This is a profound, wise and humane novel that no reader will forget. a gentle, tender work devoid of sentimentality yet so evocative and moving. It has been sensitively and astutely translated into English by Charlotte Collins. Now another of these special, calm narratives that penetrate the joy and grief, the tiny comforts of being alive and the experiences which shape an individual has arrived. A slim masterpiece., Daily MailĪ Whole Life is a lovely contemplation of a life in solitude in a remote valley, into which the modern world slowly intrudes.

It's an unremarked existence, told in simple prose, of a simple man that magically captures the universal in all our lives. Robert Seethaler's novel is, like its hero, short on words but in its 150 pages manages to do exactly what it says on the tin: embrace a whole life. But what is perhaps most remarkable about this remarkable novel is the way that it continually weaves past, present and future into a single fabric.

Seethaler's scenes of mountain life are realised with spare, almost surreally vivid images. Jim CraceĪgainst the backdrop of a literary world that often seems crowded with novels yelling 'Look at me!', it's refreshing to read a story marked by quiet, concentrated attention. A Whole Life, for all its gentleness, is a very powerful book. It is at once heart-rending and heart-warming. Robert Seethaler's quietly mesmerizing novel - elemental in both tone and subject - shows what joy and nobility can be found in a life of hardship, patience and bereavement. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. It looks at the moments, big and small, that make us what we are. An exquisite novel about a simple life, it has already demonstrated its power to move thousands of readers with a message of solace and truth. Like John Williams' Stoner or Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler is a tender book about finding dignity and beauty in solitude. He leaves his valley just once more, to fight in WWII - where he is taken prisoner in the Caucasus – and returns to find that modernity has reached his remote haven. When Marie dies in an avalanche, pregnant with their first child, Andreas' heart is broken. He is a man of very few words and so, when he falls in love with Marie, he doesn't ask for her hand in marriage, but instead has some of his friends light her name at dusk across the mountain. Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize.Īndreas lives his whole life in the Austrian Alps, where he arrives as a young boy taken in by a farming family.

A whole life by robert seethaler