Customer Reviews

The Fig Eater: A Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

I read this book on a vacation and found it to be a page turner. I loved the atmosphere, the gypsy elements, the police procedure at the turn of the century and some of the characters. However, I spent some time pouring over the book after I finished and found many holes. First of all, the first major section of the book is about the fig (which is quite well done), but this turns out to be the biggest loose end around -- when we FINALLY find the tree, what is the relevance? how does it implicate the murderer? In fact, there are many scenes that are well described that turn out to have NOTHING to do with the plot. In short, there are many nice set pieces, but the storytelling does not hold together as many reviewers have pointed out. I enjoyed the book, but as a real detective story, it is lacking. too much pedantic research, not enough hard info to dig our teeth into. Still a good read, but not a masterwork.

My Mother lent me this book to read, commenting as she did it that the book was "definitely unusual." I'm inclined to agree. While it's basically a mystery novel, most of the time it reads as historical fiction; thoroughly researched and exquisite in detail. Set in early 20th century Vienna, Shields has fictionalized the story of Dora, a case study by Freud, and turned it into a mystery novel that has two crime solvers--with very different approaches-- trying to solve the mystery. The book centers around Erszebet, a Hungarian woman married to the Viennese Inspector in charge of solving Dora's murder. She is consumed with the idea that a fig found in the dead girl's stomach holds the key to solving the crime. Erszebet's investigative techniques run a thin line between superstition and witchcraft, while her Inspector husband tirelessly tries to bring the Vienna police force into the 20th century. Early on, Erszebet enlists the help of a young English governess, Wally, who is definitely under her spell, as is Erszebet's nameless husband. I too found myself spellbound, and although it ran a little slow in the second half, I read it through to the last page--I confess I had to read the ending twice because I found it confusing. Overall it was a good read, and I'm not likely to forget Erszebet anytime soon.

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.

I felt cheated after reading so much about figs and severed thumbs and tarot cards only to find out at the end it all meant nothing. Every time there was a climax, it was immediately forgotten only to be referred to in an absent-minded way 50 pages later. The ending was ludicrous. I think Ms. Shields had a germ of an idea and didn't know what to do with it after the first couple of chapters. I have lived in Vienna for the past eight years and every time I came to a German word, I winced because Ms. Shields used the singular instead of the plural and put umlauts in the wrong place. A key plot point in the book (the search for Rosza, the governess) could have been resolved at once instead of dragging on for over 200 pages. In Austria it is required by law to file a Meldezettel, a police form listing your place of residence. Even a baby needs its own Meldezettel within three days of birth. Every time someone moves, they must file a new Meldezettel within three days. The law has been in effect since well before 1910, when the book takes place. Doesn't Little Brown & Co. have editors or fact-checkers?

I couldn't get my nose out of this once I started. It's a crime novel, with vivid descriptions of turn-of-the century Vienna, a methodical inspector who reminds me of Sherlock Holmes, and his intuitive wife - working secretly, and with more occult methods, on the same strange case. Lots of twists, turns and strange, illuminating mental pictures keep your mind working in several directions, as you try to figure out the answers. The details are vivid and at the same time obscure, and worked well to give me the general creeps as I plowed through this unusual, engaging book. I liked it.

The Fig Eater is lovely, beautifully written book. It's a literary novel, not a mystery. I take issue with others' comments about the book's lack of coherence, about it's unsatisfying ending. The book is stylized, much of it is in summary or half-scene, and many scenes (especially those from the Inspector's wife's point-of-view) are more imagistic and dreamlike than anything else, but that's entirely in keeping with her character. If you don't like that, you won't like this book, point-blank. The murderer, in the end, after many twists and turns, is in fact the most likely suspect (as most murderers turn out to be). If the evidence doesn't add up, it's because evidence DOESN'T always add up. There are many wrong turns and missed marks in any investigation. So the fig didn't have anything to do with her death? So what? It's still a valid path to pursue in search of the murderer. Read this book for its atmosphere and its elegance. The murder is realistically unsatisfying -- when would a real murder be "satisfying", anyway?

I thought for a first book this was quite well done. Ms. Fields is a very good writer and is particularly adept at creating a keen sense of time and place....in this case, early 20th century Vienna. The book, of the historical crime/mystery genre, is very atmospheric and Ms. Shields creates a world filled with brooding mystery. Unfortunately, I found her characters flat and unbelievable. Because they seemed unremittingly two-dimensional, they never came alive for me. And I thought the ending was just plain silly. Somehow, I think this will make a better movie than it does a novel (I've heard that a well-known film company has already bought the rights)....but they'll have to come up with a new ending.

The plot of this book seemed interesting and unique to me, so I decided to purchase it (second-hand, thankfully) and give it a read. At first I was caught up with the discovery of the body of a young woman murdered and the beginnings of a murder investigation. Beyond that everything went off-kilter.

The characters are not developed fully and I could not identify with any of them. I felt as though a string of eccentrics were passing by a window and I was simply watching the movements. I truly didn't care about any of these people or if Dora's murder was ever solved.

The author leaves entirely too many ends unraveled. She brings up interesting tidbits, enticing the reader to believe these are important clues, only to leave them without any resolution. I can respect an author attempting to put the reader off onto another trail, but some of these clues are so obscure as to leave the reader questioning why it was even brought up in the first place.

As far as a "who done it", it is far too simple to solve. I had the "mystery" uncovered roughly mid-way through the book, but because I am usually so dense with these things, I kept reading hoping it would turn out to be some one else. When it was the person I believed it to be, I was totally dissatisfied. The joy of reading a murder mystery is to have some one revealed who a reader never expected.

I have to admit that the auther did a great job of describing Vienna at the turn of last century and that did hold my interest. Also, the excerpts from an old police crime "how to" book was somewhat interesting. It is for these two things that I'm giving this 2 stars. Outside of that, maybe 1 star.

Save your money and pass this one by.

As I read the other reviews of The Fig Eater, I realized that the key to this book lies in the reader's expectations. Those who expected a detailed yet page turning book such as "The Alienist" were very disappointed. Just because they are set in around the turn of the century, does not mean they are similar. Those who approach this book as a literary fiction with mystery flavoring (think Perez-Reverte or Pairs) are more likely to find the book to be what they expected. If nothing else, the fact that it's a trade paperback (not a mass-market paperback) and that it has a reading group guide should alert you to the other than a typical mystery character of The Fig Eater.

That being said, in many ways I got what I expected out of this book. I selected it because of the setting in 1910 Vienna. Shields does an impressive job of conveying a strong sense of time and place in this novel. It's easy to draw pictures in your head of a city that has one hand in modernizing Europe and the other hand in its Hungarian/Gypsy heritage. The food descriptions are fabulous.

Unfortunately, the plot suffers for the abundance of detail. The pacing is slow. Likewise, while the main characters are described in detail, they didn't grow on me. There was something clinical instead of warm about them.

Bottom line -- this isn't a pure entertainment mystery but if you are interested in turn of the century central Europe, a book you may want to consider.

I enjoyed this book very much. The time and place, the rich Hungarian and gypsy overlays were exotic and encompassing. The book had us follow all the leads, just as the inspector and his wife did. Unlike the other reviewers, I don't resent the false roads we took. If anything, it made the emotional journey -- the disappointment, frustration, confusion -- of solving the murder more real. I especially enjoyed the exacting of revenge issued by the Inspectors wife and Wally. I look forward to the author's next novel!