I read his The Tobacconist years ago, which was a wonderful read as well – a moving tale of wartime Vienna seen through the eyes of a young apprentice to a tobacconist, whose customers included Freud.
This book sheds light on a different Austria and follows one man from birth to death. An intimate look at the twentieth century in a mountain village, this book looks at progress through the eyes of the people who were part of it and believed in it, but it also shows the dark side of humans changing the landscape, war, and the loss of community. In a very intimate way, it’s a truthful exploration of our twentieth century history refracted in one human destiny.
You root for the protagonist and following his entire life span makes for some really poignant moments. You enter into his quiet and private universe. His reaction to the noisy tourists he takes out on mountain tours during his twilight years despite his physical ailments is a great moment of hard truths. What do these chattering people think they will find out here exactly? Why do they endanger themselves and force rapture back onto their guide? What do we project onto place? Though it’s not the whole book, I think there’s some really interesting stuff on the environment and ecology here as well.
It is an incredibly beautiful and compassionate book, one which combines psychology with the most beautiful and profound descriptions of nature.
There’s a purity of expression here that makes this book very easy to digest.
I can see Seethaler has written another book called The Field, might need to put that on order next…
One word: survival.
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