Synopsis
A tender tale of solitude and the search for beauty in the Austrian Alps, shortlisted for the Booker International Prize.
Like John Williams' Stoner or Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, A Whole Life is an exquisite novel that moves readers with its message of truth and solace. It explores the moments, both big and small, that shape our lives.
Andreas spends his entire life in the Austrian Alps, taken in by a farming family as a young boy. A man of few words, he expresses his love for Marie by having friends light her name across the mountain at dusk. When Marie dies in an avalanche, pregnant with their first child, Andreas' heart is shattered. He leaves his valley only once more, to fight in World War II, where he is taken prisoner in the Caucasus. Upon returning, he finds modernity encroaching on his remote haven. . .
‘It is at once heart-rending and heart-warming. A Whole Life, for all its gentleness, is a very powerful book.’ – Jim Crace, author of Harvest
Details
18 March 2021
9781529060683Reviews
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. It is at once heart-rending and heart-warming. A Whole Life, for all its gentleness, is a very powerful book.Jim Crace
Against 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 . . . Seethaler's scenes of mountain life are realised with spare, almost surreally vivid images. 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.Adam Lively, Sunday Times
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... It's an unremarked existence, told in simple prose, of a simple man that magically captures the universal in all our lives. A slim masterpiece.Daily Mail
A Whole Life is a lovely contemplation of a life in solitude in a remote valley, into which the modern world slowly intrudes.Ian McEwan, Sunday Times
