A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler; translated by Charlotte Collins (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2016)

 

I bought this book for $1 at the Dollar Tree because it looked interesting -- a short novel, originally published in Germany, about a solitary rural man's life throughout much of the 20th century.  It was an "international bestseller" and published by FSG. 

Although it spans nearly eight decades, at only 150 pages, it's a glancing portrait, but it seems a deep one, by virtue of its empathy and vivid recreation of important moments from Egger's life.  Orphaned as as small boy, he is raised by his tyrannical uncle, a farmer, without love.  He is brutally beaten and become independent as soon as he grows strong enough to defend himself.  He lives alone and works at physically taxing odd jobs until he meets Maria, a waitress at the local village inn.  When he marries her he begins working for a company that builds cable-cars and ski-lifts in the mountain valleys.  Maria is killed and their humble home is destroyed in an avalanche, and he spends eight years in a Russian prison camp during and after the war.  When he finally returns to his village in 1951, the world has changed.  He lives alone in rooms or mountain shacks and supports himself by guiding tourists through the surrounding mountains.  

A Whole Life is a quiet, sad, but lovely book about the solitary life of a thwarted yet decent man.  Curious and memorable.