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valparaiso 's review for:
Lost Horizon
by James Hilton
This book is a superb, mesmerizing, haunting tale that hovers somewhere between historical fiction and philosophy, between religious yearning and parboiled adventure. It’s an elegant lament for peace amidst the destructive forces of modern life on this planet, where the war drums of mad men beat without end.
At the outset it’s a story of a British diplomat who, along with a mysterious American, a British nun, and a junior British diplomat are hijacked by an unknown pilot impersonating an Air Force man in India at the sunset of the British empire. They are flown over the high mountains of Tibet and land on the outskirts of a massive, barren plain in some remote high mountain range.
They are met by a coterie of Tibetans led by a Chinese man named Chang who leads them to a lamasery (a monastery) at the foot of the most beautiful mountain any of them have ever seen. Slowly their host drips information to them about where they are, the identity of their hosts, and how they might return home. The hospitality is superb. But the answers don’t come quickly—especially for the junior diplomat. Days turn into weeks as they wonder about their fate in this most curious place.
The protagonist, the senior diplomat, is a youngish veteran of World War I named Conway who possesses a raft of admirable personality traits of untapped leadership—hard won from his days as a soldier in the Great War. Consequently, he possesses a wise, detached, unruffled malaise that brings him under the wing of the high llama, an extremely mysterious and impossibly aged man. Their encounters are reminiscent of the Buddha and his students. He has singled out Conway from his colleagues for some special, unknown role in this place.
When finally an opportunity to escape arrives the young British officer Mallinson takes his chance. I will leave it to the reader to discover what happens with him, Conway, and the others.
But on a deeper level, what happens in this book is a series of fluid, poetic contemplations of the meaning of life that are not overwrought but nonetheless arresting. And though certainly there is a metaphor here about war and peace and what its unending horrors do to the souls of mankind, there lingers a feeling of hope for what we may become—individually and collectively. How can we conquer the demons that keep us from our own highest destiny?
I was completely taken by Hilton’s prose in this book. From another age—an age of politeness, formality and of delicate, intricate, and creative description, absent of all vulgarity, and with an expressiveness that is hard to find in our modern age. I found myself wondering about the things that Conway wondered. I found myself wondering about what we are all meant to become. It was just a mesmerizing piece of fiction that I am thrilled to have encountered. A combination of adventure storytelling between the great world wars and philosophical meanderings that put me in a happy mood of contemplation and curious thoughts about how one could write such a compelling story and how I could discover it 85 years after it was published. Just marvelous. I do not often give five stars for books but this tale is completely deserving. Enjoy.
At the outset it’s a story of a British diplomat who, along with a mysterious American, a British nun, and a junior British diplomat are hijacked by an unknown pilot impersonating an Air Force man in India at the sunset of the British empire. They are flown over the high mountains of Tibet and land on the outskirts of a massive, barren plain in some remote high mountain range.
They are met by a coterie of Tibetans led by a Chinese man named Chang who leads them to a lamasery (a monastery) at the foot of the most beautiful mountain any of them have ever seen. Slowly their host drips information to them about where they are, the identity of their hosts, and how they might return home. The hospitality is superb. But the answers don’t come quickly—especially for the junior diplomat. Days turn into weeks as they wonder about their fate in this most curious place.
The protagonist, the senior diplomat, is a youngish veteran of World War I named Conway who possesses a raft of admirable personality traits of untapped leadership—hard won from his days as a soldier in the Great War. Consequently, he possesses a wise, detached, unruffled malaise that brings him under the wing of the high llama, an extremely mysterious and impossibly aged man. Their encounters are reminiscent of the Buddha and his students. He has singled out Conway from his colleagues for some special, unknown role in this place.
When finally an opportunity to escape arrives the young British officer Mallinson takes his chance. I will leave it to the reader to discover what happens with him, Conway, and the others.
But on a deeper level, what happens in this book is a series of fluid, poetic contemplations of the meaning of life that are not overwrought but nonetheless arresting. And though certainly there is a metaphor here about war and peace and what its unending horrors do to the souls of mankind, there lingers a feeling of hope for what we may become—individually and collectively. How can we conquer the demons that keep us from our own highest destiny?
I was completely taken by Hilton’s prose in this book. From another age—an age of politeness, formality and of delicate, intricate, and creative description, absent of all vulgarity, and with an expressiveness that is hard to find in our modern age. I found myself wondering about the things that Conway wondered. I found myself wondering about what we are all meant to become. It was just a mesmerizing piece of fiction that I am thrilled to have encountered. A combination of adventure storytelling between the great world wars and philosophical meanderings that put me in a happy mood of contemplation and curious thoughts about how one could write such a compelling story and how I could discover it 85 years after it was published. Just marvelous. I do not often give five stars for books but this tale is completely deserving. Enjoy.