A Dark Story from Tibet
932130
Jon Krakauer is known for his in depth research and clear telling of complex stories.  He is also an experienced mountaineer.  He brings these talents to unraveling the complex story of Greg Mortenson and what he did, or did not, do for the people of Tibet.  It is a cautionary tale of good intentions,  fame and money in the third world.  In the aftermath of the recent earthquake in Tibet, this book is again timely reading.
2430179
This story of a baby left to die in the woods is very disturbing.  The man who finds him wants him from the beginning, but he is given to his grandmother, a very cold woman who is unable to show him any affection and little guidance.  He grows to be very uncaring and is constantly in trouble.  The grandmother finally allows the kind and caring man who found him to take responsibility for him.  Unfortunately the boy continues to cause trouble and for many years does not respond to his kindness. The young man marries, but that soon ends.  He is badly hurt in a boxing match which leaves him even more bitter.

Finally, as the old man nears the end of his life, the young man gains some maturity, realizes how fortunate he has been to be loved and cared for as he has, and returns the kindness by caring for the old man during his final illness.
378479
For a westerner understanding the Chinese culture is quite a harsh. The book takes you into a journey which is pictured and illustrated through life in the village and through Confucianism
3591302
Very interesting and informative. I learned about what really happened in Tibet and highly recommend this story to every reader.
3264311
In the western fastnesses of Tibet, Mount Kailash is considered sacred by both Buddhists and Hindus.  The point is not to climb it:  it takes us Westerners a long while to realize that for Tibetans climbing a holy peak is a desecrating and ludicrous egotism, rather worse than a poodle pissing on a great Sequoia.  The pilgrimage is to do the several-day clockwise trek around the base, and on the north face of the mountain, Robert Thurman's teacher told him, is a site of enormous spiritual power, where "one can plant one's deepest wish for the world, and all the Buddhas and gods and dakini-angels would see to its accomplishment."  CIRCLING THE SACRED MOUNTAIN (Bantam, 1999) is the story of a trek to Kailash and to the neighboring holy lake, Manasrovar, told in two voices.  One part of the text is the dharma talks by Robert Thurman in his role as longtime student/master of the Vajrayana.  This is Tibetan kamikaze Buddhism, going at the preoccupations of the ego with  a diamond-point drill, and the talks have the special vernacular efficacy of being from someone who speaks English as a first and very lively language.  The narration proper is by Tad Wise, Thurman's student/friend and the trek's resident groundling.  His tone is the candid amusement of one too well familiar with his addictions--wine, women, song, and in one case a round of billiards.  Beneath that is clearly a hope of breaking the shackles these addictions have become--of receiving a crack in the skeptic, materialist viewpoint, which seems to be the special, even unique promise and gift of Tibet.  From these two voices we triangulate the presence of Kailash--we circle around it, as they do.  Thurman's wish  was to plant a prayer not just for the freedom of Tibet but for the releasing of its spiritual vision into "a world that has very nearly blown it."  CIRCLING THE SACRED MOUNTAIN is not so much armchair travel as a contagion of that hope:  like those hidden Tibetan treasure texts, a thought-pilgrimage of its own.

Glenn Shea, from Glenn's Book Notes, at www.bookbarnniantic.com
2985417
In the backdrop of rural China, in the villages and waterways, Ma Jian has crafted a tale both alarming and distressing on the abuses of Chinas one-child policy.

Meili remembers seeing Yuanyuan hobbling back from the school the day they left. Her mother-in-law was beside her, one hand supporting her round the waist and the other gripping the aborted fetus by the arm. Yuanyuan went into labour as soon as she was strapped to the school desk, but by the time the baby was born the disinfectant had already killed it. The Family Planning Officer dropped the dead baby into a plastic bucket, but it was so big it toppled out. It lay sprawled on the ground for hours. No one bothered to pick it up. When her mother-in-law came to fetch her, she scooped it up from the floor and refused to let go of it

Meili has already had her one child. A girl. But her husband Kongzi is determined to continue his line which he believes goes back to the great philosopher Confucius and demands a son. When she becomes pregnant they flee their village and travel the rivers in rural China to hide from the Family Planning Police. The enforcers of Chinas one-child policy.

What a fine voice you have, the man says coldly. Your cries won't change anything, though. Weve seen it all in this room: vomit, faeces, blood, urine, screaming tantrums. But however much the women curse and resist, they must all surrender their babies to us in the end. You think you can defy the state? Dont waste your breath.
 When we tied you to this table there were two of you, but when you get off therell be just one,.

Meili suffers greatly in her duty to provide Kongzi with a heir. She is beaten, raped and suffered the horror of watching her newborn child strangled in front of her. But an even greater indignity is in her realization that although she and Kongzi were once respected and held in esteem in the village they came from. That now. They are no better than the peasants they once looked down upon. That now they are the outcasts in their own country. This in turn changes the way she sees herself and her husband.

