Originally published in German, this translation of Die Wand by Shaun Whiteside is the only English language translation of any of Marlen Haushofer's novels, even though she has won several literary awards at home in Austria. Considered a "feminist novel" we are ostensibly reading a report written by the main character who remains nameless throughout. She is a wife and mother of two nearly grown daughters, and has come with her sister (Luise) and her brother-in-law (Hugo) to their hunting lodge in the mountains for the weekend. Luise and Hugo go down to the village for some socializing and never return, although their dog does. Next morning, our reporter begins to worry and as she heads down to the village, she runs into an invisible barrier, transparent and apparently stretching for miles in either direction. The first part of the book focuses on her efforts to understand what has happened and conjecturing about what will happen when the creators of this terrible weapon come to check on their work--for she figures out that whatever happened, it has killed all the fauna (human, animal, bird, insect) living on the other side. This chapterless book (which I found maddening when I needed to quit reading of an evening) shifts focus to how she makes her life alone in the mountains with only the dog, a cow and a cat for companions. It was hard to get started (it would have failed Nancy Pearl's Rule of 50 for me) but eventually I couldn't stop. She copes, although not well at times. Certainly we have to wonder what we ourselves would do in such a situation. What is the point of living, after all? She eventually realizes that no one is left alive to read her report, so why write it? Although the reader will anticipate the climax, such as it is, for most of the book, it's still profound in its implications.
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