Fieldwork: A Novel
by Mischa Berlinski
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mischa BerlinskiEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-01-22
ISBN: 0312427468
Number of pages: 356
Publisher: Picador
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780312427467
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Fieldwork: A Novel
Book Review: A Great Escape
Summary: 4 Stars
Henry Miller said that a good book is only important to you if you read it at the right time in your life (which is why no one, in the history of ever, has actually liked reading Edmund Spencer's Fairie Queene). I suppose that a cold, grey February in middle Tennessee was a good time and place for me to read Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski. Sitting here between jobs shivering in the night it didn't take much reaching for me to read Berlinski's descriptions of the lush greenness of Thailand and transport myself back to Singapore and Hong Kong where I used to enjoy the thick, hot, humid air and wonderful differentness of exotic cultures. God, I only wish I had gone to Thailand. So that is part of why I really enjoyed Fieldwork.
The other reason is that it is just a wonderful story. Fieldwork is the story of a promising student anthropologist, Martiya ven der Leun, who goes to live among the Dyalo, a little studied hill tribe in the mountains of northern Thailand. A large extended family of American missionaries is also there, doing the Lord's work, converting the Dyalo tribe to Christianity, a mission which family patriarch Raymond Walker had started sixty years before. The novel begins with Martiya in a Thai prison for the murder of David Walker, the charismatic heir apparent to the Walker missionary dynasty. And you'll like David, trust me. You will.
The story is a told through the information Mishca Berlinski (okay, I do wish the author hadn't used his own name for his lead character) unearths while tracking down and interviewing anyone who knows anything about Martiya, David Walker, and the murder that took place around 1991. Berlinski does some freelance work for a couple of English language publications and thinks he can sell the story.
In Fieldwork Berlinski does an outstanding job revealing metaphysical ideas and insight into the scientific method of field anthropology while framing such potential drudgery in a well paced, page-turning narrative. At no point does he come off as disparaging to any of the conflicting philosophies that comprise the book. Missionary, anthropologist, and tribal animist all get a fair shake and all get a couple of humorous jabs thrown their way.
Reading Berlinski is like going on a trip, both spiritual and physical. It is great escape literature that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. God what a cliché line I just used. But this is a remarkable novel.
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