Human Traces : Sebastian Faulks

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Human Traces was my first Sebastian Faulks book. And going by reviews on the net, apparently Faulks has written better ones, notably Birdsong. As is my luck, I just had to pick the wrong one, eh? Human Traces takes us through the lives of Jacques Rebiere and Thomas Midwinter who dream of being pioneering psychiatrists in their quest to find out what really makes us human.

And it does begin promisingly enough - a young Rebiere resolves to become an alienist after watching the painful deterioration of his beloved brother, Olivier. Faulks then takes us on a revealing journey into the mental asylums of the Victorian times as Thomas Midwinter deviates from a love for literature to a love for understanding the human mind or brain...call it what you may. These were for me the best passages of the book - there was immense promise - united in their love for understanding the brain's neurological processes, Midwinter and Rebiere form an unique friendship - a bond, which also brings Midwinter's sister, Sonia, into their partnership eventually as Rebiere's wife. Together, these two doctors open their own sanatorium for the sick. But do they succeed? Yes, the sanatorium is wildly successful.

But Faulks hangs the dagger of desperation and futility over both Rebiere and Midwinter. They agonize that despite their best efforts they really did not 'cure' their patients. Did they really find out what it is to be human? Where does madness end and being human begin? Are they one and the same? Interesting as the premise is, Faulks overdoes it. Neither Midwinter or Rebiere were fully-realized characters that I felt for. Midwinter perhaps, towards the end, did arouse a little bit of sympathy though. There was one astounding stream-of-consciousness passage when we are given a glimpse into poor Olivier's distorted mind that tells me that Faulks must really be a fantastic writer. Fantastic when he is not giving 20 pages of medical research, that is.

Too many pages in this book detail a lot more of medical science, Darwinism and psychiatry than I really care about. The women here - Kitty, Midwinter's wife, and Sonia, are just props to their husbands and nothing else. And there were certain elements that baffled me - each time the story builds up into something, it inevitably seemed to fall apart. Rebiere and Midwinter have a major fight - what happens? Nothing much. Rebiere has an affair. What happens? The wife doesn't seem to mind and the other woman disappears! Midwinter goes to Africa on some Darwinistic inspiration - what happens? Apart from slicing a dead Masai tribesman's head out to examine his brain, Midwinter doesn't seem to suffer any long-lasting consequence of his (mis)adventure. And so I could go on. I am a bit disappointed as you can see.

Having said that, Human Traces is not unreadable, provided you skip the lectures and speeches. And you can also skip a lot more nonsense in between too...but should you really do all this skipping and hopping? I suggest no. Better to not read the book at all.

Verdict : Unsatisfying. 

Rating :2/5