The Cold Lady does indeed return at the end of the novel, which describes Egger’s own undramatic death. And all that’s left for you then is darkness. And in the last patch of sky you see before they finally shovel the earth in over you she reappears and breathes on you. She seizes you as she passes and takes you with her and sticks you in some hole. She comes when she wants and takes what she needs. She walks on the mountain and steals through the valley. The rhythm of this passage about the Cold Lady, spoken by the goatherd, underscores the inevitability of Death: He prevails by escaping from Egger during the hike down the mountain Egger tries to catch up with him but is unable to in the deep snow and presciently shouts out after him, “No one has ever outrun Death!” The goatherd does not want to go, wants instead to stay on his mountain, in spite of his fear of encountering the Cold Lady. The story opens with Egger trying to bring the sick old goatherd Johannes Kalischka, known to the townspeople as “Horned Hannes,” down from the mountain, carrying him on his back. Indeed, Death, in the form of the Cold Lady, frames the novel.

We know it is inevitable that we will be accompanying the protagonist all the way until the end of his life. It is surprising to discover what a short novel it is, given the depth of coverage of Egger’s life. The pace is slow and methodical, without being weighty or boring. We see that in spite of harsh conditions, Egger lives his life without self-pity we come to like and admire him and ultimately to reflect on how we deal with adversity in our own lives.Įach phase of Egger’s life is given equal attention the novel progresses without hurrying through his childhood, young adulthood, middle age, and old age. The sparse, understated style made me want to read more to find out how Egger deals with the unkind blows he receives. The story is in the telling of it, another truism adroitly illustrated by this novel. Yet this is not a depressing novel the reader is quickly caught up in Egger’s solitary, but not desperate existence. Egger has no clear memory of his mother, a father is never mentioned he is raised by a cruel distant relation, has little formal education but is strong and healthy, finds no manual labor beneath him, experiences a great love, spends years as a Russian prisoner of war, and in general leads what most would find to be a severe, difficult life. Charlotte Collins (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016)Īnd living out most of his life in a small village located in a valley in the mountains. A Whole Life, by Robert Seethaler, trans.

A whole life by robert seethaler