Customer Reviews

Soul Murder Revisited: Thoughts about Therapy, Hate, Love, and Memory

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

 

 

Shengold's book is really important -- he explores the inner lives of child abuse victims without sentimentalizing them, proscribing their recovery from trauma, or denying their complex aggressive responses to the abuse.

This serves to make the victim of abuse feel like a real human being, whose less adaptive and even bizarre sides are included rather than avoided or explained away by simple theory. Shengold's writing, while at times needing elaboration and more specific case histories, is beautiful, clear, complex, at times dazzling. The final chapter is a masterpiece of healing and hope. An important work.

I found this book well-written and extremely useful, but it is not a very easy book to understand if you have not studied psychology.
Some of the terminology and concepts are quite sophisticated and it is a pity that Shengold was not able to express his brilliance in a more user-friendly manner.
I think is book is excellent for the serious student of psycholoy, abuse and psychotherapy. I fear that for those who are not familiar with terms and concepts, this book could be a difficult read.

This book adds some material to his original "Soul Murder" which was a better book. If you are only going to read one, read "Soul Murder".