When his girlfriend takes a job as a schoolteacher in northern Thailand, Mischa Berlinski goes along for the ride, working as little as possible for one of Thailand's English-language newspapers. One evening a fellow expatriate tips him off to a story. A charismatic American anthropologist, Martiya van der Leun, has been found dead—a suicide—in the Thai prison where she was serving a fifty-year sentence for murder. Motivated first by simple curiosity, then by deeper and more mysterious feelings, Mischa searches relentlessly to discover the details of Martiya's crime. His search leads him to the origins of modern anthropology—and into the family history of Martiya's victim, a brilliant young missionary whose grandparents left Oklahoma to preach the Word in the 1920s and never went back. Finally, Mischa's obssession takes him into the world of the Thai hill tribes, whose way of life becomes a battleground for two competing, and utterly American, ways of looking at the world. Vivid, passionate, funny, deeply researched, and exquisitely plotted, Fieldwork is a novel about fascination and taboo—scientific, religious, and sexual. It announces an assured and captivating new voice in American fiction.
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"High marks for this one might be due to to my own love of Chiang Mai and the Morse Family, and my fascination with Hill Tribes. Berlinski well-captures how immersion in another culture can transform a soul. I laughed out loud at his descriptions of expats and expats who are missionaries. Some of his paragraphs found me sitting on a little plastic stool in Bangkok, slurping noodles. Others found me wandering through Chiang Mai. A must read for my ELIC friends, especially those of the ATC / Chiang Mai era." — Sandy (5 out of 5 stars)
"High marks for this one might be due to to my own love of Chiang Mai and the Morse Family, and my fascination with Hill Tribes. Berlinski well-captures how immersion in another culture can transform a soul. I laughed out loud at his descriptions of expats and expats who are missionaries. Some of his paragraphs found me sitting on a little plastic stool in Bangkok, slurping noodles. Others found me wandering through Chiang Mai. A must read for my ELIC friends, especially those of the ATC / Chiang Mai era."
“A lean, interesting tale about, among many other things, the differences between modern and tribal cultures.”
A really, really good story is exactly what Fieldwork is…. [A]n intoxicating journey filled with missing souls and vengeful spirits.
" It didn't grab my attention... so I gave up. "
" I really loved this book all the way through until the end, which I wasn't crazy about. "
" Great book about anthropology, missionaries, and Thailand. I loved all the imagery from Thailand and recognized a lot of the places the author was talking about...it's a great book if you've been to Thailand or SE Asia. "
" This turned out to be a very good book. It deals with the fictional history of missionaries in Thailand, but reads like a non-fiction. The author places himself into the novel and gives it the feel of fact. I enjoyed the main story of Martiya and David; the missionary history was not my "cup of tea." A good book, all in all. "
" This book was interesting. I don't think it's one I would have picked myself. I read it in a book club. The information was interesting, but at times was too detailed. "
" Just couldn't find a reason to stick with this one. "
" I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would after the first 30 pages. Its central mystery somehow kept me interested - even though it's the type of story that, had I known more about it beforehand, I probably wouldn't have read. "
" An interesting book about life in Thailand and life as an anthroplogist. "
" Not at all what I was expecting -- but utterly fascinating, just a really compelling story. I had a hard time putting it down. "
" Very interesting but a bad ending! "
" Book Club-Kerrie "
" This is a murder mystery that takes place in Thailand. The backdrop is the confrontation between a family of Christian missionaries and a Berkley-educated anthropologist interacting with the same jungle tribe. "
" Giving up on this one - got really slow. "
" Fascinating book--seemed like you were reading an anthropologist's notes about a remote village in Thailand with suspense added. This helps the reader imagine what actual fieldwork would be like for an anthropologist who becomes totally fascinated with a culture. "
" I loved reading this book . . . I was fascinated throughout. I did not love the ending though - that's why its a 4 and not a 5. "
" Found this on one of the "librarian picks" book shelves yesterday. From page one, it kept me up late into the night. It's a murder mystery set in the north hills of Thailand. This is the author's first novel and he is brilliant!!! "
" Liked it a lot - interesting the way the novel unfolds - very "non-linear" but draws you in. "
" I enjoyed the read but not the ending so much. "
" This is a wonderfully well written book. Quality fiction for sure! One of the few books I would read again. I read it in 2008, so I don't recall all the details. "
" Read under the recommendation of Stephen King. I'm not sure I like it as much as he did, but it was good to know what influences my favorite authors. "
" So far, almost half way through, I love it. Part faux anthropological memoir, part mystery, well written. "
" I think I'm still figuring out the ending, but I was completely hooked the whole way through. "
" i started this book and slogged through the first section, even thought about giving it up, but when i hit the second section it took off, and i burned through the rest of the book. it actually became a really good read. "
" Slow going at times but fascinating and compelling. "
" really well crafted story and so well written I could not believe how much of it was truly made up. Very much enjoyed this book. "
" A great book, and one that would be fun to discuss. Good insight into living cross-culturally. "
" Bordered on 4 stars, actually, but there was a lot of fairly slow going that held me up. "
" Could have been really good, but went off on tangents that in the hands of a better writer would not have detracted so much from the central book. "
" Book club pick. Some interesting parts but over all too slow for me. "
" ...i'm in thailand....i'm back in colorado springs "
Mischa Berlinski is the author of the novel Fieldwork, a finalist for the National Book Award. He is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Addison M. Metcalf Award.
William Dufris attended the University of Southern Maine in Portland-Gorham before pursuing a career in voice work in London and then the United States. He has won more than twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards, was voted one of the Best Voices at the End of the Century by AudioFile magazine, and won the prestigious Audie Award in 2012 for best nonfiction narration. He lives with his family in Maine.
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