The Wall: A haunting literary dystopia of isolation, survival and the natural world (Vintage Earth)

Someone (I can't remember who you were, but possibly a reviewer who may have mentioned this in passing) sent me to search out and get The Wall, a 1968 book by the Austrian writer Marlen Haushofer, which has been reprinted, thanks no doubt to the 2013 German film Die Wand, which, by all accounts is as sensitive, thought provoking and disturbing as Haushofer's original book. Unknown reviewer, whoever you were, thank you. It is difficult to know where to start with this unsettling, reflective, heart-breaking, philosophical book, which quietly unpicks just what it is, at the end, to be a human animal. A simple premise, in many ways - and one which may be familiar to Stephen King's readers, as apparently the basic premise formed the substance of his 2009 book Under The Dome. A cataclysmic event seals off survivors from the rest of the world, trapping them in a kind of prison. That, I understand is King's book which devotes a lot of time to the wheres and whyfores of The Dome, and of course the survivors and the relationships between them. Haushofer's is completely different. Having almost immediately established The Wall, she (and she is the only survivor) accepts it as a given, and is not much interested in the why and how did it happen. It is quickly, and very practically, accepted for what it is. Something created by technology, by warfare between nations, by a weapon and experiment which clearly was more aggressive and destructive than its inventors ever imagined. The unnamed narrator is a middle aged woman, a widow, going away for a few days with a cousin and her husband to their hunting lodge deep in the Austrian Alps. The couple go to the nearest village for an evening drink, but never return. In the morning, the narrator finds the mysterious transparent wall has appeared, and every living thing on the other side of the wall, which appears to extend to the limits of vision, has been petrified. So begins the book, a journal kept, looking back from a two year vantage point, by the never named narrator. Do you need a name if you are the only survivor, and there will never be anyone to need to name you, to distinguish you from anyone else, ever again? The journal, which she writes in certainty that it will never be read, never be found, is written because - well - isn't this what we do - we find some way to note and record and mark our being, some way of saying `I was here' some way of marking time, space, and our own needs as reflective creatures who exist in time and know a past, inhabit a present and imagine a future. The isolated, Alpine setting also provides our narrator with the means of survival - there are forests, deer (it's a hunting lodge, remember, where people come in hunting season, with stocks to take them through) She has a dog, borrowed initially for for the weekend hunting visit, and luckily, a cow which also had strayed to this side of the wall, before `the event' Later, a half feral cat appears from the forest. It's like another kind of Ark, except hardly two by two. Bereft of human companionship, relationships develop between the animals and the narrator. But please don't think twee, these are fierce relationships about survival, connection, the animal need for comfort which not only humans feel. I discovered that at one point, the book had sometimes been praised and marketed as an `eco-feminist utopian book' Really???!! Sure, the book is about the preciousness of other living creatures, about the need for respect for the landscape, it's a FOR the cherishing of life and AGAINST the destruction and war which leads to/led to `the event'. And the one who survives is a female, and she has to fend for herself, learn how to survive, remember the skills she once learned as a young woman with a rural background and somehow find, with difficulty, new skills. But, apart from the fact she IS female, so yes there is a lot of thought given to the nature of animal companions which comes from their femaleness (the cow) or their maleness (the dog) it is more about being human itself, than female or male. Most peculiarly - Utopia? Really? To know that all you loved have died, and that all you now love and care for (the animals) may or will or do die before you, and that if YOU are the one to die before them, you will leave them alone, and they may have come to need your companionship. And if they die before you, the loss is also unbearable The structure of the book is very skilful - because the narrator is writing this looking back over her time she always knows where she will end up. So, we are told, over and over, all through the book, about pains and losses which will come, so we are always reading the immediacy and at times the sweetness of a moment, and are aware of any awfulness which awaits. This is unlikely to appeal if you are someone who likes the drive of the book to be in one `what happens next' linear direction. To be honest `the action' in narrative terms, is little, the action is generally very practically rooted - how do you harvest and ration the matches, the dried beans, the potatoes, the shoes, the bullets for your hunting rifle that will keep you alive, before, in time, death must come from accident or want. And what, all humankind gone, might it be that keeps you here. Why bother? All I can say is that I found this a most unusual, most thoughtful, most despairing-and-most-appreciative-of-the-little NOW sort of book. In the end, it is a book about Stoicism, and about acceptance, at a deep level. Its also, given the deep and vital surrender to the business of staying alive by being within the moment of your living, alert to that quality of yourself as a being moving within the external world, a book which has some parallels with instructions about `living mindfully' This is quite unlike anything else. On many levels, a short (just over 200 pages) read, an easy read, but I lingered and lingered, not wanting to get to where the narrator had told me we were going, time and again, in this journey. An extraordinary book. "Then I would sit down on the bench and wait. The meadow slowly went to sleep, the stars came out, and later the moon rose high and bathed the meadow in its cold light. I waited for those hours all day, filled with secret impatience. They were the only hours in which I was capable of thinking quite without illusions, completely clearly. I was no longer in search of a meaning to make my life more bearable. That kind of desire struck me as being almost presumptuous. Human beings had played their own games, and in almost every case they had ended badly. And how could I complain? I was one of them and couldn't judge them, because I understood them so well. It was better not to think about human beings. The great game of the sun, moon and stars seemed to be working out, and that hadn't been invented by humans. But it wasn't completed yet, and might bear the seeds of failure within it."

