Fieldwork

Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski (fiction, 356 pages, 2007 National Book Award finalist)

In Mischa Berlinski’s first novel, Fieldwork, a young American expatriate (named Mischa Berlinski) living in Thailand gradually uncovers the intertwined stories of an American anthropologist who was studying the Dyalo people, and a missionary family who was trying to convert them. At the heart of Fieldwork is a mystery surrounding a murder committed by the anthropologist.

Berlinski creates a believable, textured world in his novel, with a strong anthropological sense of the Dyalo (a fictional group, but apparently based on several real Thai groups). The lonely life of a field anthropologist was well realized. Berlinski’s biggest achievement, for this reader, was his sympathetic take on the realistic, flawed missionary family. I found this a particularly interesting read in such close proximity to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, which was more about the negative effects of missionaries on native culture than the natives themselves.

The narrator teases out the anthropologist’s story slowly and painstakingly, and my one disappointment is the narrative voice Berlinski finally used to wrap up the mystery. Some of the book felt quirky for quirkiness sake (why did the narrator have to have the same name as the actual author?), but the clarity of the writing made up for this. All in all, a strong first effort by a writer I’ll be keeping an eye on.