Stephen King recommended book. He says: "This is a great story. It has an exotic locale, mystery, and a narrative voice full of humor and sadness. Reading Fieldwork is like discovering an unpublished Robertson Davies novel; as with Davies, you can't stop reading until midnight (good), and you don't hate yourself in the morning (better). It's a Russian doll of a read, filled with stories within stories. The first belongs to the book's narrator, also called Mischa Berlinski. The fictional Berlinski is a lazy-ass journalist in Thailand who makes out — barely — reviewing books, music, and men's clothes. Mischa's friend Josh has his own story to tell. ''You ever been in a Thai jail?'' he asks Mischa over lunch, and we're off and running. Prison is where Josh met Martiya van der Leun, an American anthropologist who studied an obscure mountain tribe, ended up in prison for the murder of a missionary, and killed herself by swallowing a ball of opium (what a way to go). All this happens in the first 15 pages, and I defy any reader not to press on. The core of Fieldwork is the Maugham-esque tragedy of Martiya, who loses not just one culture but two, for the oldest reason in the world: love. It's also the story of David Walker, who leaves his missionary calling to follow Jerry Garcia and his bandmates across America. He is called back to Thailand — and his fatal appointment with Martiya — when he hears Jerry sing a hymn at a Dead concert in Eugene, Oregon. It's the mystery of Martiya and David that tugs the reader through these colorful, smoothly written pages. How could two such fundamentally nice people end up as murderer and victim? Berlinski eventually provides an answer that's as shocking as it is satisfying."He also says: "I've already written about this one, and once is enough. Suffice it to say there hasn't been a more readable story about religions in conflict since Somerset Maugham created Sadie Thompson. The fact that Berlinski gives the Christians a fair shake is a breath of fresh air."Group read Oct-Nov 2011 Books Stephen King Recommends11/19/11. We read this one for our group read and at first I didn't know if I was going to enjoy it. But I did! I really began to care about the characters and found I was immersed in looking at worlds I would never be able to see with my own eyes - the world of the missionaries and their generations of work and the world of Martyia and the Dyalo tribe. The fact that David and Maritya are both heading on a collision course adds the mystery to this novel. It's not a face-paced thrilling read, but I found it extremely interesting and moving. Stephen King chose a good one to rave about.
i picked fieldwork by mischa berlinski on the recommendation of my local independent bookseller. (since that’s how i found the history of love, it didn’t even occur to me that i wouldn’t utterly fall for this book too.)it’s an interesting premise: mischa berlinski (and we could spend the rest of the afternoon discussing the implications of a novelist naming his fictional protagonist after himself), while in thailand with his girlfriend, stumbles on this improbable murder story. an anthropologist shoots a Christian missionary.at first i was riveted. the descriptive and accurate look into the lives of these missionaries had me dog-earing pages and desperately scrambling for pens to jot down my half-baked thoughts. somehow this berlinski guy had found a way to describe missionary life that was so bang on.since i’m currently trying to rewrite my own missionary experience, i was frustrated and inspired by the way berlinski was able to capture the missionary mindset: the missionaries remained people–he gave a picture of their life that didn’t turn them into psychotic proselytizing machines.and then. there are these random random tangents. mischa’s girlfriend (the fictional mischa, not the author) is nothing more than a prop. she is the typical stock female character and only exists to give mischa an excuse to be in thailand.the way berlinski approached the book is utterly beyond me. it’s divided into sections: telling the story from every possible perspective. if you ask me, it would have been much more readable if he had simply told the story without involving his fictional self or his fictional girlfriend.i’m not sure how to sum this experience up. obviously, the prose is brilliant, the research is impeccable. the story is complicated and interesting. should the few annoyances skew my overall perception? probably not. but they are.you read it. tell me what you think.
What do You think about Fieldwork (2007)?
I picked this up on a recommendation for something to read since I was going on holiday to Thailand. Some takes place in Chiang Mai and the majority of the action takes place in the hills of Northern Thailand (also part in China). It was interesting to read while I was there. It's part thriller (not "who dunnit?" but more "why dunnit?") plus a faux documentary of a hill tribe plus a psychological account of what happens to serious anthropologist field workers. I would have enjoyed it more if it was an account of an actual hill tribe rather than just based on ideas (which are based on real life so I imagine most of the details come from some real event/people/etc). I definitely turned each page with curiosity - but due to the story not the writing (which was just OK for me) Going to Northern Thailand? Read it if you don't have another vacation specific book lined up. Otherwise, I can't say it's a must-read - but i wouldn't discourage you. It's a solid 3 for me.
—Forest Collins
While this is not a major work, Man/Booker will not be calling, it is a very interesting story. And not typical at all.Particularly interesting for those who live or have lived in Thailand or ventured in the Golden Triangle of Burma, Thailand. S.W. China, Tibet. Or ever dreamed of going there. For me it was personally MUCH more interesting because my wife, daughter and inlaws are Lisu hill tribe members, which is the christianised cultural group of 750 thousand +/- that Mischa Berlinski had been studying when this novel's ideas sprung from his research. While "The Dyalo" of this book are not real, much of the social structures and village life that he draws on for mis-en-scene, is quite real. Even as my family is modernised in many ways, they are still products of the dual-cultures of 'before and after' Christianity's arrival in their villages. The christian and animist mixed inseparably, slipping back and forth as situations dictate. I also recognise parts of the missionary world depicted, because my marriage took place in a similar missionary compound in Chaing mai, surrounded by a large Lisu congregation, and several generations of missionary families. I was even rebaptised in a tub with a 9 person choir singing hymns in Lisu as I was dunked. Just to make sure I was good for their sect's strictures.Some other reviewers made critiques at technique of the writer. For me they are minor because he has captured so well, time & place settings and multiple cultures in transition through the eyes of someone just grasping their hidden meanings. Without knowing the extremes of the missionary culture also, we can not really understand the profound changes that the protagonist anthropologist was observing in the Dyalo world and her own sense of place in it. Changes that sent her over the edge. And all of the multiple western characters comparing each other to their own ' home cultures' and then the Dyalo. Theirs nearly fading away in their minds, or rendered somehow foreign, because of time and distance from home for the narrator and his characters. That the author is narrator is not an issue, because, for me it lends first hand experience to the story. So have a nice read here and remember, always keep Rice happy.
—David Donald
This was a strange, but intriguing work. The mystery and culture were both elegant and engaging, the characters well drawn and real. However, the author was self indulgent in several ways: most obviously by casting himself as the narrator and most notably by suddenly steering away from the main story to delve into a too-detailed family history that seems like it could have been its own novel--and not one I would have read. In the end, the author reveals that he is himself an anthropologist and that this tale began as an anthropological history of Christian missionaries in northern Thailand. Only then did that awkward foray make sense: he had done the research and was going to include it whether it enhanced the story or not. Once past that, though, the story resumed and was again engaging and well drawn...that is until the end, when the fascinating mystery that had kept me turning the pages fizzles right out in an ending that stands out for how lackluster it is compared to the story that brought you there. It seems as though the author simply ran out of steam and was ready to be done with it. Perhaps, if Mr. Berlinski's inner writer can learn to better silence his outer anthropologist, his next novel will be more tightly drawn and satisfying from beginning to end.
—Kate
