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book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
2.5** (rounded up to 3***)
This was a choice for one of my F2F book clubs a year ago. The person who selected it has frequently chosen books that may be challenging but are always thought-provoking, and sometimes quite entertaining. Also, I love nature and wildlife and reading about efforts to save various endangered species. So, I was eager to read it. Then some issues came up in my non-reading life and I had to skip that meeting, so never got to the book or the discussion. Another challenge brought it to the top of the TBR now and once again, I eagerly anticipated reading it.
Unfortunately for me, and for my rating, this book isn’t really about the snow leopard. As in real life, the creature is extremely elusive, hardly ever mentioned, and not making an actual appearance until late in the journey.
Instead this is more Matthiessen’s personal quest for enlightenment, which happens to dovetail with a friend’s planned trip – as a wildlife biologist – to study sheep / goats in the Himalayas. I was willing to go along with Matthiessen’s musings for the first 100 pages or so, but when it became clear that I’d never see, let alone learn much about, the snow leopard, I lost my enthusiasm.
Also, once he relates how he’s left his son behind, who has recently lost his mother, I pretty much was annoyed with the self-absorption that would have him go on this dangerous trek at this time in his life.
I kept reading because I needed it for a challenge … and the library is closed during the pandemic, so I’m reading what I happen to have in the house. Still, it took me nearly a month to read a book I would normally have powered through in a week or less.
I will give him this, though. Matthiessen manages to write some really stunning passages on the majesty of the terrain he is covering, as well as a few interesting observations about the people he encounters. And, though it was first published in 1978, it contains a couple of philosophical passages that are perfect for this Coronavirus quarantine:
• Having finally gotten to meet the Lama at the Crystal Monastery he is surprised by the man’s attitude and remarks: “Indicating his twisted legs without a trace of self-pity or bitterness, as if they belonged to all of us, he casts his arms wide to the sky and the snow mountains, the high sun and dancing sheep , and cries, ‘Of course I am happy here! It’s wonderful! Especially when I have no choice!’”
• And towards the end of his journey he remarks: “With the wind and cold, a restlessness has come, and I find myself hoarding my last chocolate for the journey back across the mountains – forever getting-ready-for-life instead of living it each day.” (Kinda describes how I feel some days in quarantine .. getting ready for the return to normal rather than living each day as it is.)
This was a choice for one of my F2F book clubs a year ago. The person who selected it has frequently chosen books that may be challenging but are always thought-provoking, and sometimes quite entertaining. Also, I love nature and wildlife and reading about efforts to save various endangered species. So, I was eager to read it. Then some issues came up in my non-reading life and I had to skip that meeting, so never got to the book or the discussion. Another challenge brought it to the top of the TBR now and once again, I eagerly anticipated reading it.
Unfortunately for me, and for my rating, this book isn’t really about the snow leopard. As in real life, the creature is extremely elusive, hardly ever mentioned, and not making an actual appearance until late in the journey.
Instead this is more Matthiessen’s personal quest for enlightenment, which happens to dovetail with a friend’s planned trip – as a wildlife biologist – to study sheep / goats in the Himalayas. I was willing to go along with Matthiessen’s musings for the first 100 pages or so, but when it became clear that I’d never see, let alone learn much about, the snow leopard, I lost my enthusiasm.
Also, once he relates how he’s left his son behind, who has recently lost his mother, I pretty much was annoyed with the self-absorption that would have him go on this dangerous trek at this time in his life.
I kept reading because I needed it for a challenge … and the library is closed during the pandemic, so I’m reading what I happen to have in the house. Still, it took me nearly a month to read a book I would normally have powered through in a week or less.
I will give him this, though. Matthiessen manages to write some really stunning passages on the majesty of the terrain he is covering, as well as a few interesting observations about the people he encounters. And, though it was first published in 1978, it contains a couple of philosophical passages that are perfect for this Coronavirus quarantine:
• Having finally gotten to meet the Lama at the Crystal Monastery he is surprised by the man’s attitude and remarks: “Indicating his twisted legs without a trace of self-pity or bitterness, as if they belonged to all of us, he casts his arms wide to the sky and the snow mountains, the high sun and dancing sheep , and cries, ‘Of course I am happy here! It’s wonderful! Especially when I have no choice!’”
• And towards the end of his journey he remarks: “With the wind and cold, a restlessness has come, and I find myself hoarding my last chocolate for the journey back across the mountains – forever getting-ready-for-life instead of living it each day.” (Kinda describes how I feel some days in quarantine .. getting ready for the return to normal rather than living each day as it is.)
tintinintibet's review
3.0
Two stars, but Matthiessen becomes more engaging on his "returning home" legs of the trip. Which, though short, leave me with a better feeling than the ethereal and at times academic narrating of the middle sections.
abbeyhar103's review
3.0
This is my second attempt at reading a Peter Matthiessen, and I just can't get into his writing style. In theory, the idea of reading about a guy hiking in the Himalayas and communing with nature after the death of his wife sounds up my alley. Maybe it's his big chunks of buddhism sections? I don't know.
jasoncomely's review
5.0
Matthiessen's prose reminds me of Japanese hiaku, in the sense it is economical and his experiences of the expedition are rendered bare bones, as they are, with minimal artistic embellishment. That is the Zen aesthetic and that makes sense as this is a book about Zen Buddhism. It's not so much about snow leopards.
mizz1313's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.25