The village teacher she once worshipped has become a man who fills her with disgust. She looks down at him now and spits: What were those sayings you kept rattling off? Cultivate yourself and bring order to your family, and the nation will be at peace

The abuse and tyranny Meili suffers at the hands of the government and the husband she loves is as tragic and horrible as the truth that leaks from this novel. You want to believe that much of what is written here is not true, but in your heart, you know it is.
2027815
Theos Bernard was a remarkable man.  He was the only westerner invited as a religious student/pilgrim to the "forbidden" city, Lhasa, Tibet.  In 1937 he spent three months in Lhasa interacting with the full range of Tibetan society, from the Regent (this was between Dalai Lamas) to nobles, to all the major religious leaders, to the humblest servants.  His months in Tibet were the great adventure of his life. But the rest of his life was extraordinary as well.  He grew up in Tombstone, Arizona with a doting mother, step-father and three step- brothers -- his father left his mother soon after Theos was born. He became a lawyer but was always drawn to eastern philosophy because his mother was fascinated by it and his birth father was a student of Tantra, as was his uncle P.A. Bernard who ran a secret Tantric society in Nyack, New York which included the first teaching of hatha yoga on the East Coast.

Theos was drawn toward Tantra, moved to New York and began studying at Columbia University. He met his first wife, an heiress and medical student.  They traveled together to India. She went home to do her internship and he remained behind studying yoga which would become is Ph. D. thesis and a well respected book.  He also met many Tibetans and charmed his way into Tibet. He accumulated many books and artifacts and became a 15-minute celebrity back in the US.  He lectured about Buddhism, was called the "first white lama" and taught yoga.  He and his first wife divorced; he married another wealthy woman and subsequently divorced her.  America's brief interest in Tibet and Buddhism which he was trying to stir up was extinguished by the coming of WWII. Ten years after his unprecedented trip to Tibet, Bernard returned to India to do further research. It was exactly the time of violence at the partition of Britain and India. He was murdered in the mountains.

Hackett has done an in-depth job of research, he has even, finally, after more than 50 years, uncovered exactly how it was that Bernard was murdered. My only quibble, aside from insignificant factual errors (I knew Bernard's first wife) is that the book calls him "white lama" and does not emphasize that that is incorrect and was used by Bernard as publicity, reverting to his family's bad habit of hype about their background.
953627
I found this book to be very illuminating conserning that stage of the development of Tibet.  I thank the author (Rinjing Dorje) for bring his unique perspective to the broader world.  If you enjoy a good ribald story I would highly recommend his book of Tibetan childrens storys&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tales-of-Uncle-Tompa-The-Legendary-Rascal-of-Tibet/dp/1886449406/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tales of Uncle Tompa: The Legendary Rascal of Tibet</a>.  These stories all have a delightful twist and serve to give children an understanding of some of the trickery of the world.  Uncle Tompa is the trickster, essentually the Tibetan version of our Brer Rabbit, or in the USA southwest coyote, or Monkey in China.
895735
In the 19th Century, a race to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, enticed the most formidable male and female explorers from Europe, Russia and even Japan to defy the Tibetans ban on foreigners visiting their most sacred city from where their God King, the Dalai Lama ruled. In Trespassers on the Roof of the World Peter Hopkirk transports you to the skeleton strewn paths in the frigid oxygen deprived mountains and exposes you to the vertical mountain passes, starvation and marauding bandits in the worlds highest deserts. Tibet fascinated explorers precisely because it was unknown and was thought to hold the unbelievable secrets. The race to Lhasa was all the more alluring due to the phenomenal natural defense of mountains surrounding the city, and the fact that the city was fiercely defended by loyal Tibetan armies.

Hopkirk introduces you to each of the key explorers and their motivations, and keeps you wrapped up in the political intrigues of the different countries and motivations of the individuals. This was a period of expansionism for Russia and Britain - both of whom sought to control central Asia and her wealth. You get into the shoes of the explorers, a diverse group of people including soldiers, surveyors, doctors and missionaries including a baby. Their methods of escaping detection by the Tibetans included dressing up as religious pilgrims or traders. But after months of battling the elements and bandits, most of the earliest explorers were worn out physically and their supplies completely depleted. It was upon the Tibetan gate keepers in the mountain passes to keep such people out of Tibet. Those thought to have assisted foreigners was dealt with using brutal medieval torture and sometimes a slow painful death - the details are generously described by Hopkirk. After months of what can only be described as hell, most of the explorers were forced to turn back before even setting eyes on the magnificent city of Lhasa.  Finally when the city falls there is no cause for celebration. Hundreds of Tibetans are massacred when the pieces of paper they each carried, signed by the Dalai Lama failed to protect them from bullets as promised.

Hopkirks phenomenal story telling skill effortlessly combines history, politics, cultures and landscapes. This captivating story doubt benefits from his personal experiences during his extensive travels in the region but also from his long background and experience as a journalist in the region. Hopkirk tells the story as it happens and tries not add value judgments, still, it's hard not to feel outraged by the arrogance and insensitivity of these gate crashers, and the governments that sent them.

