Customer Reviews

Seven Years In Tibet

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The story of a dramatic escape by Heinrich Harrer and his climbing associate Peter Aufschnaiter from and Indian internment camp after their arrest by the British when they were attempting to climb Nanga Parbat, at the outbreak of World War II. The book details their journey across Tibet including their near demise with the Khampas, before reaching Lhasa and in my view, discovering a way of looking at life very different to our own. The book then goes on to cover Heinrich Harrer's relationship with the Young Dalai Lama and the Dalai Lama's enthusiasm to learn more about the world he lived in. The book also provides an insight into life in Lhasa before the coming of the Chinese. Finishing with the onset of the Chinese occupation and the flight of the Dalai Lama, I found this to be a very well written book and it can be seen throughout the book how the very personality of the author changes from how I would describe as something not to far short of arrogance at the beginning to someone who cared very much about a people who just wanted to be able to get on with a way of live that had lasted for centuries and which to a great degree they were content with, but due to circumstances beyond their control, they were unable to do. I read this book after visiting Tibet myself in 1998 and the contrast between the Tibet described in the book and that which I saw was a sharp one. Heinrich Harrer himself returned to Tibet in 1982 and observed the changes himself (detailed in 'Return to Tibet', more of a thesis than a story, but nevertheless essential reading after 'Seven Years in Tibet'), noting the loss of much he had held dear when he was there in the 1940's. If you Heinrich Harrer's true story of Tibet, read the book - the film adaptation does not fit the storyline of the book and Heinrich Harrer himself is portrayed in a much poorer light early in the film than the book, which I feel is not fair. Another glaring error is that the film shows Heinrich Harrer in Lhasa after the Chinese arrive - Heinrich Harrer and the inaugerated Dalai Lama had already left Lhasa before the Chinese arrival.

Three months after finishing and putting down the book, I'm still so inspired by the whole Heinrich Harrer tale and his experience in Tibet. This is the coming about of the second review of the book.

The book starts off at the outbreak of World War II. Heinrich Harrer and his mountain climbing associates, while attemtping the Nanga Parbat mountain, were arrested by the British and were imprisoned in Indian internment camp located near the border with Tibet.

After securing enough life necessities and supplies, Harrer and his friend Peter Aufschnaiter escaped and set out for the Indian-Tibetan border.

The road to Lhasa was strenuous, arduous, and painful. Harrer and Aufschnaiter struggled with winter blizzard, depleting supplies, mountain sickness, and even risk of robbers. They had to obtain license upon arrival in unexplored territory. They risked the refusal to enter Tibet without a permit. They risked their life as their supplies won't last for the trip.

Upon arrival into the country, they were greeted with curiosity, meticulousness, guard, and warmth. They were housed in government mansion; treated sumptuous Tibetan meal; tailored expensive hand-crafted embroidered wardrobe. From day to day throng of visitors came visit these newly-arrived foreigners.

Heinrich Harrer lived in Lhasa for almost 5 years. He performed plumbing and other technical servies for his friends and government officials. He taught children how to read and write English. He introduced ice-skating to Tibetans by sticking a knife underneath the boots.

The most significant portion of this book is the detailed yet sentimental description of Harrer's relationship with the young Dalai Lama. Harrer recalled spending days and days at Dalai's summer palace and in Potola Palace teaching him English, talking to him about politics and building the first "home entertainment center". They even made a film together and showed the film to the monks. Harrer was even permitted to film the Dalai processional in New Year.

Harrer had built a deep friendship with Dalai and his people, one of which Harrer never had expected. Harrer stayed in Tibet until the time when the Chinese was ready to take over Tibet. This book is filled with heart warming anecdotes, scenes of Tibetan lives and people. It has temendously inspired me to visit Tibet one day and experience for myself. Highly recommended.

Not being a writer, Harrer has created a very pleasant book describing his years as a prisoner in India, his escapes, and his travels through Tibet as he and his companion Aufschnaiter try to reach Tibet's forbidden city, Lhasa. The narrative is smooth, making the reader walk with them as they deceive Tibet's authorities and thieves, finding friendship among the nomads, spending months across the country. Reaching Lhasa, the story changes to the way of life of the Tibetans, and his own, as he comes to consider Tibet his new home. He is able to picture the religious festivities, the fundaments of their budhaism, the social skills, the way the people see their God-king, the Dalai Lama. The only part of the story I think is not well developed enough is his relationship with the Dalai Lama, he spents only the last final two chapters with it. The end of the book is a little too quick, which represents the way he was forced by the chinese to leave Tibet. A very good book, and one can learn a lot about Tibet with it. The real stuff, not the kind of things you hear when some fancy movie star says he's budhist.

