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Fieldwork

By: Mischa Berlinski
Narrated by: William Dufris
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Publisher's summary

A daring, spellbinding tale of anthropologists, missionaries, demon possession, sexual taboos, murder, and an obsessed young reporter named Mischa Berlinski.

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 50-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 obsession 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 exhilarating, Fieldwork is a novel about fascination and taboos - scientific, religious, and sexual. It announces an assured and captivating new voice in American fiction.

©2007 Mischa Berlinski (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"A lean, interesting tale." (Publishers Weekly)
"A surprisingly compassionate look at Christianity in conflict with anthropology. I kept expecting tirades, and instead got sweetness and thoughtful good humor. A remarkable novel." (Stephen King)

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Almost saved by this great reader

This reader - also great in The Company - tries to save this book. I had to give up on this one.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Barely Able To Listen To The Whole Book

I loved the first two hours and thought it could be a great book. I lost interest in the characters and the storyline after that point. The book describes in great detail the family life of Christian missionaries over two generations. It then goes into painstaking details about daily life in a Thai village for an anthropologist.

Unless you are devoted follower of Christian missionary life or enjoy the subject of anthropology I would recommend passing on this book. How disappointing for what could have been a great book.

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5 people found this helpful