164. "Fieldwork" by Mischa Berlinski

Continuing with the Southeast Asia theme, Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski takes place in Thailand and in the border regions of the Golden Triangle--Burma, Thailand, and China. The novel's narrator, also named Mischa Berlinski, becomes obsessed with the story of a Dutch-American archaeologist who committed suicide in a Thai jail more than a decade after she shot a missionary twice in the back.

Through interviews with people who knew Martiya van der Leun, the archaeologist; her own letters; forays into archaeology and the spiritual beliefs of local tribes; and discussions with the vast Walker clan--the family of missionaries that spawned the man van der Leun killed--Berlinski strives to understand the crime. In the process, he explores what has motivated four generations of the Walker family, and what compelled van der Leun to give up her American life to dwell in a hut with a pre-literate hill tribe. Her ultimate embrace of the tribal beliefs, at the same time the Walker scion is converting more and more tribe members away from those beliefs, leads to a conflict that the novel attempts to portray as inevitable.

The story is fascinating, and Berlinski is a strong writer, providing ample details about Thai life, history, and cultures to engage readers. My only critique is that the novel's ending felt anticlimactic and a little abrupt.