I liked the atmosphere of isolation which was conveyed very well. The resilience of the story teller is convincing as is her antipathy towards the human race... I found the lack of chapters really annoying and actually very unnecessary - an affectation which did not serve any purpose.

A bit dark but worth the read

Description: A woman is trapped in her cousin-in-law's hunting lodge in the Austrian Alps, after a disaster happens and an invisible wall partitions her off from the rest of the world. Liked: Was super interesting how different a survival 'fantasy' from a feminine perspective is. This focused a lot on animal companionship, a sense of duty, adapting oneself rather than just the environment, and how difficult/unsatisfying modern life is, especially for women. Felt it homed in on exactly the right things with spectacular precision and clarity. The ending is softly pointed and absolutely perfect. Disliked: Right from the start there's confirmed impending doom. It's completely necessary for Haushofer to make her point, but I wish it'd been held back just a little so I could have enjoyed the 'good times'. Would 100% recommend.

An absolutely beautiful and original novel: I was captivated from the first few pages and devoured the story in just a few days. Haushofer paints a vibrant and immersive picture of the Austrian Alps through the changing seasons, with as much love and care dedicated to the characters of the animals that share this extraordinary world. Every aspect feels alive and tangible: an experience that I shared with the narrator as she writes her memoirs, rather than observed from a distance as a passive reader. The story itself is existential, human, and humble but beautifully told and never puts a foot wrong. Some passages take your breath away and others prompt a pause in contemplation to consider the deeper meanings and meditations on human nature and our relationship with the world around us. A brilliant, brilliant read and a story that will stay with me.

I bought this book because I had been impressed by the 2012 film of it and wanted to see the book's perspective on the supernatural event that dominates the whole story. The film gives the impression it is set in 2012, whereas the book was published in 1963. Since 1963 was the height of the Cold War, the protagonist's interpretation is that there is some kind of military explanation, whereas my interpretation of the film was that time had stood still outside the invisible wall. One big difference is that in 2012 she drives her car into the wall (and crumples her car) whereas in 1963 she doesn't even drive. Otherwise, the book is just a much fuller description of her activities and thoughts than the voiceover of the film. Read the book for a detailed analysis of a woman on her own, or see the film for the marvellous Alpine scenery.

A woman on a short break in the Austrian mountains wakes up and discovers that a huge transparent impenetrable wall has inexplicably surrounded her overnight. She now finds herself alone and sealed within what is effectively a giant goldfish bowl. Everything outside the wall appears to be lifeless and she is left to fend for herself. She adapts quickly enough to a life of planting crops, milking cows, threshing hay, chopping firewood, tending her pets and watching the weather change with the seasons. And so it goes on and on for page after page seemingly without end. By the time I reached the mid-point both the initial intrigue and my patience had long since been exhausted. I started to skim pages just to see if any of this was actually going anywhere but it clearly wasn’t. The central idea is promising but is never developed. It could have been used to explore the challenges and rewards of a solitary life or how an individual adapts to a world in which the strictures of society have been removed but it has little to say about these themes or anything else. There are a few vaguely philosophical homilies sprinkled around but they’re nowhere near insightful or thought-provoking enough to make it worth ploughing through the rest of the verbiage. The end result is a potentially interesting short story stretched way too thin and one of the most rambling and repetitive books I’ve ever read. A brief afterword makes some claims for the profundity of the text but I remain unconvinced. Still, at least somebody got something out of it because it did nothing for me.

