A remarkable and challenging novel. Ambitious and expansive, Faulks accurately deals with the development of neurology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries through his two utterly dedicated practitioners, Thomas Midwinter and Jacques Rebiere. We are taken from the worst practices of Victorian asylums to the enlightened treatment of patients in their Swiss Clinic. But; the science is in its infancy, mistakes are made and tensions arise. The mysteries of what makes us human simply cannot be 'solved' definitively. Full of wonderful characters, incident and huge pathos.

Certainly my least favourite Sebastian Faulks book. I ordered from the library (in fact I made them order it in for me) when I realised that Snow Country which I'd got from the library was the second of three - and this is the first, albeit written ten years earlier.

Started strong, but it felt to me that Faulks, and (therefore myself?) got a little bored as he was writing it, and became confused as to whether he was writing an in-depth portrayal of the (fascinating) history of pyscho-analysix/psychiatry and the two main characters, or some sort of grand saga. I also got the impression he suddenly realised that his book was set in Austria (eventually) and the first world war was round the corner, and he was in a rush to get to that. His characterization of Thomas and Jacques got blurry as they got older - and I too got confused as to who was who, despite reading about them for over 600 (small print) pages.

The lack of ethics involved in the early years of psycho-analysis is truly something!!

In parts as compelling as Charlotte grey or Birdsong, two books that had me hooked from start to finish with the insanely beautiful writing that Sebastian faulks uses to draw the reader deeply into the story. In human traces sections like the journey across Africa, the childhood scenes at the start, world war 1 and the love stories between characters flowed and were hard to put down. However, other parts were such hard reading that I found myself setting a certain number of pages to read at a time to just get to the end. The end itself, although sad, but realistic, was also compelling and left me with the desire not to leave these characters behind, but to somehow travel back in time and step into their lives. I wish I could say that I'd read it again, as I did with Birdsong and I intend to do with Charlotte grey, but this one will move on from my bookshelf to a new home. Fond memories, I have enjoyed so much of it, but as I read in another review, it was around 200 pages too long. Even as a science teacher, I could have done without the lecture scene by Thomas, for example. The scene of the investigation of the brain was fascinating and we'll described and even shared with my third years today as part of their study of the physics and a bit of biology about the eye and the brain. I don't normally write so long a review. But, I was both hooked and struggling with this book in almost equal measures. I would say, in balance, read it. Skip some bits, maybe. Enjoy the rest. It is beautiful.

This is an absolutely fascinating book that weaves medicine, travel, psychology, paeleo-anthropology, religion, evolution, history, literature - and probably a few more things besides - into the tale of the sometimes strained relationships between two fallible people from very different backgrounds. Thomas' theory to explain the existence and continuation of the apparantly maladaptive trait of hearing voices is a masterly synthesis that is intriguingly credible: even though I know that it would probably not stand up to rigorous investigation it has a coherence and elegance that makes me wish it were true. I can see that the lectures and case notes through which this and other theories are expounded might put off readers who are less intrigued by the subject matter and that there are some rather melodramatic interludes and broadly-sketched characters but even so, the ideas and the feel of this book will stay with me for a long time and so it gets full marks.

This could have been a fantastic book. A brilliant beginning to what promised to be an interesting story but it never happened. The two main characters were interesting enough to have carried a story and, when Faulks allowed them to do so, it was as good as anything he's written.

However, huge chunks read like an outdated psychology text book and added nothing to the narrative. The love affair between one of the characters and his wife was odd in that he saw her in the corridor one day and was violently in love with her the next with no idea how they arrived there. Faulks is capable of better emotional/love scenes but seemed too focussed on the medical side to give this any thought.

Although I'd read and enjoyed several of his before this, I wouldn't rush to read another.

Faulks seems to like researching the heck out of it of his chosen subject, and using it as architecture for weighty novels. Here his structure is the treatment of mental illness and the historical development of psychiatry and psychology from the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century. The building blocks are two young men, one French, the other English, who meet on a beach in Deauville and, rather rashly, commit themselves to a future partnership in mad doctoring. They go their separate ways to get their respective educations in med schools and insane asylums and years later end up, as planned, in a joint venture to find the cause and cure for madness. Fortunately, Faulks is a good enough psychologist himself to decorate his building with complex characters and human dramas.

