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98 Reasons for Being
When a traumatized Jewish girl is admitted to the town asylum for alleged nymphomania, Dr. Hoffmann of 1850s Frankfurt exhausts all traditional forms of treatment before resorting to a talking form of therapy, a technique that enables the doctor to connect with the patient and come to terms with his own past. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
4 people are currently reading
222 people want to read
About the author
Clare Dudman
7 books6 followersClare Dudman was born in North Wales. She has a PhD in Chemistry and has worked as a postdoctoral Research Associate in UMIST, a development scientist in industry, a science teacher, a lecturer and as a creative writing tutor for the WEA and the MA in creative writing at University College Chester. She is a member of the Welsh Academy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
December 13, 2014
I did not know anything about the book "98 Reasons for Being" nor it's author, Clare Dudman when I came across it at the local municipal library.The book turned out to be an unexpected gem and was a most enjoyable read. It was one of those books that makes you realize all over again how come we read in the first place.
The story in "98 Reasons for Being " is that of Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann, the director of a mental asylum in 1857 in Frankfurt. Parallel to the doctor's story unfolds that of Hannah Meyer, a Jewish woman committed to his asylum who is accused of nymphomania.
Clare Dudman draws an intricate background for her two main characters. We get to learn a lot about how mental institutions were run in Europe as well as how people with mental illnesses were treated. Hannah has to endure various treatments like ice packs, leeches and electrodes.
Only when Dr. Heinrich starts to talk to Hannah about the other patients, his difficult home life and the hard life of a medical student, does he starts to get through her frozen exterior.
The reader knows about Hannah's mental state through her thoughts that are written in italics. As her situation improves, these paragraphs become clearer. We learn what happened to Hannah to cause her to be brought to the mental asylum.
Apart from Hannah and Dr. Heinrich's thoughts, we are also treated to various extracts, notes and letters that head each chapter. They not only explain various situations, but also helps us to understand what views and ideas people had at this time in Europe. The other supporting characters are all full blown personalities in their own right. The reader is just as eager to read what happens to them.
The character of Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann really existed. Though caring for the mentally ill was his main goal in life, the doctor is probable best known for his children's book, "Struwwelpeter" or "Swollen headed Peter". A few excerpts from this famous book is sprinkled throughout the book "98 Reasons for Being". In a few instances it enhances the story but in my opinion Clare Dudman could have left out most of it.
"98 Reasons for Being" is not a very thick book, only 334 pages in my copy, yet Clare Dudman manages to tell a rich and fascinating tale. She makes every word count and acknowledges the intelligence of the reader. She really practices that old writing law, "to show and not to tell".
I can recommend "98 Reasons for Being" to anybody who loves to read. I am sure that different people will take different messages from this book. By the way, there are no list of 98 reasons to be in the book. Clare Dudman never spells it out, but you will manage to figure out what the number 98 stands for.
In my humble opinion is this one of the most wonderful books that I have ever read.
The story in "98 Reasons for Being " is that of Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann, the director of a mental asylum in 1857 in Frankfurt. Parallel to the doctor's story unfolds that of Hannah Meyer, a Jewish woman committed to his asylum who is accused of nymphomania.
Clare Dudman draws an intricate background for her two main characters. We get to learn a lot about how mental institutions were run in Europe as well as how people with mental illnesses were treated. Hannah has to endure various treatments like ice packs, leeches and electrodes.
Only when Dr. Heinrich starts to talk to Hannah about the other patients, his difficult home life and the hard life of a medical student, does he starts to get through her frozen exterior.
The reader knows about Hannah's mental state through her thoughts that are written in italics. As her situation improves, these paragraphs become clearer. We learn what happened to Hannah to cause her to be brought to the mental asylum.
Apart from Hannah and Dr. Heinrich's thoughts, we are also treated to various extracts, notes and letters that head each chapter. They not only explain various situations, but also helps us to understand what views and ideas people had at this time in Europe. The other supporting characters are all full blown personalities in their own right. The reader is just as eager to read what happens to them.
