In nineteenth-century Vienna, a drama of love, fate, and will is played out amid the intellectual ferment that defined the era. Josef Breuer, one of the founding fathers of psychoanalysis, is at the height of his career. Friedrich Nietzsche, Europe's greatest philosopher, is on the brink of suicidal despair, unable to find a cure for the headaches and other ailments that plague him.
When he agrees to treat Nietzsche with his experimental "talking cure," Breuer never expects that he too will find solace in their sessions. Only through facing his own inner demons can the gifted healer begin to help his patient. In When Nietzsche Wept, Irvin Yalom blends fact and fiction, atmosphere and suspense, to unfold an unforgettable story about the redemptive power of friendship.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Good plot and good content, but begs a more concise writing style
If this plot is original, then the author truely deserves credit for his imagination that brought various real historical figures together in this believable drama. I also appreciate how the author weaved ... Read More
Rating: - Enjoyable
I savored this book and looked forward to reading it each night, not wanting it to end. One of my favorite writers.
Rating: - Yet another captivating, must-read from Yalom!
I wanted so badly to believe all of the details in this story were true; Yalom described the characters with fantastic but not excessive detail, and allows the reader to get inside the head of each, and to ... Read More
Rating: - Learning to Love One's Life
Irvin Yalom is a psychiatrist with a deep interest in philosophy. In works of fiction and non-fiction he has tried to combine these two disciplines for the insights they may jointly offer to people. "When ... Read More
Rating: - brillant work (accuracy aside)
This is a very heart-touching novel, easily one of the book novels I've read. But it must not be approached as a history text, or you'll be rather disillusioned. Yalom makes it clear that none of the events ... Read More
- Good plot and good content, but begs a more concise writing style
- Enjoyable