A Whole Life - Tapa dura

"One of my treasured discoveries this year was Robert Seethaler's A Whole Life . . . From the very first page you know it's about to rearrange your mental universe. It is a breathtaking, heartbreaking story that encapsulates a universe of change, loss, resilience." --Anuradha Roy, The Millions

"Mr. Seethaler has produced a compact work of grace and beauty." --Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

"A Whole Life is a provocatively ambitious title for this spare, novella-length work . . . Flecked with profundity [and] dark humor." --John Williams, The New York Times

"A tender and moving look at the human capacity for adaptation, Seethaler's understated tale is a
reminder that joy can be found in daily toils and simple pleasures." --Jonathan Fullmer, Booklist

"Readers will discover in [Seethaler's] contained prose a vehicle for keen insight and observation." --Publishers Weekly

"The book's prose has a directness and detail that helps set off the moments of genuine wisdom and restrained poetry . . . It is at this point that you realize why the novel should be doing so well in Germany, and why it is so urgent for the rest of us: it can guide its readers to make the best of their lives, however they turn out." --Sunday Telegraph

"Against the backdrop of a literary world that often seems crowded with novels yelling 'Look at me!, ' it's refreshing to read a story marked by quiet, concentrated attention . . . Deeply moving." --Sunday Times

"Seethaler shows that for even the most ordinary people, life is an extraordinary adventure--and he does so tenderly and memorably." --Mail on Sunday

Robert Seethaler was born in Vienna in 1966 and is the author of four previous novels. He also works as an actor, most recently in Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth. He lives in Berlin.

Charlotte Collins studied English at Cambridge University. She worked as an actor and radio journalist in both
Germany and the U.K. before becoming a literary translator. She previously translated Robert Seethaler’s novel The Tobacconist.