The Fig Eater

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: 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: 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.