The Fifth Year

Reviews

"Effortlessly poignant. Haushofer's prose is like clear lake water: clean, crisp, seemingly simple yet with surprising depths. This novella's translation from German to English was worth the 75-year wait." — Kirkus (starred)

"Deeply perceptive and sensuous—it's a stunner. The main event is Haushofer's painterly depiction of the landscape, as when she describes how the fog lifts as winter approaches." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Finally available to English-language readers thanks to Shaun Whiteside’s precise translation… Haushofer inserts sharp observations about religion, gender inequity, overwhelming grief, and looming dangers. Haushofer expertly, poignantly unearths life beneath the surface." — Terry Hong, Booklist

"Dreamy... In The Fifth Year, childhood bliss is edged with intimations of sorrow. Marili's is an honest sadness, slightly comic, but admirable in its intensity." — Becca Rothfeld, London Review of Books

"The human capacity to simply keep going lies at the heart of Haushofer’s understanding of the world. What is momentous and beautiful about life, she suggests, is that there is hardly anything we can’t stand; that is its horror, too.”" — B.D. McClay, The Wall Street Journal

"A window into the singularity of consciousness." — Janique Vigier, Bookforum

"Haushofer’s sentences are simple and concise, and full of careful thought.The ideas she expresses are so important that you wonder how you havemanaged to get by without them." — Missouri Williams, The Nation

"An extraordinarily interesting writer, always underappreciated." — Elfriede Jelinek