I loved this read, I was there lived the moments of despair, joy, hunger and loneliness. Cannot imagine what it would be like to 'have' to kill and animal in order to survive. Not just for her but also those animals in her care. I would not have the faintest idea how to churn butter, no problem milking Bella just big problem making myself drink the milk! It was such a thought provoking book which I could not put down, didn't want it to finish but had to get to the end. No good for those who like an ending though. Many good previous reviews, very eloquent thank you. Where to next?

A woman staying in a hunting lodge at the foot of an Austrian mountain wakes up to find that an invisible wall has gone up around her mountain and that every living creature on the other side of the wall is dead. Although this may sound like the beginning of a science fiction work, the wall is only a literary device to allow the author to put her heroine in an existential situation of total solitude. The book follows here for 2+ years as she adapts to her situation with her only company being a dog, a cat and a cow. The book is about so many things: nature, solitude, womanhood, the relationships between animals and mankind, and so much more. The descriptions of nature are wonderful while the story unfolds at a slow pace. The story stayed with me long after I finished reading and I found it all unsettling.

THE WALL by Marlene Haushofer ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A middle-aged woman visits her cousin and her husband in the Austrian mountains for an adventure getaway in their hunting lodge. She confronts the nightmare after awakening one morning. When the couple doesn't return from the walk, she goes looking for them with their dog, Lynx, where she ends up at a transparent and impenetrable wall that appeared overnight. The other side of the wall seems like there is no life, and now she is trapped with fear in the woods. All she is left with is the dog and a fair supply of food, which will only last for a few weeks. This book is a German classic dystopian fiction translated into English. This novel also holds survival, isolation, resilience, grief, and loss. The author's profound love for nature and animals was evident. Initially, the book captivated me with its character-driven plot; however, it eventually became slow and repetitive. The world build-up was realistic and intense with a frightening atmosphere. The author sheds light on how we might not always realise how much we have learnt to survive until we face it head-on. One thing I must admit: throughout I was travelling with the main character in the woods. Every step I was rooting for her, empathising with her suffering, learning harvesting, milking the cow and much more. At some point, I took a break from reading this book, as it began to loom over me. However, I finished reading this novel, and I would recommend this if you like sci-fi dystopian reads. Overall, it's a simple, poignant story and a challenging reflection on humanity.

A stunning book which left me thinking long after I was done. Easily my favorite book i have read. Is a bit tedious tk get into but once you do it is a marvel. A contemporary classic it should be proclaimed, it was comforting yet terrifying. I loved it, a book to not miss.

This is the sort of book that stays with you and haunts you. It brings you deep into another world. I saw the movie, which is very good, and ran out and got the book. In the story a woman, never named, wakes up alone in her friend's hunting cabin to find the area has been walled off by an invisible glass-like wall. Everyone is gone. She presumes some military experiment gone wrong. Somehow she has all she needs to survive and just that. She is left with Lynx a dog, her primary companion and gradually a cow , a cat and kittens that come and go. She has some simple supplies, some potatoes, beans, guns, her hunting lodge and medical supplies. She sets about the business of surviving and caring for her animals. It is a very primitive hunter/gather/farmer existence. She takes only what she needs and protects what she can. Her labors, which are backbreaking and constant. They are what make her human and different from the animals. She is too exhausted to brood about the loss of her old life, her family. It is about the nature and living with it and preparing for the next season. . It's not about escape or return, which makes it unusual. It's about how she adapts, as possibly the last of her kind in this wild area.. Her struggle is constant and transformative. We also know something bad is coming and this is said early and often. This creates tension. The story bounces around in time to the present tense and back, but mostly follows the seasons. She is telling her story. We know only what she knows. Her world is quite large and has forests and streams and meadows. Her pets are complex characters, especially Lynx, who is her main companion. What is given(i.e. the cow for milk, the supplies) and what is taken (all the people the modern conveniences), even the wall itself are all plot devices and one is very aware of that. It isn't sci fi, but more of fable and a survival story. What makes it haunting because she is so alone, her efforts to survive are so exhausting and more loss is coming. This book contains some of the most moving and thoughtful writing about animals and pets and nature and seasons that you will find. You are completely immersed in this world and her struggles, as maybe the last of her kind.. Seasonal changes are major plot turns. It is both a page turner and a contemplative book. I will never forget this world, the animals and this woman.

As expected. The book was bought used and had minor damage (folded corners, and cover was wrinkled a bit). The book itself is really good. Thank you!