A review by aidonz
When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin D. Yalom

5.0

I was worried about the silliness of the historical fiction in this (Nietzsche in therapy? Sigmund freud is a recurring side character?), But it was incredibly well done and I ended up loving it. I've had to read Yalom several times for my group therapy and clinical social work classes and find that his professional expertise is critical to this book actually working. The story is centered around the despair and godlessness that is central to Nietzsche's philosophy and how his thinking genuinely led to the early stages of psychotherapy. Yalom is using this very unique context to fictionalize the treatment of depression in a thinker that was assuredly depressed as hell. And because Yalom is deep in the psychology field, he expertly interweaves power dynamics, relational vulnerability, and unconscious thought as themes in the narrative. It's basically psychology/philosophy student fan fiction. You get a light crash course on Nietzsche's philosophy (I basically knew nothing going in) and get a masterful exploration of psychoanalysis and the history of early freudian thinking. LOVED IT.