Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Amsterdam De Bezige Bij 2015
User reviews
LibraryThing member kidzdoc
This deceptively simple but profoundly moving novella is set in a mountainside village in Germany, and it describes the life of Andreas Egger, an ordinary man who came to the village as a young child after the death of his mother from consumption. Despite being a quiet and obedient boy he is
Andreas is a simple and taciturn man who works hard and asks for little other than a livable wage and a place to lay his head. Despite his near silence and lack of friendship he is observant of his surroundings and holds deep affection for those who positively touch his life. He lives from one day to the next without reflection for the most part, and his life is a struggle to keep moving forward, even when numerous obstacles and tragedies threaten to break his body and spirit. He continues to hold his head up through it all, save for brief moments of sorrow, and as he approaches the end of his life he has no guilt, regrets or fears.
I could describe Andreas' story in fuller detail, but that would spoil the joys and surprises of reading A Whole Life that I experienced. This is a remarkable story about an unremarkable man, which manages to be rich in detail and emotion despite being less than 150 pages of widely spaced print. This is easily one of the best novellas I've ever read, and I can't recommended this book highly enough.
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treated brutally by his uncle, a farmer in town, and shunned by the other members of his new family. After enduring years of physical and psychological abuse he is expelled from the farm, and is forced to fend for himself.Andreas is a simple and taciturn man who works hard and asks for little other than a livable wage and a place to lay his head. Despite his near silence and lack of friendship he is observant of his surroundings and holds deep affection for those who positively touch his life. He lives from one day to the next without reflection for the most part, and his life is a struggle to keep moving forward, even when numerous obstacles and tragedies threaten to break his body and spirit. He continues to hold his head up through it all, save for brief moments of sorrow, and as he approaches the end of his life he has no guilt, regrets or fears.
I could describe Andreas' story in fuller detail, but that would spoil the joys and surprises of reading A Whole Life that I experienced. This is a remarkable story about an unremarkable man, which manages to be rich in detail and emotion despite being less than 150 pages of widely spaced print. This is easily one of the best novellas I've ever read, and I can't recommended this book highly enough.
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LibraryThing member jnwelch
I've been remiss in not reviewing A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler before now. Darryl tipped me off about it. It has been smoothly translated into English from the German by Charlotte Collins. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize.
It is a simply, yet powerfully, rendered story of the whole life of
In 1902, at about age four, he arrives in the mountain village where he will spend his life. His relative is a stern, abusive farmer who accepts him from a scandalous sister-in-law for a few bank notes. He beats Andreas for the slightest offense, like spilling milk, and works him hard. But Andreas grows to have enormous strength. At age 18, faced with another brutal punishment, this time for dropping a bowl of soup, he says, "If you hit me, I'll kill you." From then on he is on his own.
His good heart and integrity cause other workers take to him. At one point they help him overcome his shyness and make a spellbinding marriage proposal to a woman who works as hard as he does.
The mountains surround the reader, and impending avalanches have power. “It was no more than an intimation, a soft whisper stealing around the walls . . . Black clouds were racing across the night sky, a pale, shapeless moon flickering between them.”
He survives tragedy, and a prisoner of war camp. As age catches up with him, he becomes a trail guide for tourists, and sees his vivid landscape through their eyes. On a whim, he takes a bus trip out of his village. Where to? “I don’t know . . . I simply don’t know.” Eventually, he can hardly wait to return.
This is the story of a man's whole life, without fireworks or a Wellington-sized effect on history. A man worth knowing, who gets back up and adapts when life throws him down. Somehow, the story's simplicity becomes profound, his mountain village haunting, and his acquired wisdom inspiring. This is a beautiful book, one I'll be giving to others.
It is a simply, yet powerfully, rendered story of the whole life of
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Andreas Egger. He's a man of few words, but also, we learn, deeply complex. What he understands best is working.In 1902, at about age four, he arrives in the mountain village where he will spend his life. His relative is a stern, abusive farmer who accepts him from a scandalous sister-in-law for a few bank notes. He beats Andreas for the slightest offense, like spilling milk, and works him hard. But Andreas grows to have enormous strength. At age 18, faced with another brutal punishment, this time for dropping a bowl of soup, he says, "If you hit me, I'll kill you." From then on he is on his own.
His good heart and integrity cause other workers take to him. At one point they help him overcome his shyness and make a spellbinding marriage proposal to a woman who works as hard as he does.
The mountains surround the reader, and impending avalanches have power. “It was no more than an intimation, a soft whisper stealing around the walls . . . Black clouds were racing across the night sky, a pale, shapeless moon flickering between them.”
He survives tragedy, and a prisoner of war camp. As age catches up with him, he becomes a trail guide for tourists, and sees his vivid landscape through their eyes. On a whim, he takes a bus trip out of his village. Where to? “I don’t know . . . I simply don’t know.” Eventually, he can hardly wait to return.
This is the story of a man's whole life, without fireworks or a Wellington-sized effect on history. A man worth knowing, who gets back up and adapts when life throws him down. Somehow, the story's simplicity becomes profound, his mountain village haunting, and his acquired wisdom inspiring. This is a beautiful book, one I'll be giving to others.