Having visited Lhasa, traveled across the deserts and peered at the ornate religious monuments, this book has renewed my sense of spiritual respect for the Tibetans. I wish I'd read it before I went there.
83135
An excellent storyteller at work and a vivid taste of many aspects of Tibetan Buddhist practice and experience. He also takes a good hard look at the experience of modern Tibetans under Chinese occupation. Not a dazzling writer but mostly a solid one who has told a tale worth reading.
4485489
To be honest, this was one of the hardest books that I have ever read. The horrors that the North Korean people have endured are remarkable. I was so saddened to read that Yeomi and her mother escaped into China only to be trafficked by the people they paid to help them. Then they escaped China only to fear being turned back at the border of Mongolia but were eventually sent to South Korea. In South Korea, they were eventually set up with an apartment and received identification papers and passports. Yeomi began her education and pursued finding her sister. She has written this book as a way of coming to terms with what happened to her and her family.

If you are interested in reading about the strength of the human spirit, this may be the book for you. If you are interested in other cultures, particularly those that we have no access to, this book may be for you.
2243851
Again, E. Pattison and Inspector Shan have enchanted, inspired and intrigued me with another Tibetan mystery. The spirituality and suspense that Pattison brings to his characters, and their struggles to come to terms with the clash and destruction of beliefs and a way of life, makes for an engrossing and, at times, disturbing story.
2373605
This is a story of Milarepa prior to meeting Marpa. This film portrays the young Milarepa and his efforts to fulfill his mother's wish to take revenge on her brother-in-law (Milarepa's uncle) who after having told Milarepa's dying father that he would take care of them turned against his sister-in-law (Mila's mother and her family) and impoverished them. Unfortunately the film does not take the story of this great Tibetan saint far enough and it does not show how Milarepa manages to overcome all of his obstacles/ignorance/ negative karma and accomplishes what most people can not accomplish in one lifetime. The film provides a good insight into life in Tibet circa 1052 1080 +-  and touches on some of the esoteric skill available  to those who have mastered the control of their own elements.  Perhaps there should be a sequel.........
404286
What a great concept this is, where the greed and selfishness of the western world comes crashing headlong into the serene, non-attachment of the Tibetan Buddhists. A compelling read with two great female lead characters, their personal journeys set against the backdrop of corporate America and the crisis in Tibet. This would make a great movie as the writing is very visual and it would be a very timely one given the current state of the world. Highly recommended.
4657900
The book follows the life of several North Koreans in North Korea before they escaped. Most of the time covered is from the late 1980's to the early part of this century, with the worst famine being in the middle of this time. They lived lives we would find hard to imagine, describing loosing family members to starvation, of foraging for weeds, not being able to tell even their closest friend what they thought of the government, and of using a pin to slip through the seal on the controls of a TV so it can be set to forbidden South Korean channels.
It is very interesting how people adapted to this bizarre world without even realizing how wrong it was. One thin woman, who had already lost her son to starvation, remained a proud nationalist and would not defect, even though her daughter was begging her, till, after being tricked into crossing the border into China, she saw an automatic rice cooker. A scene that said a lot: a young woman in prison sees a farm woman on the other side of the fence and wants her to take a message to her family as to where she is. As payment the prisoner on the spot removes her underwear and gives it to the farm woman, because that's how valuable used underwear can be in North Korea.
  One could wonder if the book distills too much of the suffering and doesn't share enough of the happier moments, but I've stood on the border of North and South Korea, and looking across saw just a few feet away the gaunt, and weathered North Korean guards, several inches shorter than the South Korean guards, who suddenly looked so soft and baby faced. This book lets you see a lot farther across the border.
3107819
David Treuer the Native American author of PRUDENCE is gifted in bringing the isolated Minnesota setting of his novel to grim life.  He also has a talent for giving up the secrets of his story in a  well paced manner.  However PRUDENCE is no easy read and the very dark storyline will not appeal to every reader.

The book opens and closes in August of 1952 the day the Prudence of the title is found dead in the local hotel.  Some ten years before Prudence and her younger sister had come to this same Northern Minnesota community and a tragedy occurred while local Native Americans and wealthy summer visitors were searching for a German who had escaped from a nearby prisoner of war camp.  Profoundly effected by the tragedy was Frankie a recent Princeton graduate about to enter the Air Force.  Frankie's father a Chicago doctor and his neurotic wife owned The Pines a summer retreat in the area.  Frankie had a secret young Native American male lover Billy who also became entangled in the events of the day.

The writing in PRUDENCE is too spare and oblique for my personal tastes though I can see the book is well rendered and will be admired by  others.  Rather oddly while much of the writing is indirect the sex scenes are unusually raw and graphic leaving nothing to the imagination.  This is a dark, unsettling book that may be a worthy read but is not a straightforward or comfortable one.
4506713
Living vicariously through Matteo Pistono's gripping Tibetan quest, I found myself transported to the high Himalayan plateaus,
walking step by step with the author as he confronts spiritual and political challenges. No other book I've read has shown
so vividly how the unique and very special Buddhist culture of Tibet -- Tibet's gift to the world -- is at a crisis point, as the Chinese government
continues to deny the Tibetan people the freedom to practice their religion. Whether one is a Buddhist, a Tibetophile or interested
in struggles for political freedom, this book strikes at the heart of one of the world's most poignant crises.