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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In portuguese, I sware that The Psychiatrist is hilarious!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Psychiatrist and Other Stories (Paperback)
I have read the Psychiatrist in portuguese about three times. In the first time I was only 12 years old, and I had no problems to understand it. And The Psychiatrist has just 55 pages(Brazilian Edition). The Psychiatrist is astonishing, one of the best stories I've read until now. Probably, the translation is not good enough because Machado has an extreme ironic stile, and I think it would not be easy to translate it to another language. I think this could be the only explanation to the slow rate gave to this book. Shakespeare in portuguese is not as good as in English. You also need to have in mind that the book was written in the XIX century, and at that time the human knowledge about psychiatry was quite different. In the beginning, to some persons, The Psychiatrist can look serious but it isn't. When You read this book, if you are in doubt if the writter is being ironic or not, forget your doubt, because Machado is ironic all the time. If you don't keep Machado's stile in mind you won't be able to understand the book. Please, forgive my bad English. ... .
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, complex short story,
By
This review is from: Psychiatrist and Other Stories (Paperback)
The Psychiatrist (O Alienista) is a very good story. I think some of the reviewers are missing the point. "Who was really crazy? " That is the whole point of the story. That is the question the writer wants you to explore. He doesn't offer you any answers. Readers should just try to enjoy the amusing, smart way in which Machado de Assis address the complex issue of sanity. His witty observations about the society of the time (the book takes place in a small city Brazil at the end of the 19th century), their quirks, mediocrity, and grandiose ambitions make for a very good reading. The story was written more than a century ago, but it has not lost its freshness. My only concern is whether his poignant humor and beautiful prose style were lost in translation.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Witty, ironic, and a very fresh read,
By
This review is from: Psychiatrist and Other Stories (Paperback)
Having read the Psychiatrist as an assignment for class (Latin American Humanities, Columbia University), I found the short story to be very fresh and engaging. The translation maintains Assis' wit, and though written over a century ago, the story is very accessible.
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