The character of Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann really existed. Though caring for the mentally ill was his main goal in life, the doctor is probable best known for his children's book, "Struwwelpeter" or "Swollen headed Peter". A few excerpts from this famous book is sprinkled throughout the book "98 Reasons for Being". In a few instances it enhances the story but in my opinion Clare Dudman could have left out most of it.
"98 Reasons for Being" is not a very thick book, only 334 pages in my copy, yet Clare Dudman manages to tell a rich and fascinating tale. She makes every word count and acknowledges the intelligence of the reader. She really practices that old writing law, "to show and not to tell".
I can recommend "98 Reasons for Being" to anybody who loves to read. I am sure that different people will take different messages from this book. By the way, there are no list of 98 reasons to be in the book. Clare Dudman never spells it out, but you will manage to figure out what the number 98 stands for.
In my humble opinion is this one of the most wonderful books that I have ever read.
January 10, 2016
A moving and richly human novel of depth and understanding, at once a psychological and a historical novel.
Claire Dudman offers an original and offbeat perspective of life in a Frankfurt assylum in the 1850s.
A Jewish girl, Hannah Meyer, labelled as a nymphomaniac, is admitted to a Frankfurt insane assylum , in a deep and extremely debilitating state of melancholia. Dr Heinrich Hoffman, a Frankfurt physician who runs the sanatorium, and also the well known author of the book of children's poems known as Sturmwetpeter, undertakes to treat her, all treatments fail until Dr Hoffman patiently talks to her about his own life and patiently coaxes, slowly coaxes her out of her crippling melancholic state and teaches her to talk and respond again.
Her own inner thoughts and recounting of her own inner thoughts are recounted in italics, used in an intelligent and pertinent way.
Deeply in love with a German gentile who woos her and secretly marries her, and then cruelly spurns her, with strong anti-Semitic words, this incident has brought on her depressive state. The novel also focuses on the staff and other inmates of the asylum.
The novel also focuses on the staff and other inamtes of the assylum.
It is at once a window into 19th century Germany, the progressive thinking of Dr Hoffman, the inner world of the mentally ill and the anti-Semitism of the time.
An evocative novel despair and hope, love and cruelty, and ultimately the search for purpose and the reason for being, hence the name 98 reasons for being.
Claire Dudman offers an original and offbeat perspective of life in a Frankfurt assylum in the 1850s.
A Jewish girl, Hannah Meyer, labelled as a nymphomaniac, is admitted to a Frankfurt insane assylum , in a deep and extremely debilitating state of melancholia. Dr Heinrich Hoffman, a Frankfurt physician who runs the sanatorium, and also the well known author of the book of children's poems known as Sturmwetpeter, undertakes to treat her, all treatments fail until Dr Hoffman patiently talks to her about his own life and patiently coaxes, slowly coaxes her out of her crippling melancholic state and teaches her to talk and respond again.
Her own inner thoughts and recounting of her own inner thoughts are recounted in italics, used in an intelligent and pertinent way.
Deeply in love with a German gentile who woos her and secretly marries her, and then cruelly spurns her, with strong anti-Semitic words, this incident has brought on her depressive state. The novel also focuses on the staff and other inmates of the asylum.
The novel also focuses on the staff and other inamtes of the assylum.
It is at once a window into 19th century Germany, the progressive thinking of Dr Hoffman, the inner world of the mentally ill and the anti-Semitism of the time.
An evocative novel despair and hope, love and cruelty, and ultimately the search for purpose and the reason for being, hence the name 98 reasons for being.
December 2, 2015
A Jewish girl from the ghetto gets treated at an asylum when she no longer speaks. Just couldn't get into.
June 28, 2022
What a surprisingly good historical novel. Heinrich Hoffmann was a psychiatrist in Frankfurt, Germany in the 19th century, in charge of a second-rate asylum. He was also author of the children's book, "Struwwelpeter" or "Shockheaded Peter." Hannah was a fictional patient at the asylum. The novel focused on Heinrich, his family, his hospital staff, and Hannah. It begins with Hannah's entrance into the hospital and ends with her exit. I would have preferred learn more about Hannah's family and less about the hospital staff, but that's a minor critique. I really enjoyed this book, learned a lot about psychiatry in mid-19th century Europe and considered giving it 5 stars.