If you’ve ever wanted to study the history of psychology but put it off because of the weightiness of it all, this may be the entree to the subject you’ve been waiting for. Faulks takes us on journeys into the heart of the matter. We live for a while in an English public insane asylum, sit in on lectures at a Parisian medical school and then follow our two doctor’s increasingly divergent research paths at their own alpine sanitorium. Through the voices of his characters Faulks elucidates, and occasionally rips into, the theories of the major players in the nineteenth century Parisian, Viennese and English schools of mad doctoring.

Faulks also takes a detour in Africa to expound, at length, on the origins of homo sapiens. This episode is the only narrative element that seems contrived and unlikely; however if your subject is human nature and what makes it tick, or not, perhaps you feel compelled to include thoughts on the origin of the species?

2,5 ster. Een redelijk begin, een broodnodige en verrassende plotwending (ik moest denken aan When Nietsche wept van Irving Yalom) halverwege en een redelijk slot. Maar met 609 pagina’s is dit boek echt veel te lang. Het leven van de twee hoofdpersonen, de Engelsman Thomas Midwinter en de Fransman Jacques Rebière, verloopt bovendien vaak wel erg gemakkelijk. En als er eindelijk echt iets gebeurt dan kabbelt het al vrij snel weer voort. Uitstapjes naar Amerika en Afrika maar ook het hoofdstuk waar de zoon van Jacques meevecht in WO1 voelden als overbodig. En het allerergste… terwijl ik het lees dacht ik vaak: het is allemaal verzonnen. Kortom het raakte me niet echt.

Centraal thema in het boek is de stand van de psychiatrie en neurologie eind 19e en begin 20e eeuw. Maar de soms pagina lange colleges konden me niet boeien en zijn ook niet makkelijk te volgen. Veel namen van personen die op dit vlak ook in werkelijkheid iets hebben betekend maar die bij het grote publiek niet bekend zijn. Het kwam op mij over als koketteren met research.

Het is een verhaal in de stijl van Jan Guillou, maar dan veel minder.

Beyond tedious. I only read to the end to find out what happened. Much too long and detailed in parts. Sorry but his books are usually really good but this was one of the worst books I have ever read.

I was drawn first to Faulks's war novels, but this book is by far the best thing of his I have read. It is wonderful

I was really enjoying this until about page 240, when strange things began happening (Thomas is hearing voices for no apparent reason) and I found I really just did not care anymore. These people did not resonate with me, nor did the story, which is really sad, since I am very interested in this period and early psychiatry. I'm not sure what your experience will be, if you go in knowing nothing about the subject. But for me, it was a disappointing read, despite my background knowledge. It's probably not a good idea for me to trash another writer when I'm about to publish my own (similar) novel. Oh well. It's not like anyone reads these reviews.

My main complaints were that Jacques seems gay at first, says he loves Thomas, and then this foreshadowing is tossed out when now it serves the plot to have J fall in love with T's sister. I was already thinking of tossing the book aside due to the implausible nature of T & J meeting and instantly becoming friends, despite not speaking the same language. After six hours of being together, we are told, Thomas has learned how to speak French. Seriously? I kept on, despite these problems. But the characters never became real for me. They were too obviously serving the needs of a plot outline.

There were times I was frustrated with this book, it seems to go on indefinitely when you are reading it. Ultimately you are rewarded when finished as it gives a sense of the frustration such scientists and researchers must have gone through in years gone by with a lack of knowledge in such areas. To it’s credit the author must have undertaken an enormous amount of research on the subject which is also put into date context, and that shines through here.

Would I recommend it…..I think on balance yes.

The amount of research Sebastian Faulks clearly does into his chosen subject matter leaves many, if not most, authors in the dust. This gives his writing a certain intelligence and a well-informed feel, but it does also have its flaws. Chiefly, that his books are over long. I felt this with Birdsong and again here with Human Traces. Don't get me wrong, the subject matter was fascinating - and admittedly horrifying in places - but by the time I got to page 400 my interest had largely died and I didn't really reconnect until the last 30 or so pages. It's not that anything felt particularly redundant. This is, after all, the life's work of two men. You would expect it to be a bit of an epic. But I did feel as though bits could've been trimmed without losing anything. For example, the construction of the railway. A page or two would have sufficed. It's as though Faulks didn't want to leave the tiniest bit of research out.

I had been thinking that the length was going to kill Human Traces for me. But I'd forgotten that if there's one thing Faulks does particularly well, it is his endings. No mess of loose ends. No avoiding a conclusion (because somehow that makes a piece "high brow"). No stinting on emotion. I cried (in the middle of the library, bit embarrassing that!) and promptly forgave him all his over enthusiasm for cable cars. The man writes a beautiful finale.