Customer Reviews

Psychiatrist and Other Stories

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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. ... .

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.

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.

The Psychiatrist was an interesting, yet difficult story to understand, however, there were some good aspects about Simao Bacamarte. He had great intentions of cleaning up the town of the mentally isane, and placing them in the Green House (the insane asylum), but I feel that he, in the end, found himself in their same shoes. I don't feel that he gave some of these people enough credit. He didn't give himself enough credit.

It's not too ironic if you think about it, a lot of psychiatrist's end up insane themselves these days, and on top of that, they are giving council to the isane while they themselves are stuggling with depression and other psychiatric problems. I feel that's what happened to Simao Bacamarte when he admitted himself to his own institution. He himself was a very depressed man. In essence, it was a good read, but would be much more enjoyable if it was less wordy.

I have read quite a few brazilian novels and other novels in portugese. I like Machado because he is absurdist. but the stories I like best are about people who have nothing to do and are lonely and are bored. That is because there is not much to do in college station texas, but I have a lot of free time and feel lonely and bored.

I could not say I liked this story. First of all I had to read this story as homework, and I felt it was to long and complicated. I did read it but I didn't realy understand what the story was about, I could not follow it.

Was the psychiatrist insane from the beginning, or did he become insane when he was committed to his own institution? Was he experimenting on everyone including himself on the cause and cure of insanity, even if this meant that the people were striped from their lives in general?

The only story I read out of this book was "The Psychiatrist". It was enough for me. I found it at the beginning to be exciting and then in the middle it fell off of a cliff. It was hard to read and stay caught up the way people were being thrown into the asylum. Who was really crazy here? I do not recommend this story to anyone.