This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.
Set in the mid-twentieth century and told with beauty and tenderness, Robert Seethaler's A Whole Life is a story of man's relationship with an ancient landscape, of the value of solitude, of the arrival of the modern world, and above all, of the moments, great and small, that make us who we are.
EerierIdyllMeme: Very similar narrative structures. Entire lives of men unimportant to history but surrounded by its passage, sometimes contemplating their role but largely swept up in the course of events.
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 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. ( )
This book was well written/translated, and interesting enough, although it was quite depressing in places. I was especially impressed with the resilience of this man. When I try to see him in this day and culture, it is very incongruous. I think things are so relatively easy for us, we haven't learned the patience and acceptance, and relative contentment that he had. Definitely an interesting read. ( )
By conventional standards, Andreas doesn't have much. His wife died, he has hardly been beyond his village and he doesn't have any material possessions. It's a simple life but it is still a whole life, which he found contentment in. Life can be simple, isn't it? ( )
Story of a very simple, quiet man. Follows him from childhood through death as he adapts to the modernization of his world without really participating in it. A gentle, meditative read. ( )
An einem Februarmorgen des Jahres neunzehnhundertdreiunddreißig hob Andreas Egger den sterbenden Ziegenhirten Johnannes Kalischka, der von den Talbewohnern nur der Hörnerhannes gerufen wurde, von seinem stark durchfeuchteten end etwas säuerlich riechenden Strohsack, um ihn über den drei Kilometer langen und unter einer dicken Schneeshicht begrabenen Bergpfad ins Dorf hinunterzutragen.
Quotations
Information from the German Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
"Man einem Mann seine Stunden abkaufen, man kann ihm seine Tage stehlen oder ihm sein ganzes Leben rauben. Aber niemand kann einem Mann auch nur einen einzigen Augenblick nehmen. So ist das, und jetzt lass mich in Frieden."
Dann dachte er an seine Zukunft, die sich so unendlich weit vor ihm ausbreitete, gerade weil er nichts von ihr erwartete. Und manchmal, wenn er lange genug so dalag, hatte er das Gefühl, die Erde unter seinem Rücken würde sich ganz sachte heben und senken, un in diesen Momenten wusste er, dass die Berge atmeten.
Last words
»Es ist noch nicht so weit«, sagte er leise, und der Winter legte sich übers Tal.
Set in the mid-twentieth century and told with beauty and tenderness, Robert Seethaler's A Whole Life is a story of man's relationship with an ancient landscape, of the value of solitude, of the arrival of the modern world, and above all, of the moments, great and small, that make us who we are.
)
)
Google Books — Loading...
Wikipedia in English
1