July 7, 2025
i enjoyed reading it but the first half was definitely just info dumping/getting to know everything with very little plot progression. i like the layout and general concept of the book but i feel as if too much was trying to happen at the same time. the panoramic view supplied by multiple characters within this asylum is fun to read, but muddles the purpose of the writing imo. like could potentially be so beautifully written and deeply thoughtful if it just followed one story line 💔
December 22, 2017
This book gets excellent reviews but I couldn't get into it. It was really creepy and slow. But I should add that in general, stories of people stuck in hospitals despite not being sick/crazy cause me a lot of anxiety and I can't really enjoy the story. I haven't finished it but maybe I'll go back and read the end to see what happens.
June 25, 2021
Tragic little book, my greatest sorrow regarding it, besides the fate of some characters, is that it was over too soon. Some things I feel were left unfinished...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2022
I got 100 pages in - kept giving this one a try and just couldn't do it. I found it really hard to follow. I rarely leave books unfinished but this was one of them.
Want to read
July 22, 20255 t10
September 10, 2023
The central conceit is interesting enough, but the characters and general story are clichéd. The side characters are very boring too unfortunately, making any scene away from the main characters of Hoffman and Hannah a real slog. A bit of a mess.
February 2, 2009
I first fell in love with Clare Dudman's work upon finding a short story of hers in an anthology. The story was called Eczema. I looked Clare up online and told her how much I liked her story. We exchanged a few emails about it and that was that ... until I signed up for Twitter. When creating a Twitter account, Twitter will search through your email account finding addresses of others using Twitter. Turns out that Clare was already there, so I started following her.
We've shared quite a number of tweets, including a recipe for meatloaf, and I began reading Clare's blog, Keeper of the Snails. Somewhere along the line, I started wondering why I hadn't gotten around to reading any of Clare's books and decided I needed to rectify that situation. I checked out "98 Reasons for Being" from the library and dove in.
The story takes place in an insane asylum in Frankfurt, Germany, in the 1850s. The superintendent of the asylum is Heinrich Hoffman. Though Clare's story is fiction, Hoffman was a real person. While his profession was psychiatry, he is best known for his children's book, "Stuwwelpeter," or "Shockheaded Peter."
In the book, Clare imagines Hoffman's world and the cruel, but standard, treatments of the insane during the mid 1800s. Into the mix, she throws Hannah, a Jewish young lady who will not speak and hardly eats or sleeps. Hannah is admitted to the asylum because of her behavior and Hoffman sets about finding a cure.
Clare is a magnificent writer. She blends science and history into a greater story with seemingly little effort. Her characters are strong and vivid, from Hoffman and Hannah to Tobias and Angelika. One of my favorites was Josef Neumann, who is transgendered and would not be considered insane today. Actually, many of the asylum's inmates would not be treated as insane in terms of medicine today, which makes Clare's book a study in comparisons between then and now.
We've shared quite a number of tweets, including a recipe for meatloaf, and I began reading Clare's blog, Keeper of the Snails. Somewhere along the line, I started wondering why I hadn't gotten around to reading any of Clare's books and decided I needed to rectify that situation. I checked out "98 Reasons for Being" from the library and dove in.
The story takes place in an insane asylum in Frankfurt, Germany, in the 1850s. The superintendent of the asylum is Heinrich Hoffman. Though Clare's story is fiction, Hoffman was a real person. While his profession was psychiatry, he is best known for his children's book, "Stuwwelpeter," or "Shockheaded Peter."
In the book, Clare imagines Hoffman's world and the cruel, but standard, treatments of the insane during the mid 1800s. Into the mix, she throws Hannah, a Jewish young lady who will not speak and hardly eats or sleeps. Hannah is admitted to the asylum because of her behavior and Hoffman sets about finding a cure.
