Customer Reviews

The Blue Sky: A Novel

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This lovely novel of a nomadic Mongolian family's transition into the modern world (from and about the youngest son's incipient shamanic point of view) is a simple, yet magical, deep and moving story. It made me wish the other two books in the trilogy (his middle and later years I presume) were translated. This is such a beautiful/terrible world of harsh barren life and the conjunction of both the inexorable/inevitable cultural change specific to that time and place and loss of childhood we all experience. It may be simple but it isn't simply a children's tale.

It reads as if the author was truly still a small child narrating his days on the mountains with his dog that is like a brother guardian and with his beloved adopted grandmother. A wonderful book

This is a beautiful novel that tells the story of the narrator/ author's experiences as a child in the 1940s in the Altai Mountains of northern Mongolia, near the border with the USSR. The narrator's voice is absolutely sure in evoking the thoughts and perceptions of a child. The story is simple, yet immensely moving. It is a story in which the subsistence lifestyle of the Tuvan people, of whom the author is an important leader, is presented as full of dignity and meaning. Much of the story is infused with the love of the narrator for his (adopted) grandmother and dog. And yet, at the edges of the story are hints of the political oppression the Tuvans have experienced. Once the boy's family was wealthy and greatly respected, but with the Soviet policy of collectivization, the family's flocks were taken and the family itself is under suspicion. I would recommend that you begin by reading the afterward, which provides useful and necessary background. Also, in the back is a glossary of Tuvan words used throughout the narrative.

This is a book that is an extraordinary glimpse into the life experiences of a young nomadic boy. As the back flap notes, the author is the chief of the Tuvans in Mongolia and "led his people, scattered under Communist rule, back in a huge caravan to their original home in the high Altai mountains." This sounds more Biblical than back flap. As a political leader, Tschinag is also a shaman and storytellers, and we too can learn from the stories he tells.