Human Traces

Sebastian Faulks (CHARLOTTE GRAY) brings together the lives of two fictional young men, Jacques Rebire and Thomas Midwinter, who meet at university in 1880, during psychiatry's infancy. The would-be "mind doctors" become fast friends and start a clinic but eventually disagree over the treatment of a patient. Jacques believes the unconscious holds the key to insanity while Thomas believes mental illness is genetic. Narrator James Adams keeps exhaustive sections of exposition, lengthy descriptions, and tedious conversations moving forward while skillfully maintaining the details of the historical period. Adams offers credible period diction, recounting nineteenth-century views on the treatment of dementia, hysteria, and schizophrenia, as well as drawing a horrific picture of the conditions in a "lunatic asylum." Faulks's content is ambitious, and Adams's performance is admirable. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

June 19, 2006
Set at the dawn of modern psychiatry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, British author Faulks's vast, elegant novel follows two "mad-doctors," Thomas Midwinter and his close friend Jacques Rebière, as they struggle to contribute something great to the emerging discipline. A chance meeting in 1880 leads to a lifelong partnership that lasts through journeys around the Continent and across the Atlantic. The pair vow to unlock the secrets of consciousness, and the novel traces their experiences in the hellish asylums of the day and their diverging approaches to the field. As Jacques grows interested in the Viennese school of psychoanalysis and talk therapy, Thomas focuses on the neurological and evolutionary mechanisms that lead to psychosis. Faulks (Birdsong
) shines in his dramatization of Thomas's lectures, presaging contemporary arguments about chemical imbalances. While his characters attempt to discover what makes us human, Faulks also meticulously depicts grief, longing, nostalgia and melancholy through a portrait of Thomas's sister, Sonia. Faulks marries extensive research with a satisfying narrative arc to create a novel that is compelling as both history and literature.