Fieldwork

FIELDWORK

by Mischa Berlinski

 

Nominations: Center For Fiction Finalist 2007, Dublin Longlist 2009, National Book Finalist 2007

 

Date Read: March 27, 2023

 

A journalist, Mischa, moves to Thailand with his girlfriend, Rachel, and through a friend of his, hears about a white woman (farang) who is serving 50 years in a Thai jail for murder. Martiya had murdered a farang missionary and only a few weeks prior had committed suicide by eating too much opium. Mischa was instantly enthralled by the story.

 

Although Mischa is cobbling together income through freelance journalism, he begins to research Martiya’s story and the deeper he digs, the more captivating the story. Why did she kill a missionary? After Martiya completed the anthropologic fieldwork, in which she was studying the Dyalo, a remote tribe in Thailand, why did she return to Thailand after a brief stay back in Berkeley? How did she even meet David, the missionary she killed? Mischa was consumed by these questions.

 

Martiya was no slouch and came from a long line of linguists. In her own rite, she was finishing graduate work in anthropology and the Dyalo were her tribe of choice. Although it was rough going at first – no running water or electricity, no privacy, no communication due to the language, the heat and humidity, the strange looks – she finally found her way and realized she was most content living this simple life.

 

Mischa was able to chart Martiya’s early childhood in an Indonesian village where her father created the written language for a tribe. He discovered her late teens and early twenties were spent in California, where her father moved to become a professor. Martiya ultimately matriculated at UC Berkeley where her father taught. David then tracks her in and out of Thailand as she worked on her research.

 

Throughout the entire saga, the age-old question of why people do the things they do are what make Fieldwork so intriguing. Whether the humans are from Berkeley, Thailand or a remote tribe with customs and language all their own, humans share fundamental similarities in jealousy, doubt, loving and the meaning of community. 

 

Berlinski not only weaves a captivating tale but he has clearly conducted extensive research on what an anthropologic study would entail. Although the Dyalo are entirely fictional, Berlinski created enough of a history and lore that made their relationships, rituals and customs entirely real. If there were an award for best fictional anthropologic account, Berlinski should most assuredly win. A truly engaging novel.