The Man Booker International Prize celebrates translated fiction at its finest. Now an annual prize awarded to a single novel or collection of short stories, it can truly highlight the best of translated fiction from around the world. Both the writer and the translator will be rewarded equally for their contribution, showcasing the crucial role they each play in the finished book.
The full shortlist of six titles can be found here, but in this series of articles we will look at each title in detail.
A Whole Life
Andreas lives his whole life in the Austrian Alps, where he arrives as a young boy taken in by a farming family. He is a man of very few words and so, when he falls in love with Marie, he doesn’t ask for her hand in marriage but instead has some of his friends light her name at dusk across the mountain.
When Marie dies in an avalanche, pregnant with their first child, Andreas’ heart is broken. He leaves his valley just once more, to fight in WWII – where he is taken prisoner in the Caucasus – and returns to find that modernity has reached his remote haven. This is a tender book about finding dignity and beauty in solitude. It looks at the moments, big and small, that make us what we are.
Have you read A Whole Life? You can leave a review or add the book to your group’s reading list.
Want to know more? Download our reading notes for A Whole Life, including information about the author and translator, as well as some discussion questions about the book.
Want ideas on what to read next? We’ve created a supporting booklist with suggestions of other books that have links to the themes of A Whole Life, including the Austrian Alps, living in the wilderness, farming and wartime.
A word from Make and Break
Make and Break Book Club are one of the reading groups who are shadowing the Prize this year, and are reading A Whole Life.
“Make and Break are a London book group who were brought together by the weird and wonderful world of the Guardian First Book Award. We like to read broadly, vary genres and set ourselves new challenges. We meet monthly over noodles or pizza to discuss our latest read.”
Get involved
Join in the conversation on Twitter using #MBI2016 and #AWholeLife, and you can also follow translator Charlotte Collins on Twitter.
Keep up with all the latest news on the Man Booker International Prize website, and on Instagram.
