Scan barcode
A review by paul_cornelius
Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski
4.0
Thailand is the setting for Mischa Berlinski's Fieldwork. But modern Thailand plays the most minor and unimportant role of the three scenarios Berlinski depicts. Of the three, the fictional Dyalo, a remote hilltribe in Thailand's far north is the most interesting. Taking the perspective of an anthropologist who has situated herself among them, the novel is fascinating not only for the rituals it examines and the utterly exotic ways it explains but also for its incorporation of mostly unheard of academic theories of social anthropology. At times, the book even seems a condensed history of the discipline. There aren't too many works of fiction, after all, that are capable of working James Frazer's The Golden Bough into the plot in a meaningful and interesting way.
Otherwise, the form of the novel is almost a literary version of Citizen Kane, revolving around a mysterious death and a murder. This in turn leads to the exploring of the second group due anthropological uncovering--fundamentalist American missionaries devoted to converting the heathen Dyalo to Christianity. What the narrator and sometimes protagonist in the story reveals is that both the Dyalo and the missionaries operate from a similar perspective on the world. Both peoples are encased in a worldview where demons and spirits populate the world and determine human fate. It's to Berlinski's credit, by the way, that he represents the missionaries as deserving of sympathetic observation as much as would normally be the case for the Dyalo alone. The exotic and unknown and sometimes unknowable worlds of both peoples are rendered with some subtlety as well as nuance.
Mischa Berlinski, finally, is not only the author of this mystery, the name is also that given to the lead narrator/protagonist. And it is his story that is used for the side trips into modern Thailand. This is also the weakest part of the novel. Berlinski's observations about expats in Thailand mostly do little beyond presenting cliched images. It sometimes seems as if he has made a checklist of foreigners' faults and oddities from sources such as Thai Visa Forum--available online, for anyone interested. He also gets a few things wrong. But he also gets one thing very right, the world of Thailand right before the smartphone revolution brought global immediacy to the remotest of Thai villages. Berlinski's Thailand, barely 12 years in the past, is now long gone. In its place is something that may be much more harsh and violent, with fading traditions replaced with a megamall in every provincial Thai capital or major city.
Otherwise, the form of the novel is almost a literary version of Citizen Kane, revolving around a mysterious death and a murder. This in turn leads to the exploring of the second group due anthropological uncovering--fundamentalist American missionaries devoted to converting the heathen Dyalo to Christianity. What the narrator and sometimes protagonist in the story reveals is that both the Dyalo and the missionaries operate from a similar perspective on the world. Both peoples are encased in a worldview where demons and spirits populate the world and determine human fate. It's to Berlinski's credit, by the way, that he represents the missionaries as deserving of sympathetic observation as much as would normally be the case for the Dyalo alone. The exotic and unknown and sometimes unknowable worlds of both peoples are rendered with some subtlety as well as nuance.
Mischa Berlinski, finally, is not only the author of this mystery, the name is also that given to the lead narrator/protagonist. And it is his story that is used for the side trips into modern Thailand. This is also the weakest part of the novel. Berlinski's observations about expats in Thailand mostly do little beyond presenting cliched images. It sometimes seems as if he has made a checklist of foreigners' faults and oddities from sources such as Thai Visa Forum--available online, for anyone interested. He also gets a few things wrong. But he also gets one thing very right, the world of Thailand right before the smartphone revolution brought global immediacy to the remotest of Thai villages. Berlinski's Thailand, barely 12 years in the past, is now long gone. In its place is something that may be much more harsh and violent, with fading traditions replaced with a megamall in every provincial Thai capital or major city.