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A review by gorecki
The Field by Robert Seethaler
2.0
I think this book changed the way I look at graveyards, especially graveyards in small rural areas: villages, small towns, lone cemeteries on top of wind-swept hills in the middle of nowhere. Over the years I have visited various graveyards, either as a tourist or even on dates, but it had somehow never crossed my mind before that all those people resting in their final place underground have once been neighbours, friends, lovers, enemies and have known each other, interacted with each other and built a living community together. The idea of them continuing their interactions, continuing to be connected to each other in their new village underground made me pause. It does make perfect sense that if they have once formed a community above ground, they would continue to form a community below it as well. They say some things are better left unsaid, but are they really, or do they just get said once no one can hear them?
Told through a number of separate stories by a variety of different characters, this book is more of a location study than character study or a plot-driven story. Some of the stories are interconnected, others are very much on their own, but what they all have in common is their description of what makes a small town called Paulstadt, Paulstadt. And the dreams, ambitions and longing of the people living in it. By telling their personal stories from the grave, all these characters are building a conjuring a dead-end town filled with restless people, and through their need to tell their stories. They show us that this restlessness never really goes away - it follows them to their graves where they still try to make sense of their lives and to clarify things with each other and find closure or an explanation.
While I found the idea and format brilliant and moving, I'm afraid I was left a bit underwhelmed by the end result. After a few of the stories the narration style started to feel much too similar in each next story. I really loved some of the stories, especially that of Father Hoberg, but others left me quite detached and unconvinced of their purpose or meaning or point. I felt I'm missing some mortar to combine all of them together. Which might have been a point: Paulstadt didn't strike me as a place with a very closely knit community and they really didn't become one once they past to the other side.
Told through a number of separate stories by a variety of different characters, this book is more of a location study than character study or a plot-driven story. Some of the stories are interconnected, others are very much on their own, but what they all have in common is their description of what makes a small town called Paulstadt, Paulstadt. And the dreams, ambitions and longing of the people living in it. By telling their personal stories from the grave, all these characters are building a conjuring a dead-end town filled with restless people, and through their need to tell their stories. They show us that this restlessness never really goes away - it follows them to their graves where they still try to make sense of their lives and to clarify things with each other and find closure or an explanation.
While I found the idea and format brilliant and moving, I'm afraid I was left a bit underwhelmed by the end result. After a few of the stories the narration style started to feel much too similar in each next story. I really loved some of the stories, especially that of Father Hoberg, but others left me quite detached and unconvinced of their purpose or meaning or point. I felt I'm missing some mortar to combine all of them together. Which might have been a point: Paulstadt didn't strike me as a place with a very closely knit community and they really didn't become one once they past to the other side.