I myself am not a good reader, particularly since I hated reading at an early age. I have never read a book for any reason other than homework, and even then skipped pages. However I decided to give this book a try (I remembered the title as a movie). So I started reading the book in the library and decided to buy it the very next day. I'm a slow reader but the story was so interesting it didn't matter how long I spent reading it.

The first few chapters are very similar; sometimes you might get the feeling that you already read a completely new page, but it's still very interesting. Later when Harrer writes about the villages and culture of Tibet, the reader (at least I did) feels like they could be there in the mountains and see these sites. The description of the palaces, monasteries, and common households make you want to visit that remote corner of the world.

The most interesting parts of the book described future telling oracles who's spirits could escape their body, the Dalai Lama, and the hospitality that Harrer and his friend, Aufcshnaiter, received entering as fugitives. At the end of the book I felt a lot of sympathy for Tibet (reading in the Epilogue about how many monasteries were destroyed by China).

This book was really moving. The way a fugitive from the West is kindly accepted and moves up in society on the "Roof of the World" is unbelievable and it makes a great, true, story. I'm going to read it again soon. It is a true epic.

I am a Tibetan, born in Tibet, I grew up India and now I live in Boston.I read Seven years in Tibet when I was in school in India some 24 years ago.I immensely liked the book and the sense of adventure,hope and uncertainty that Heinrich Harrer and his companion Peter were facing or about to face then.When my family escaped the communist Chinese invasion of our Country,our home and our way of life, I was then very little.I knew then something very bad was happening, because my family members were packing and getting ready to go somewhere. I did not know then where we were headed.Seven years in Tibet opened my eyes about my country, my religon, my family,my leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, my identity and above all the great adventure and hardship the author and his friend were going through. After I read Seven years in Tibet, I recommended the book to my friends and was telling them the story.

When I heard last year that Seven years in Tibet was being made a Hollywood film, I was thrilled.I thought if the film maker did a good job then the film would be a hit.The Film would portray Tibetan culture,way of life,Buddism in Tibet and the political situation in Tibet before and after the Chinese communist's PLA invasion. I saw the film couple times but it was not as good as I expected. Never the less, I am still recommending the book and film to my friends, who are curious, want to know more about Tibet,Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhism.The book and the film will do a lot of good for the Tibetan cause.It will publicise the plight of Tibetan and Tibet.The film has some shortcomings but then something is better than nothing at least.

I came across this book while I was browsing through the travel narrative shelf of a local bookstore. I decided to purchase it after i finish reading the opening chapter! Beyond just a Tibet practical guidebook, the Mr. Harrer gave a true yet touching account of his expereince and bond with the Tibetans. "Seven Years in Tibet" delineates the Mr. Harrer's strenuous entrance into Tibet and his interactions, whether hospitable or not, with government officials, the nomads, and the monks. I recommend this book for all who wonder about traveling in Tibet or just wanting to know more about this mysterious piece of land known ans the "roof of the world."

I avoided reading this book for many years due to the poor film that was made of it. I figured the book would be equally as poor.

I warn any reader of this review not to make the same mistake that I did. The book is almost totally unlike the movie, which starred a greatly miscast Brad Pitt, and interjected subplots born in Hollywood, rather than Harrer's fine book.

There was no need to embellish one of the most fascinating, amazing and adventurous stories ever told, and a true one at that. Most of the time I couldn't believe what I was reading, including the first half of the book which recounts Harrer's and Aufschnaiter's arduous two year-long trek over Tibetan mountains, or the Tibetan people and culture of the last part of the book, so different than any country that I know of.

A glimpse of the Dalai Lama as a boy is revealing (interested in math, languages and geography, but feeling no closeness to horses, of which he had many); life in the monasteries, and in Lhasa itself.

This is such a different book, as I suppose Tibet was (is?) different. It is also a cry for the return of Tibet to the Tibetans. Almost anyone reading this book will join that cry.

