Dr. Neruda's Cure for Evil

by Rafael Yglesias

Book Overview

When one of his successfully treated patients commits a vicious murder and then kills himself, a preeminent New York City psychotherapist embarks on a desperate personal mission to discover the root... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446520055
• ISBN13: 9780446520058
• Release Date: July 1996
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 694 Pages
• Weight: 2.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.0" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

amazing wonderful

this is one of the best books i have ever read in my entire life. the book draws the reader in immediately and holds the reader's attention for all 600 plus pages. i finished it a couple days ago and cannot stop thinking about it.

Incredible, incredible, incredible - but not for everyone.

I'm a voracious reader with high standards, and this is one of my five favorite novels of all time. It's one of those books I can't wait to forget so I can read it again. The fact that I'm a therapist in training may partly explain why I disagree with some other reviewers who find this book pretentious, pedantic, or silly. Neruda presents the story as a psychiatrist documenting three case histories, so the narrator mostly addresses the reader as a fellow mental heatlh professional and doesn't bother to define terms or concepts. I can see how this could alienate readers who don't have the assumed knowledge base. However, if you're familiar with, or just interested in, psychology, this book is exquisitely pleasurable. You don't have to trudge through tiring explanations; Neruda assumes you understand the basics and doesn't hesitate to leap right into the complicated stuff. You may even find that, like me, your own beliefs and theories are challenged and expanded by Yglesias. This book reminds me a bit of The Name of the Rose, another of my top 5 all-time greatest. Remember Eco's passages of untranslated Latin and abundant references to medieval obscurities? If, like me, you didn't major in medieval studies, you probably feel like you deserve 16 credit hours by the time you've gotten through it. I can hardly get through a page without consulting The Key to The Name of the Rose, which explains all the references. No such key exists for Dr. Neruda's Cure for Evil, but I think Neruda's book is more accessible than Eco's. If you want to learn more about psychology and you're willing to Google a lot of terminology, I think you'll be able to appreciate it. If you *do* work in mental health, I think you'll adore it.

Brilliant, Deep

I'm a psychologist, and especially enjoy books with psychological content. This book provides remarkable insight into psychoanalytic thought and human complexity and fallibility. It's interesting and a good read, actually quite exciting at some points. I loved it!

A great well written romp--intrigue and depth.

One of the best books I've read. Great character's with all you might need in a book--depth, page turning, can't put it down story. Insights on two different cultures and one way someone handles a painful child hood. Humor. I has a mystery, a tale of power and pain, of two American cultures, a tale of a childhood that helps create a brilliant psychiatrist. It's too complicated to describe-read it if you want a dense page turner with interesing characters.

Evil is in the hearts and minds of men and women.

Makes you think about all kinds of childhood terrors and how that turns you into the person you are...And to overcome what happened and be a happy, decent human being without you hurting the people you love in the same way you were hurt. Ygliesias knows the evil that lurks in the hearts of men (and women)