‘Blood flowed, tears flowed, life went on.’

Sweeping epic: cue the John Barry soundtrack with stunning views of Tibet, as a lone horseman gallops across the plateau….. OK, a little facetious, but that’s exactly what this book is crying out for. Many of the reviews I have read have gushed over this – me, not so much. It’s fine, but it’s not really my cup of tea.

This is the story of Gongzha, growing up in 1960s Tibet as the winds of change blow across the plateau, Mao’s Cultural Revolution throwing old traditions and beliefs out of the window. Hiding a statue of the Buddha and some texts in the face of destruction, Gongzha’s actions will have repercussions later in the book. The opening Prologue tells us about the death of Gongzha’s true love Cuomu, mauled to death by the legendary bear Kaguo, and then we step back in time with Part One to see how their love story developed. Part Two, a longer piece of narrative, jumps forward many years and introduces many new characters, central of them being Feng, who lives and works in Shanghai but visits Tibet where she meets Gongzha, now a wild itinerant nomad, roaming the plains still hunting down the bear Kaguo. This second part involves lots of love triangles, strange enigmatic figures who appear framed against the sky in suitably cinematic poses, and a gang of shadow hunters out for revenge. It’s all rather complicated, and for me there were just too many characters and too many strands for the author to keep track of that, well, I lost interest at times. The ‘romance’ is a bit Mills and Boon at times; when Feng meets Gongzha her hearts ‘flutters’ and a short time later we read: ‘How could this tanned and dusty man who ate raw meat, expressed happiness when he felt it and kept silent when he did not, not be attractive?’

I’m perhaps not the target audience for a book such as this; whilst the scenery and its descriptions were well-written, and the background story of Tibet changing over the decades, how the traditional values of its people and Buddhism evolve, are historically interesting, I found the characters a little two-dimensional and the ‘epic’ love story a little too unbelievable. Lots of near-death experiences, lots of weeping and ‘I can’t live without you’. Some people will love everything about this, but I was left a little underwhelmed, I’m afraid. 3 stars for the setting and some of the descriptions.
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‘Blood flowed, tears flowed, life went on.’

Sweeping epic: cue the John Barry soundtrack with stunning views of Tibet, as a lone horseman gallops across the plateau….. OK, a little facetious, but that’s exactly what this book is crying out for. Many of the reviews I have read have gushed over this – me, not so much. It’s fine, but it’s not really my cup of tea.

This is the story of Gongzha, growing up in 1960s Tibet as the winds of change blow across the plateau, Mao’s Cultural Revolution throwing old traditions and beliefs out of the window. Hiding a statue of the Buddha and some texts in the face of destruction, Gongzha’s actions will have repercussions later in the book. The opening Prologue tells us about the death of Gongzha’s true love Cuomu, mauled to death by the legendary bear Kaguo, and then we step back in time with Part One to see how their love story developed. Part Two, a longer piece of narrative, jumps forward many years and introduces many new characters, central of them being Feng, who lives and works in Shanghai but visits Tibet where she meets Gongzha, now a wild itinerant nomad, roaming the plains still hunting down the bear Kaguo. This second part involves lots of love triangles, strange enigmatic figures who appear framed against the sky in suitably cinematic poses, and a gang of shadow hunters out for revenge. It’s all rather complicated, and for me there were just too many characters and too many strands for the author to keep track of that, well, I lost interest at times. The ‘romance’ is a bit Mills and Boon at times; when Feng meets Gongzha her hearts ‘flutters’ and a short time later we read: ‘How could this tanned and dusty man who ate raw meat, expressed happiness when he felt it and kept silent when he did not, not be attractive?’

I’m perhaps not the target audience for a book such as this; whilst the scenery and its descriptions were well-written, and the background story of Tibet changing over the decades, how the traditional values of its people and Buddhism evolve, are historically interesting, I found the characters a little two-dimensional and the ‘epic’ love story a little too unbelievable. Lots of near-death experiences, lots of weeping and ‘I can’t live without you’. Some people will love everything about this, but I was left a little underwhelmed, I’m afraid. 3 stars for the setting and some of the descriptions.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of the book.) ( )