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.
Rating:
Summary: The Fig Eater
Review: This is the stupidest book I have ever read. Totally pointless and boring.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK
Review: What a waste of the authors time and effort. The concept and research involved in this novel drew me in but eventually I got bored and skimmed large sections. Although there were various lines I was following with enough interest to finish the book I was dismayed at the eventual outcome, which had nothing to do with any of these lines and was totally lame. It made the earlier parts of the book pointless.
Rating: 
Summary: DISAPPOINTING BOOK BECAUSE OF UNRESOLVED LOOSE ENDS
Review: Publisher's Weekly got it wrong with its claim of atmospheric suspense. The murder mystery began with a strong opening and then quickly became a plodding chore to read. The principle reason for the change was that there were just too many loose ends. The author provided three potentially interesting tidbits that provided a real opportunity for exploration and yet there was no follow through. The most obvious missing threat was the figs themselves. The reader is left wondering why this very essential part the novel simply disappeared. This was also true of the uniquely introduced subplots of the thumb and syphllis.
The theme of the book had real potential but the delivery was disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: The Fig Eater
Review: A combination of suspense thriller, historical fiction,
who-done-it, this beautifully written and well-researched
novel will place readers in turn of the century Vienna
into a world of murder, folklore and the forensic
science of the day. I have seldom read such a literary
book that has all the page-turner qualities of a modern
suspense thriller, yet evokes its historical
setting so compellingly. I hope Jody Shields writes
more fiction like this!
Rating:
Summary: Freud would be proud
Review: Having read "Dora, An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria" the case study "The Fig Eater" is based upon, I found myself enjoying "The Fig Eater" immensely. I understood the complex relationships from having read Freud's work and it made the novel more complex and vivid. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much had I not read "Dora," because the story of the murder itself isn't that impressive or revolutionary, and I've read better books about Europe in the late 1800's and early 1900's ("Embers" is a must read). If you enjoyed "The Fig Eater," take the time to read "Dora." Each enhances the enjoyment of the other, and makes both interesting and provocative.
Rating:
Summary: What About Syphillis, the Fig, and the Thumb?
Review: The Fig Eater by Jody Shields was a fascinating journey through Vienna. The details provided a good visual picture of the city, the characters, the method of crime investigation, and daily life of the period. I couldn't put it down until I finished it. But.....the ending did not deliver. Things that were fascinating such as the search and discovery of both the fig tree and thumb stolen from Dora's corpse were left unresolved.
The title clearly implied that the "fig" was an important element of the plot - it was dropped......who excavated the body and stole the thumb. Clearly the implied murderer was not drawn as a gentlemen capable of getting his hands dirty. So, was it Jofsez the gypsy? How did syphillis figure in? The story seemed to imply that it was going somewhere with the disease. Ultimately, I was disappointed in this book which started out great, held my interest, and fell flat and left me feeling dissatisfied.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but plodding
Review: This book got a lot of advance publicity, and it was based on the hype that I purchased the book in hardcover. I wouldn't advise other readers to do the same. It's an interesting book, an attempt to describe the state of criminal investigation during the Victorian Era, and the advent of psychological profiling. However, there were long stretches of writing, whole pages sometimes, that just went on and on and on - and I skimmed.
Life during the Victorian years proceeded at a more leisurely pace than it does in our own era, but lordy, does the writing about it have to be just as slow?
I think not.
Rating: 
Summary: A historical fiction lover¿s feast!
Review: All I can say about this book can be summed up in one word: WOW! I was so impressed with The Fig Eater; I can't believe I let it sit on my bookshelf untouched for so long. Everything about it was wonderful: the suspensful storyline, historical setting, and the obviously researched details in the writing. My only regret is that there aren't any more books by this amazing, talented author.The Fig Eater opens with a puzzling murder. Eighteen-year-old Dora is found dead in an Austrian city park with no clues as to who did it or why. The Inspector in brought in for the investigation, and the suspensful journey begins. The rest of the novel details the protocol for an investigation and what evidence in uncovered along the way. But not only do we get involved in the official side of things, readers are treated to the amateur sleuthing of the Inspector's wife, Erzebet, and her secret desire to find out what happened to poor Dora. The Fig Eater opens up a world of an early 20th century crime investigation; Gypsy talismans, superstitions, and rituals; and sexual secrets. I loved everything about this book. I was on the edge of my seat most of the time, waiting for the outcome to come to light. Jody Shields is an incredible author -- her writing is richly detailed and exquisitely rendered. The 1910 Viennese landscape created an atmosphere that was very much 3-D for me, which, in my opinion, is very rare. Kudos to Jody, and a desperate plea from me: write more soon!
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.
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