Riots, Rage & Ruin.

I wanted to pause for a second and take a time out from my regular posts, to reflect and offer my ruminations instead on something that is more important: the horrific unrest and riots that have taken place principally in London, but which are spreading across the country even as I type.

Quite frankly, it is disgusting to sit and watch thousands of people loot, burn buildings, and fight with police, destroying everything that they see fit, without a semblance of care or remorse for their actions. People's homes are being destroyed, along with their businesses; even their very livelihoods. Yet it continues, as more and more people join in with what can only be described as mob mentality. It's sickening to see the true capabilities of human nature; the very violence, unrest and turmoil that Great Britain has become embroiled in.

Fire rages through the Carpetright store on Tottenham High Road

I may be young and naive, but even I can recognise that these people are deluded. They may convince themselves that their is drive to their actions, talk themselves into fighting. They may complain that they are making their voices heard by making a stand; but this is surely not the way to do it.

Alas, the media make things no better. The images of buildings in flames, of smashed glass and of fighting littering the streets, are one's that you would expect. Does this mean they make the situation better? No. It's obvious that they must inform the public of events, but although it will fill most viewers with bitterness and resentment for those that are causing the problems, it also riles the spirits of those that want to get involved for no reason. As such, the riots have transpired into something out of control; a complete civil unrest.

A police car burns in the night

In just two days the situation has become more frightening than anyone could have possibly imagined; a realisation that within such a short period of time, a completely manic attitude has swept the country. I pray for the families and the people that have lost their businesses and homes over attitudes and actions so preposterous, pathetic and unnecessary that it makes my blood boil, as I'm sure it does many others.

I guess all we can do now is wait and hope that our country has enough good to calm the situation and bring it to peace before this can be allowed to continue onwards and spread even further. It needs to be stopped.

The Interpretation of Murder. - Jed Rubenfeld

Synopsis: Manhattan, 1909. On the morning after Sigmund Freud arrives in New York on his first - and only - visit to the United States, a stunning débutante is found bound and struggled in her penthouse apartment, high above Broadway. The following night, another beautiful heiress, Nora Acton, is discovered tired to a chandelier in her parents' home, viciously wounded and unable to speak or to recall her ordeal. Soon Freud and his American disciple Stratham Younger, are enlisted to help Miss Acton recover her memory, and to piece together the killer's identity. It is a riddle that will test their skills to the limit, and lead them on a thrilling journey - into the darkest places of the city, and of the human mind.


Review

Well, where on earth do I start with this one? I picked this up on the recommendation of several members on a forum I regularly frequent, and I certainly haven't been disappointed; The Interpretation of Murder is a captivating novel filled with love, deception and murder. Sigmund Freud's only ever trip to the United States is one that has always confused biographers, as for the rest of his life he referred to American's as 'savages.' What happened to the genius on his travels? Rubenfeld in this novel delightfully weaves the threads of history and fiction together, to create us a clever answer.

From the moment that Freud steps down in the United States with his two companions Carl Jung and Sandor Ferenczi, to deliver a series of lectures at a prestigious university, in the hope his psychoanalytical ideas will propel across the country, mysterious forces work against him to stop him doing so. As Freud battles to dispel the rumours that threaten his work and his credibility, his disciple Dr Stratham Younger, has other problems. A stunning débutante is found whipped and bound in her home, with no recollection of the event, or no voice. Miss Acton must work with Younger to unravel the mystery of her lost voice, and as she does so, Stratham begins to realise that not everything is quite as it seems.

The Interpretation of Murder is a novel which is fiendishly clever, as the reader's suspicions are led one way, then another. The author creates a tension through all his characters; as accusations fly between them, we no longer know who to trust. It seems everyone has a secret to hide, as the plot unravels and the reader turns the pages in anticipation.

In addition, the novel tackles brilliantly, the way in which Sigmund Freud transformed our ideas of psychology and of the mind. As an A Level psychology student who has studied Freud, I found this to be enlightening in the way in which some of his techniques and ideas were explored and analysed. Of course, not everyone agrees with the great man's ideas; and as the divisions and cracks within Freud's personal camp begun to show throughout the novel, maybe the answers are closer than the psychoanalysts believe.

All in all a fantastic, engaging novel that holds the reader in suspense and anticipation, trying to second-guess Rubenfeld's plot twists and turns. It is a tribute to the way in which the book is written to know that when the reader feels like they have stumbled upon the answer, they must not be so sure, as the rug is swept from under our feet once more. Allow yourself to be taken on a journey into the darkest depths of New York city, and into the human mind.

5/5.