Clare is a magnificent writer. She blends science and history into a greater story with seemingly little effort. Her characters are strong and vivid, from Hoffman and Hannah to Tobias and Angelika. One of my favorites was Josef Neumann, who is transgendered and would not be considered insane today. Actually, many of the asylum's inmates would not be treated as insane in terms of medicine today, which makes Clare's book a study in comparisons between then and now.
September 19, 2009
The book has an interesting structure, 31 chapters – each opening with an historical document – that detail the admission and treatment of a young Jewish woman, Hannah Meyer (a fictitious character) by Dr Heinrich Hoffmann (an historical figure) followed by a postscript, a letter written by a father to his son seventeen years after the events recounted in the book. This manages to tie what could have been an open-ended storyline together for although Hannah's treatment comes to an end, there are still those other patients that Clare weaves into the narrative whose fates we never learn and there is also much about the doctor left unresolved.
Throughout the book we learn a great deal about 19th century attitudes towards the mentally ill. Early on in the book one of the orderlies, Angelika, has been told to arrange for Hannah to have an ice bath. The instructions say that the water should be tepid before beginning but it was a rule she routinely chose to disregard regarding "it as an unnecessary indulgence. The mad cannot feel the cold: this is a view widely shared by the assistants in the asylum, and as far as Angelika is concerned it is an undeniable fact."
You can read a detailed review of the book on my blog here.
Throughout the book we learn a great deal about 19th century attitudes towards the mentally ill. Early on in the book one of the orderlies, Angelika, has been told to arrange for Hannah to have an ice bath. The instructions say that the water should be tepid before beginning but it was a rule she routinely chose to disregard regarding "it as an unnecessary indulgence. The mad cannot feel the cold: this is a view widely shared by the assistants in the asylum, and as far as Angelika is concerned it is an undeniable fact."
You can read a detailed review of the book on my blog here.
May 12, 2012
Overall, an excellent read. I found the characters to be extremely dynamic and multidimensional. The story was also at times heartbreaking as well as uplifting. Yet, it was the writing style that made this book exceptional to read. There were sections of narration that were interrupted by case studies performed by the psychiatrist as well as the thoughts inside the main character's mind. Though I would not go as far to say that it is postmodern, the way that the story is presented is certainly nontraditional.
Basically, it is the story of a Jewish girl who is brought into a mental institution because she refuses to talk. Through her treatment, she encourages the doctor and other patients to open up and free themselves from their own demons. Of course, not all are saved and there are numerous characters that can be deemed as "not good". Still, the complexities of the characters makes them seem more real than the paper on which they are described.
www.iamliteraryaddicted.blogspot.com
Basically, it is the story of a Jewish girl who is brought into a mental institution because she refuses to talk. Through her treatment, she encourages the doctor and other patients to open up and free themselves from their own demons. Of course, not all are saved and there are numerous characters that can be deemed as "not good". Still, the complexities of the characters makes them seem more real than the paper on which they are described.
www.iamliteraryaddicted.blogspot.com
August 30, 2009
In 1852, a Jewish girl named Hannah Meyer was comitted to the asylum in Frankfurt. She refuses to sleep, eat, or speak; she's been diagnosed with nymphomania.
Dr. Hoffmann, the man in charge of the asylum, has tried everything he can think of from ice packs to electrodes to blood letting. None of it has worked. On a whim, he begins to converse with Hannah...only this begins to break Hannah's outer shell. Her story, which she eventually shares with Hoffmann, centers on a relationship and eventual betrayal...and prejudice.
Although the story is fictitious, Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann did exist - a 19th-century German physician who also wrote a book of children's rhymes. The author's portrayal of the doctor, as well as many of the patients within the asylum's walls, made this book hard to put down.
Dr. Hoffmann, the man in charge of the asylum, has tried everything he can think of from ice packs to electrodes to blood letting. None of it has worked. On a whim, he begins to converse with Hannah...only this begins to break Hannah's outer shell. Her story, which she eventually shares with Hoffmann, centers on a relationship and eventual betrayal...and prejudice.
