August's Featured Book
Fieldwork, a novel by Mischa Berlinski.
Book Summary
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 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.
Links of Interest
Much more about the book—and about Mischa Berlinski—can be found on his website.
Stephen King wrote an article earlier this year about his admiration for Fieldwork—and his questions about how it was marketed: How to Bury a Book.
Reviews
San Francisco Chronicle review
Reading Guide
Because no online reading guide yet exists for Fieldwork, we've put together one for you! Hope you find it helpful.
Fieldwork Reading Guide (23KB PDF)
Purchase This Book (and Support the Festival!)
The Calvin College Campus Store is the official retailer for Festival 2008. You can buy Fieldwork for a great price either through their website or in the store. When you buy through the Campus Store, a portion of all sales go to support the Festival of Faith and Writing.