Book Review The Shaking Woman 
by Siri Hustvedt
Book Review: The Shaking Woman
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This fascinating and intelligent book begins on the day Hustvedt first begins to “shake”, during a speech she is giving about her dead father. This experience so unsettles her that she embarks upon an examination of the self in an attempt to discover whether her shaking is “hysterical” or neurological, combining her personal history with intellectual detective work through the annals of psychoanalysis, neuroscience and psychiatry.
As the author of several novels, she also delves into the world of literature and philosophy, describing instances of great creative minds who have also suffered from similar, sometimes unidentifiable neurological and psychological conditions.
Despite the weighty subject matter, Hustvedt’s work is not only readable but also enjoyable, placing the age-old question of ‘what is mind and what is body’ at the heart of it. But even without a concrete diagnosis or explanation forthcoming, by taking control through research Hustvedt manages to approach some sort of acceptance, an ownership of her condition or at least a tolerance of its ambiguity.
hb, Sceptre, £12.99
Posted on Wednesday 3rd March 2010
Maxine McCoy
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