A Whole Life

by Robert Seethaler, translated by Charlotte Collins

tagged: literary

Description

Andreas lives his whole life in the Austrian Alps, where he arrives as a young boy taken in by a farming family. 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. When Marie dies in an avalanche, pregnant with their first child, Andreas' heart is broken. 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 . . .

Like John Williams' Stoner or Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, A Whole Life is a tender book about finding dignity and beauty in solitude. 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. It looks at the moments, big and small, that make us what we are.

About the Authors

Robert Seethaler

ROBERT SEETHALER was born in Austria and now divides his time between Vienna and Berlin. He is the author of four novels, including The Tobacconist, which has sold more than one million copies in Germany, and A Whole Life, a finalist for the International Booker Prize. He also works as a screenwriter and an actor, most recently in Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth.

Charlotte Collins

CHARLOTTE COLLINS studied English at Cambridge University. She worked as an actor and radio journalist in both Germany and the U.K. before becoming a literary translator. She received the Goethe-Institut’s Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize for Robert Seethaler’s A Whole Life, which was also a finalist for the International Booker Prize and the International DUBLIN Literary Award. She co-translated the The Eighth Life, the acclaimed novel by Nino Haratischvili, and her other translations include Seethaler’s The Tobacconist and The End of Loneliness by Benedict Wells.

Contributor Notes

Robert Seethaler is an Austrian living in Berlin and is the author of four previous novels. He also works as an actor, most recently in Paolo Sorrentino's Youth.

CHARLOTTE COLLINS is a literary translator from the German.. After gaining a degree in English Literature from Cambridge University, she lived in Munich and Cologne for several years, and is now based in London.. She is currently working on another novel by Robert Seethaler for Anansi, The Tobacconist, and is co-translating an epic, award-winning family saga, Nino Haratischwili's The Eighth Life, set amid the social and political upheavals of twentieth-century Georgia.

Editorial Reviews

Do yourself a favour and read this book. It is food for the soul — so quiet,so subtle, yet with resounding reverberations.

— WDR

Every nuance, every word, every sentence — everything is precisely in place. An admirable achievement for such a slim volume.

— Die Welt

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

The story of Andreas Egger is both heartbreaking and uplifting…the beauty of this slim volume makes the reader pause and think about what it means to be alive.

— Toronto Star

Seethaler shows that for even the most ordinary people, life is an extraordinary adventure — and he does so tenderly and memorably.

— Mail on Sunday

A magnificent author who moves us so profoundly with an unforgettable book.

— Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

It's refreshing to read a story marked by quiet, concentrated attention . . . a reaction to all around us that is prolix, narcissistic and mindlessly technology-worshipping. What is perhaps most remarkable about this remarkable novel is the way that it continually weaves past, present and future into a single fabric. A deeply moving book

— Sunday Times

[A] quiet reflection on solitude, transformation and contentment… a lovely story, and stands as a testament to the fact only we can define our happiness, and life is what you make it.

— Winnipeg Free Press

The delicate, elegant song of a fulfilled life . . . Full of wonder.

— Literarische Welt

Every word has a place. Words evoke an imagery that is imprinted in the reader's mind… [a]poignant song of a fulfilled life

— Sukasa Reads blog

[Seethaler has] succeeded in crafting a book which has to be described as more poignant and harrowing than anything written in a very long time.

— taz

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