Heinrich Harrer's natural writing style makes this book a pleasure to read. Although Harrer states that he is not trained in literature, his writing style is pleasant and down to earth. This book - written through the eyes of an Austrian - gives not only an insight into the lost culture of Tibet but also expresses the sensitive character of the Austrian mountaineer. (Don't listen to the news telling us that he was a Nazi. When you read this book, you will learn that he did not have the time nor the interest to kill jews. In contrast, he loved - and was loved by - a people who pick up little insects before anyone steps on them.) Many years ago, my mother introduced me to this book. She was born in Harrer's hometown Huettenberg and has met him a few times. Maybe someday you have time to visit the little museum about Harrer's adventures in Tibet in this charming Austrian mountain village.

Heinrich Harrer was one of those men you'd describe as a "force of nature."

Harrer was such a phenomenal athlete that he was invited to compete in the Olympics; unfortunately a glitch prevented him from doing so. At the time, he had his heart set on going to the Himalayas, and knew that he stood little chance of being invited to do so, because he neither had the money or connections generally needed to be invited to take part in such expeditions. So he quickly went and climbed the northern face of the Eiger (13,000 ft), a feat that had never been accomplished before, and which was so dangerous that the local authorities, tired of sending expeditions out to gather corpses, had banned.

This resulted in his being invited to join a German-Austrian expedition to the Himalayas, and then on the day that the second world war broke out, in being taken a prisoner of war in India. British POW camps were cushy, but no place for men of action like Harrer; his first attempt to escape didn't work out, but his second did. The only place for him to go was Tibet, which was then an independent country governed by monks which banned all foreigners from entering the country. After a long, arduous and surreptitious trek of over 1200 miles by foot, which involved crossing no less than 50 mountain passes higher than 16,000 feet and learning Tibetan, Harrer and his companion reached Lhasa. I would imagine that such was the respect for his trek - many Tibetans, and presumably British were in awe of his trek - that the British acquiesced to his staying in Tibet. In the following years, he got to know many Tibetans, including the Dalai Llama, and helped to bring European science to Tibet. When Tibet fell to the Chinese Communists, Heinrich Harrer became a spokesman for Tibetan culture and Tibetan freedom.

Perhaps the most trenchant point in this book is that Harrer had, like many, joined the SS because it was "the thing to do." Fate was kind to him, and delivered him from the bloodbath that befell Europe in the 30s and 40s; the part of me which wishes to believe that men are not all bad is moved that Harrer dedicated his life to working to ease the plight of the Tibetans, a (non-Arian) race that suffered occupation and persecution by a totalitarian state. This poignant tidbit of historical history makes the book all that more moving.

This is a phenomenal book, which I heartily recommend.

Heinrich Harrer was a member of the Austrian Olympic skiing team in 1936, and a capable mountain climber. When World War II broke out he was in northern India, with a climbing expedition; and was interned by the British before he could make it back to the Europe to join up. He and several companions made several attempts to escape, finally succeeding and making it across the border and into Tibet.

At that time Tibet was extremely difficult to enter. For a wonderful history of western attempts to reach Lhasa, I recommend Peter Hopkirk's "Trespassers on the Roof of the World". The Tibetans had adopted a policy of complete isolation, and it was only after an appallingly difficult journey and many hazards, along with much trouble with local officials and bureaucracy, that Harrer and his companions finally reached Lhasa. Much of the story deals with the journey itself; the chapter "The Worst Trek of All" ends with them within reach of Lhasa itself. A chapter or two later, they are granted asylum there -- a very rare event -- and they find useful employment in civil engineering works around the city. Harrer includes a great deal of observation of Tibetan private and public life.

Harrer was also fortunate enough to meet and make good friends with the Dalai Lama. Unfortunately Harrer is a bit vague on dates, but it appears he was the Dalai Lama's tutor for a bit less than a year. In that time he got to know him well, and was clearly a strong influence on the boy, although the Dalai Lama was a powerful character in his own right, knowing clearly what he wanted and what he thought was right. Harrer built a cinema for him and shot movie film for him around Lhasa, and talked to him about Western technology.

Finally, in November 1950, Harrer, the Dalai Lama and many other Tibetans fled as the Chinese invaded. Among the photographs in the book is one of the Dalai Lama's caravan escaping through the Himalayas. The book was published in 1953, but there is an epilogue, written in 1966, covering events in Tibet since then; a sad story.

Harrer is no great stylist, but this is a famous travelogue for good reason. Recommended.