Customer Reviews

Sweat of the Sun, Tears of the Moon: A Chronicle of an Incan Treasure

5 star:		(6)
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I first read Sweat of the Sun, Tears of the Moon in the original Atheneum hardcover. What a fine book! It's not your usual treasure-hunt adventure, but a sensitive portrayal of South American culture and dreams. Well, it's also a treasure hunt, and you can't believe Lourie lived through it all to tell the tale. I'm so happy to see it in paperback A really fine book by a fine author. His young-adult books are extraordinary as well. But this one's a must for any reader interested in the Andes, in treasure hunting, in the human soul in darkest peril. Five stars all the way. This is one of those books you keep thinking about for years.

This was a great story of the possibility that vast wealth in gold and silver are still hidden in the Andes. The various doccuments and treasure hunters that the author unearthed and befriended made for a ripping yarn. His own expedition to the trecherous landscape where the treasure is supposedly hidden was a real adventure. He cared about the people he wrote about and the reader will too. Loved this book!

I was enthralled by this book, it is excellently written and gives the reader a true feeling of what it is like to have "Gold Fever". I have recently finished the book but I am reading it again because it is that good! It is also extremely educational, I knew nothing about the Incas until I read Sweat of the Sun, Tears of the Moon. I am now longing to take a trip to the Llanganatis mountains, not in search of treasure, more on a pilgrimage than anything else.

A fascinating chronicle of a search for Treasure and the discovery of oneself: You encounter an old world in the high mountains of Ecuador and feel its beauty, as well as the inner lives of people who are there. Foreigners come in the attempt to find the gold that belonged to the ancient Inca people, which is now hidden in the mountains. As you read further, the cast of characters is vividly described, at times humorous and at times sad. A great read that is clear and very well documented.

I recently received this book as a gift after it was discovered that I, too, have an insatiable proclivity for "treasure hunting", albeit to a much lesser degree than that of the main characters. I immediately took to the style of Mr. Lourie's writing and his incredible ability to capture and relate detail, whether it be his thoughts or the Ecuadorian landscape. I found it easy to lose myself in Quito or to imagine the hellish terrain along the route to Cerro Hermoso; but then the author reminds me of the absolute remoteness associated with the pilgrimage and I wonder if I would have had his courage. For the moment, I am content living vicariously through his words and his stories. I feel lucky that he did what he did, when he did it, and had the guts to follow through. I wonder if he witnessed the tail end of this fraternity of true and geniune hunters of Atahualpa's treasure! Then again, perhaps he's infected one more!

Although I studied archaeology and ancient history as a "serious" academic subject I have always been interested in legends and tales of secret temples and hidden booty which are usually dubious at best and often pure nonsense. The tale this book recounts is different -- there is a grain of credibility to the story however fanciful it may be. But what makes this book stand out from the crowd is the excellent quality of the prose which is very unusual in a book of this genre. The scenes set in Quito are evocative as are the descriptions of all the locales visited by the author. The portraits of the characters encountered by the author are very well drawn. I am not in the habit of writing book reviews but I urge anyone who likes a good yarn written intelligently and with a praiseworthy lack of egotism to take a look at Lourie's book.