A Whole Life: A Novel Hardcover – September 13, 2016

It was not a memorable book for me.

This book has been smoothly translated into English from the German by Charlotte Collins. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize. It is a simply, yet powerfully, rendered story of the whole life of Andreas Egger. He's a man of few words, but also, we learn, deeply complex. What he understands best is working.In 1902, at about age four, he arrives in the mountain village where he will spend his life. His relative is a stern, abusive farmer who accepts him from a scandalous sister-in-law for a few bank notes. He beats Andreas for the slightest offense, like spilling milk, and works him hard. But Andreas grows to have enormous strength. At age 18, faced with another brutal punishment, this time for dropping a bowl of soup, he says, "If you hit me, I'll kill you." From then on he is on his own.His good heart and integrity cause other workers take to him. At one point they help him overcome his shyness and make a spellbinding marriage proposal to a woman who works as hard as he does.The mountains surround the reader, and impending avalanches have power. “It was no more than an intimation, a soft whisper stealing around the walls . . . Black clouds were racing across the night sky, a pale, shapeless moon flickering between them.”He survives tragedy, and a prisoner of war camp. As age catches up with him, he becomes a trail guide for tourists, and sees his vivid landscape through their eyes. On a whim, he takes a bus trip out of his village. Where to? “I don’t know . . . I simply don’t know.” Eventually, he can hardly wait to return.This is the story of a man's whole life, without fireworks or a Wellington-sized effect on history. A man worth knowing, who gets back up and adapts when life throws him down. Somehow, the story's simplicity becomes profound, his mountain village haunting, and his acquired wisdom inspiring. This is a beautiful book, one I'll be giving to others

Even though your life seems ordinary from the outside, that is extraordinary inside. But we are so forgetful to treasure every moment of our invaluable lives. I can assure you that you will regain the perspective of your life through A whole story. We all live our stories.

I love this story of a simple man's life from which he found fulfillment despite harsh conditions and loneliness. I reread several of the passages that I found to be profound and true about living a life with strife and contentment.

This is a short book. I read it in one sitting. He has a writing style that I thought unique. I would not reccomend it to my reading friends, but might be interesting for a book club.

I read this first in German. I find it interesting to see how some passages are translated, and this is especially the case with Seethaler. He is very creative with language. I love his writing, but this book was a little depressing to me. I preferred “The Tobacconist,” which actually wasn’t as acclaimed as this book. I highly recommend both books because I think Seethaler is one of the best descriptive writers I have read.

It is a simple story with a lot of feelings involved. I think the simpler the better. I felt a lot of sympathy for the main character. I enjoyed the book, but sometimes the line of facts is confusing.

A good read. Some people really live simple, hard, but happy lives with very little but the bare necessities to get by on. The story in this book is an excellent one of a good but hard life with major tragedy and obstacles tolerated, borne without complaint and overcome. A reminder that we should sometimes be more grateful and appreciative for the good things we have in life. One of the better books I have read.

This is a beautiful book, not for what it says, but for what it tells. The prose didn’t hit me, the main character did. Again, not for what he says or thinks, but for his silence and resilience. In our time of constant (psycho)babble and analyses of every emotion it’s a relief to read about a man who just gets on with life. He is born on a mountain, he works on the mountain, he lives on the mountain, he wars on another mountain, he works a lot more on his mountain and he dies there. He doesn’t have many other choices but with what he has been given he works. That that isn’t always a bad thing I found beautifully illustrated by the following quote:“One clear autumn, when a roll of sandpaper slipped out of his hand and sprang down the slope like an impetuous young goat before eventually siling out over a spur of rock and vanishing in the depths, Egger paused for the first time in years (after his wives death) and contemplated his surroundings. The sun was low, and even the distant mountaintops stood out so clearly that it was as if someone had just finished painting them onto the sky.”Years and years he saw nothing, he worked, ate and slept and worked a lot more and then he sees something again for the first time in years. The strength of a small life is once more put brilliantly when the author describes what happens when Andreas Egger sees Grace Kelly on the small screen. He is overwhelmed with so much beauty, it confuses him. He never watches television again.The sturdiness, the quietness and the resilience of Andreas Egger stayed with me. I’ve never met a person like him. Well you can’t find a man like that in the city that’s for sure. How we city people miss out.

On face value this a brief story about a life of an unremarkable man who lives on the mountain side above his village. Yet it is told in a compelling and engaging prose,beautifully translated from German that a simple but complete life becomes a quite remarkable story.A man whose life is touched by sadness, inhibited by disability and devastated by bereavement. Yet he craves for livery little, he is content and accepts his life for what it is and works hard and without fear. The author describes him: "He had no one, but had all he needed, and that was enough".In an ever increasing materialistic first world, where success is seen in wealth, celebrity and possessions this is a heart warming tale of a more understated life but rewarding just the same.I would encourage everyone to read this short book which tells of a whole life in terms of satisfied and complete. I found it a shared account without comment or formulae to reproduce the lifestyle but in simple words, a magical process occurs that not only takes you into the rich mountain air but when the fog lifts gives you a fresh perspective and an unforgettable view. Wholesome and life-affirming.

I enjoyed this short well written book of the journey through life of someone whose hand in life was not an easy deal. The alpine setting and journey in time through the early 20th century and wartime experiences in Russia add significant context. It is indeed a story of a whole life of a humble unassuming character who experienced life's ups and downs and forged his own way which often left him isolated and alone. His resilience to come through some extremely painful episodes is a good essay on the power of the human spirit.

This book was recommended to me by a bookseller in Waterstones. I bought it but lent it to a friend who lost it. It is such an unusual story that I had to replace it. It is so different from any other I had read.

A compelling story of a simple man, a woodlander who faces some disasters in his life, yet has the quiet stoicism and fortitude to keep going in his own unique way. The mountain scenery and Egger's intimate knowledge of the landscape are a powerful setting to this life with its hesitant craving for connection yet with solitude deep it the soul.