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jess_mango's review
4.0
Sometimes I feel as if my job is taking over my life. After reading Fieldwork,a debut novel by Mischa Berlinski, I just have to say that thankfully my job isn't taking over my life as much as it could.
In Fieldwork the fictional protagonist, who just so happens to have the same exact name as the author, is an American free-lance journalist who lives with his girlfriend in Thailand. He finds out about Martiya van de Leun, an American anthropologist who has recently committed suicide in a Thai prison. She had been serving a 50 year sentence for murdering a member of a local missionary family. Berlinski becomes fascinated with her story and begins to research how she ended up where she did. She had spent many years living in a Dyalo village in northern Thailand to study their culture. Martiya's fieldwork becomes her life. She becomes so wrapped up in her work in the Dyalo village that she forgets how to live her previous life.
Fieldwork read like a mix of a mystery novel and literary fiction. At its heart the book is about storytelling...the story our lives tell. Berlinski works to uncover as many facts about Martiya's life as possible in order to construct her story. the narrative jumps back and forth through time to give the details of the different characters lives. The resultant novel is powerful, gripping, and tragic. As we learn more about Martiya we begin to wish her life would turn out better even though we know that it ends with her killing herself in prison.
In Fieldwork the fictional protagonist, who just so happens to have the same exact name as the author, is an American free-lance journalist who lives with his girlfriend in Thailand. He finds out about Martiya van de Leun, an American anthropologist who has recently committed suicide in a Thai prison. She had been serving a 50 year sentence for murdering a member of a local missionary family. Berlinski becomes fascinated with her story and begins to research how she ended up where she did. She had spent many years living in a Dyalo village in northern Thailand to study their culture. Martiya's fieldwork becomes her life. She becomes so wrapped up in her work in the Dyalo village that she forgets how to live her previous life.
Fieldwork read like a mix of a mystery novel and literary fiction. At its heart the book is about storytelling...the story our lives tell. Berlinski works to uncover as many facts about Martiya's life as possible in order to construct her story. the narrative jumps back and forth through time to give the details of the different characters lives. The resultant novel is powerful, gripping, and tragic. As we learn more about Martiya we begin to wish her life would turn out better even though we know that it ends with her killing herself in prison.
maiafeliu's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
ursineultra's review
4.0
Superbly researched, read like non fiction for long stretches, evocative descriptions of Northern Thailand
lisawhelpley's review
5.0
I read this maybe a year ago, per Stephen King's suggestion in Entertainment Weekly. It is SO GOOD, and so different, from any book I've read in a long time.
katzreads's review
4.0
Really different and throughly enjoyable. A bit of a mystery, but mostly just an intriguing look into the lives of a native people of Asia. . .and a look into the lives of career missionaries.
kburt's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
deprofundis's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I have to admit to my own biases in saying that when I read the description of this book - a journalist becomes obsessed with figuring out why an American anthropologist living with a remote native community in northern Thailand murdered a local missionary - I didn't need to stretch my imagination much to provide an answer. Berlinski is considerably more charitable to his missionary family, although his feelings on the matter aren't exactly straightforward, and that's part of what makes Fieldwork a compelling read. This is an adventurous novel, full of complex and not easily explicable characters, and that is ultimately the point of the book. I, too, in my life have been struck by The Curiosity, and like all of these characters, I have been frustrated when I discovered that ultimately there is rarely a satisfactory answer to why people - at an individual or a cultural level - do the things they do. Whether you seek an answer in religion or scholarship or just the cold hard facts, it will always be a mystery, and no matter your motivation it's hard not to objectify your subject in the process. All the same, I deeply enjoyed journeying with Mischa, Martiya, and the Walkers.
nightchough's review
4.0
This is a very interesting novel. At its heart is a dramatic triangle between tribal people of northern Thailand, a Dutch anthropologist studying them (and obsessed with their culture), and a family of Christian missionaries trying to convert them. The author's sympathies are handled quite subtly, and the novel is a wonderful character study - multiple characters are fleshed out in detail and have interesting lives. This is an absorbing novel which does a wonderful job of setting time and place.
readwithtabi's review
1.0
The sloooooowest moving book plot-wise I have ever read. The author went off on way too many snooze worthy tangents that I had a hard time following along and being engaged in the novel.