plot lacked a real dramatic arc.
Rating:
Summary: What was this book about???
Review: I won't give you a synopsis of this book since everyone else seems to have done it so well. What I'll give is a comment and a question. The book is beautifully written, very lyrical. I recommend it highly, but I have to say that I'm really not happy about such an ambiguous ending. In hindsight, it's nice that every little detail was not neatly tied together and the characters didn't all ride happily into the sunset, that sets this book apart from many others. Yet I still feel set up by the captivating story and let down and ready for more detail and more of a sense of closure at the end. I'm not sure if a sequel to the tale of Erzebet and her husband the inspector would satisfy my questions, but I sure wouldn't object if the author tries again.
Rating:
Summary: A Case of Showing Off
Review: I'd suggest going with the original inspiration for this novel, Freud's, "Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria" which is a truly fascinating piece of writing. Shield's idea here is wonderful, but she fails to carry it off. The book is nothing but a vehicle for showing off her prodigious research on 'fin-de-siecle' Vienna. All sorts of details are thrown in about Vienna just for the sake of putting them in and without furthering the plot in any way. The ending was a huge disappointment. The author had the best of intentions here and the book could have been truly interesting, thus the three stars, but in the end it was a bore.
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