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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of Levels, March 23, 2010
This review is from: Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet (Hardcover)
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The main story line is about a mountain climbing expedition intersecting destiny with an escaping Buddhist nun named Kelsang. Merely telling this story would have been interesting enough, but the author goes through many interesting and worthwhile detours to add to the overall mood of the story and the book. There are valuable historical chunks, like the British involvement in Tibet and how they hired spies to map out vast regions of Tibet. There are a lot of chunks about Chinese communism and Tibet as well. The narrative style is the kind that I like, with no overt judgments being made, but instead describing many revealing events in enough detail to feel one is living there, and letting the reader draw his or her own conclusions. There is, for instance, a section on Cordyceps which was called "soft gold" because it was so valuable, and was abundant enough to be a Tibetan natural resource, with many Tibetan towns going from subsistence living to prosperity through it. There are enough descriptions of Tibetan religious life, too, to get a feeling for how Tibetan Buddhism is lived. The author quotes enough source material to indicate that he is well read on the subject. The backdrop of Buddhist quotes counterpoints the drama of the escape and how the nun got shot while escaping. All in all, a very good narrative, a hidden book on history and current events, and an indirect sharing about the life of Tibetan Buddhists in a country sometimes oppressed by a foreign political power.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Telling the Truth, January 29, 2011
This review is from: Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet (Hardcover)
Murder in the High Himalaya is an exquisitely crafted tale that depicts nearly indescribable horrors. It is actually three vivid stories, woven seamlessly together: the heroic attempts of impoverished Tibetans to survive economically, culturally and spiritually; the ethical dilemma of wealthy Westerners faced with choosing between dangerous self-indulgence and moral imperative; and the abuse and torture inflicted by the Chinese as they pursue genocide in their relentless drive for world dominance.
These three irreconcilable cultures converge at a moment in time - September 30th 2006 - at a single place on Earth: the Nangpa La Pass through the Himalayan Mountain Range between Tibet and Nepal. In the brilliant morning sunlight on snowy mountains, Western climbers witness Chinese border soldiers murdering Tibetans, including a 17-year-old nun, as the Tibetans attempt to go to India to meet their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. The Tibetans want to leave oppressive captivity in their own country - some briefly, some permanently - and are restrained, retained and tortured by the Chinese occupying forces. The Western climbers want to battle the thin air and treacherous ice of the world's highest mountains, and pay extraordinary amounts of money to the Chinese for the right to safely enter Tibet. The Chinese stand at the fulcrum, AK-47s fully loaded in the hands of young soldiers.
It is one thing to tell a story; it is another to tell a story truthfully; it is yet again a much more nuanced and delicate task to be both elegant and objective, and allow the story to unfold itself to the reader. The author has achieved the last of these three, and the death of 17-year-old Tibetan Buddhist nun Kelsang Namtso is all the more heart wrenching because Mr. Green remains objective and lets the facts to be the judge. Additionally, he goes beyond superficial cultural stereotypes as he describes the political history of Tibet, the complexities of current world politics and the motivations and choices of individuals.
There is a fourth thread in this braided tale: the perseverance and courage of the author, award-winning investigative journalist Jonathan Green. He obviously thoroughly researched the history and current events of Tibet and is well schooled in world politics. It is also clear, by implication only, that Mr. Green risked his own welfare, traveling to India, Nepal and the Roof of the World to gather first-hand information for the story. It is clear only by implication because it is the writer's job to step aside and allow the story to emerge, and that is exactly what Mr. Green achieved.
I hope Jonathan's next book is the back-story; the risks and dilemmas he faced in order to tell the truth with extraordinary clarity, depth and compassion. We, the readers, have a responsibility to honor and thank investigative journalists for bringing the world to us in our safe homes and comfortable chairs. Too often, we forget that investigative journalists are irreparably harmed or killed in their commitment to tell the truth.
So I say here: Thank you, Jonathan Green, for all you did to write this book, and then for writing it. It is essential that human rights violations be documented and the details available for all in the world to know.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The horrible truth of the cruelty of the Chinese in Tibet, April 11, 2010
This review is from: Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet (Hardcover)
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Subtitled "Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet" , this book tells a harrowing true story that has received international attention. It vividly portrays an incident that occurred in September 2006 when mountaineers planning to climb Mount Cho Oyu witnessed Chinese soldiers firing on unarmed Tibetans who were trying to escape to India through Nepal. A Romanian journalist who was on the mountaineering trip filmed it and later other journalists brought this incident to the world's attention. This story and how it all played out is the subject of this engrossing book. It reads like fiction but, unfortunately, it is all true and the reality of the brutality of the Chinese in Tibet is glaringly brought to light.
The book is told in chapters alternating between two points of view. We first meet two teenage Tibetan girls, one of whom is a Buddhist nun, who are determined to flee from Tibet to India, where the Dalai Lama has lived since the late 1950s. Since then, many Tibetans have made this dangerous trek over icy mountains. The Chinese try to stop these trips, arresting the refugees they catch and subjecting them to horrible tortures. But the thirst for freedom is great and there is a constant stream of people willing to pay their life savings to guides, bribe officials and face the dangers of traipsing over ice and snow in one of the most physically challenging terrains in the world.
We also meet an enterprising tour guide who makes a very comfortable living escorting wealthy climbers up Mount Everest. We learn about the lucrative mountaineering business and the reluctance of the people involved in it to offer help to the refugees and offend the Chinese. The tour guide sees the murder of the young nun and risks his career to bring the story to light.
I read this book with tears in my eyes. I have always known about the cruelty of the Chinese to the Tibetans but this book made it even more real. I was saddened and yet inspired by the people who are trying to bring the truth to the world. I definitely recommend this book. It expands the world in a way that makes our daily inconveniences and upsets seem lightweight.
After I finished the book I did a little googling on the web about this incident. I discovered a full length documentary about it which can be watched online. Check it out: [...]
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