Although the story is fictitious, Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann did exist - a 19th-century German physician who also wrote a book of children's rhymes. The author's portrayal of the doctor, as well as many of the patients within the asylum's walls, made this book hard to put down.
June 4, 2013
This book is one of my favourites by the excellent writer Clare Dudman. As usual the historical research the story is built upon is meticulously undertaken and fascinating, but you’re guaranteed to become so immersed in the story that you almost don’t notice that you’re getting a history lesson into the bargain! Beautifully written, with brilliant characters and a carefully unravelled, often devastating storyline. You can’t help but care about the characters (my favourite was Josephine) and feel anxious for them on their journey, knowing some will have a happy ending and others less so. Heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure.
March 15, 2008
The earliest days of psychiatry... a doctor struggling to treat patients whose illnesses he barely begins to understand and a depressed, semi-catatonic young Jewish woman he finds more baffling--and fascinating--than his other patients.
Very atmospheric of the times: the pervasive class, ethnic, and gender restrictions and prejudices; political turmoil in pre-unification Germany; and the underfunded, internally and externally combative struggle by a few doctors to lay the foundations of psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Very atmospheric of the times: the pervasive class, ethnic, and gender restrictions and prejudices; political turmoil in pre-unification Germany; and the underfunded, internally and externally combative struggle by a few doctors to lay the foundations of psychiatry and psychotherapy.
June 1, 2010
While fictional, this book was obviously well-researched. It was interesting to read about the development of psychiatric treatments. The characters were mostly interesting as well, although I could have done with reading a little less about the asylum employees because their stories didn't seem to fit as well into the main sequence of events between Hannah and Dr. Hoffmann as the stories of the patients (which Dr. Hoffmann had reason to know) did.
October 16, 2013
After I got on to the writing style I really enjoyed this book. I read it at the same time as I was traveling in Provence. There I visited the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence where van Gogh endured some of the treatments mentioned in this book! For those interested in the history of the time and/or treatment for mental illness, this is a must-read. This book offered insight into antisemitism as well as societal attitudes toward mental illness. I found the characters and story intriguing.
January 9, 2013
This book isn't exactly holding me hostage but it is an interesting read. I enjoy exploring the inner-workings of the mind and our emotions. And I like to see the difference between how things like that were handled in the past versus today.
February 26, 2010
I thought it wasan interesting book. While in my mind the characters fell a little flat, I loved them nonetheless. It was an interesting portrayal of the pyschiatric profession of the day. Not exactly a page turner, but definitly worth the read
July 20, 2010
The first few chapters were much more intriguing to me. The main character was not insane enough to hold my interest, nor were the reasons for her being at the institution. I read halfway through and then skimmed the rest.
December 6, 2012
A historical fiction about the very early days of psychotherapy (Yes, there was such a field before Freud.) I hadn't heard of Heinrich Hoffmann nor his famous book of children's rhymes "Struwwelpeter, or "Shockheaded Peter." However, I am interested in learning more about him.
October 14, 2007
What I Learned: Talk therapy started way before I thought it did. This was based on the head of the asylum in Frankfurt, so it was factually grounded. It was a good, quick read. I got sucked into it.
January 27, 2008
A wonderful read.
October 24, 2008
Not one of my favorites, but interesting. Sad because it is set in a mental institute in 1852. Had a fairly happy ending, but not a book I would encourage anyone to read.
March 12, 2010
This fiction book impacted my life immensely. I became more aware and melancholy for months. Much recommended for those interested in Psychology or a gloomy read!
Read
August 2, 2010This book was amazing.
December 26, 2010
It was interesting to see a glimpse into 19th century psychiatry and class distinction done in a fictional way. The story was handled in a very tender way that I truly enjoyed.
September 4, 2011
This book opened my eyes to the archaic practices at the time concerning mental health and depression. It was disturbing and intriguing all at the same time.
November 20, 2011
Interesting based on real people book takes place in 1850's Germany in an insane asylum.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews