Freud's Sister: A Novel
Damaged by loss and haunted by unfulfilled dreams, Adolfina Freud, sister of Sigmund Freud, tells her story. This grim but provocative novel by Macedonian author Smilevski asks whether Sigmund Freud, who escaped the Nazi invasion of Vienna after selecting an entourage including his doctor’s family, his sister-in-law, and his dog, was responsible for the deaths of four of his sisters in a concentration camp. This is largely a book of ideas, with the action progressing slowly, and an examination of the way choices make us who we are. The narrator Adolfina explores her brother’s beliefs through the prism of her own experience, with a sensitivity to human frailty sometimes lacking in his work. The result is an unflinching gaze at love, death, sex, hatred, depression, and madness. The writing is repetitive and raw, with some stilted speeches, but Smilevski has flashes of insight and creates memorable images of despair. Like Freud’s work, Adolfina’s story reaches past its moment in history in an attempt to uncover greater universal truths about the darker side of human nature. --Bridget Thoreson