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LibraryThing member thorold
I was a little bit afraid when I started this short novel that it was going to turn out to be Heidi for grown-ups. And indeed, there's a goat-herd on the very first page. But I needn't have worried. As others have said, this is an unusually delicate and subtle narrative that looks for the ordinary
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behind the extraordinary. Andreas Egger lives in a spectacularly beautiful part of the world and undergoes hardships and experiences that most of us would think of as worthy of an epic with all possible bells and whistles, but what Seethaler wants us to learn about him are the things that make him just like all other human beings who are born, grow up, work, are caught up in the forces of history and nature, work some more, and eventually grow old and die. Sounds corny, and it easily could have been, but it isn't, and I think that means that Seethaler is either an extraordinarily talented or an extraordinarily lucky writer. Probably the former. Show Less
LibraryThing member jon1lambert
Andreas Egger ekes out his life in the mountains, seeing and experiencing suffering and tragedy all around him in the natural world, experiencing suffering at war and watching rampant commercialization disrupt the old ways. Wonderful book.
LibraryThing member AlisonY
A Whole Life is a gentle, moving novella about the life of a simple, unremarkable man from the mountains. Told in matter-of-fact prose we journey with him (at some pace) through experiences that shape a lifetime, where tragedy and suffering is met with private forbearance and resignation whilst
There's more to this slim book than meets the eye, and the more I think about it the more I appreciate just how cleverly it invokes emotion despite it's apparent lack of sentimentality.
4 stars - gently moving.
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quietly extinguishing any future hope or expectation of joy.There's more to this slim book than meets the eye, and the more I think about it the more I appreciate just how cleverly it invokes emotion despite it's apparent lack of sentimentality.
4 stars - gently moving.
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LibraryThing member hemlokgang
A quiet gem of a read. When it comes right down to it, what constitutes 'a whole life" Is it our memories, although they change with time? Is it who we have known? Is it the challenges we have faced and the manner in which we have done so? In the end, it seems to me that it is an ephemeral notion,
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and Robert Seethaler quietly, eloquently, and simply portrays that. He somehow captures the unimportance, yet undeniablility, of the passage of time. He takes the reader into the mind of a man who is deceptively simple, because he is quiet, yet his internal world is vibrant, sensitive, and profound. Lovely story of one man's whole life, which no one can really tell at all. Show Less
LibraryThing member EBT1002
"Scars are like years, he said: one follows another and it's all of them together that make a person who they are."
"You can buy a man's hours off him, you can steal his days from him, or you can rob him of his whole life, but not one can take away from any man so much as a single moment. That's
This charming short novel, translated from the German, is the story of the life of Andreas Egger, a laborer born in the early part of the 20th century. Told simply and beautifully, the story illuminates the unique and the universal in the human experience, and the simple meaning that exists in the mundane every day. A wonderful antidote to the crazy-busy, noisy, and (sometimes) disconnectedness of modern life.
"You can buy a man's hours off him, you can steal his days from him, or you can rob him of his whole life, but not one can take away from any man so much as a single moment. That's
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the way it is." This charming short novel, translated from the German, is the story of the life of Andreas Egger, a laborer born in the early part of the 20th century. Told simply and beautifully, the story illuminates the unique and the universal in the human experience, and the simple meaning that exists in the mundane every day. A wonderful antidote to the crazy-busy, noisy, and (sometimes) disconnectedness of modern life.
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LibraryThing member padmajoy
Lovely, intimate book about a man's simple life and the beauty it holds for him.
LibraryThing member Lord_Boris
A simple, poignant story about one man's life in the Austrian Alps. A short book that packs a punch.
LibraryThing member LynnB
What is a full life? A happy life? This short book covers the lifespan of Andreas Eggers, who leaves his small mountain village only once (to fight in WWII). We meet him as a young orphan who comes to live with his uncle. Andreas works on his uncle's farm, then on his own doing odd jobs. He falls
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in love, marries, builds a home. Suffers tragedies and set backs, finds companionship, demonstrates occasional heroism. It is these small and relatively large events that make up a life...any life...and this book made me reflect on what it all means. Show Less
LibraryThing member Baresi
Einfach schöne Sprache
LibraryThing member Castlelass
Quiet and poignant story of the life of one man, Andreas Egger, living in Austria, from around 1900 to 1980. The writing is lovely. It is short, and I think the brevity is intended to convey how quickly a life goes by, even a long life. Egger experiences tragedies and he adapts. He lives a simple
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life. He only leaves his Austrian village a couple times, one of which was his service in the German army during WWII. Egger lives in the Austrian Alps, and the natural setting is beautifully described. It never delves too deeply into any topic, though, and it seems over too quickly. Show Less
LibraryThing member fmclellan
Just a perfect novella. Atmospheric and reflective. Beautifully told and apparently beautifully translated.
Subjects
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Shortlist — 2017)
Europese Literatuurprijs (Longlist — 2016)
The International Booker Prize (Shortlist — 2016)
100 German must-reads by Deutsche Welle (2014 — 2014)
Language
Original language
German
Original publication date
2014
2015 (English)
Physical description
156 p.; 20 cm
ISBN
9789023492498