To a Mountain in Tibet

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More About This Book

Overview

Colin Thubron's To a Mountain in Tibet is a memoir of discovery and loss, chronicling the author's journey to the holiest mountain on earth, the solitary peak of Kailas in modern-day Tibet. To Buddhists and Hindus, it is the mystic heart of the world and an ancient site of pilgrimage. It has never been climbed.

Thubron undertakes this journey in the wake of his mother's death, using the pilgrimage as a lens to examine both his deeply felt loss and his lifelong need for solitude, which has shaped his career as a writer—one who travels to places far outside his own history and culture. A vivid and powerful travelogue through an evocative landscape, To a Mountain in Tibet provides a fascinating encounter with the mythic and spiritual traditions of a foreign culture—encapsulated in the wondrous insights of an intimate personal voyage.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

Colin Thubron's first travel book since his acclaimed 2006 Shadow of the Silk Road exemplifies the writing skills and keen observational powers that have brought him acclaim as one of the last of the great gentleman travel memoirists. To a Mountain in Tibet takes us on a measured pilgrimage from isolated Nepal to Tibet's Mount Kailas, a snowy, majestic peak sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. Thru Thubron's words, we witness the convergence of numerous disparate pilgrims on this holy site and the many monasteries that surround it; we also experience his own deep remembrances of personal family losses. A major book by the award-winning travel author of Among the Russians, The Lost Heart of Asia, and In Siberia.

Los Angeles Times
“Thubron is a versatile painter of place…an expert guide for the region’s complex topography…He is refreshingly clear and unintimidated…”
More Reviews (13) Fewer Reviews
Alida Becker
…[Thubron] has come to be known for his ability to summon just the right phrases to fix a place or person in the mind's eye. In To a Mountain in Tibet, however, what seems almost as striking is [his] understanding of the power of silence. …Thubron has, as always, thoroughly researched his subject, so his descriptions of shadowy Buddhist shrines and wildly various religious supplicants are interspersed with eloquent accounts of Tibet’s place in the imaginings of the West and its own welter of myth and history, as well as colorful views of the flora and fauna of a landscape that can at times seem alluringly pristine, at others as alien as a distant planet.
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
“The mountain path is the road of the dead,” writes Thubron (Shadow of the Silk Road) in this engrossing and affecting travel memoir that transcends the mere physical journey. In the wake of his mother’s death, Thubron sets off to Mount Kailas in Tibet, a peak sacred to one-fifth of the world’s population and the source of four of India’s great rivers. Kailas has never been climbed: the slopes are important to Tibetan Buddhists who say the mountain’s guardian is Demchog (a tantric variant of Shiva). Along with two guides, Thubron embarks on a pilgrimage that begins in Nepal and crosses into Tibet, recounting not only his arduous journey but also the political and cultural history of Tibet and the West’s continued fascination with its mysticism. Along the way, he observes pilgrims of various religions converging on Kailas and the myriad monasteries, most of which were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt decades later. It is the poignant evocations of his mother and sister (who died at 21), interwoven with his profound respect for the Tibetan culture and landscape that make Thubron’s memoir an utterly moving read. (Mar.)
Seattle Times
“One of the greats of contemporary travel writing . . . Thubron’s transcendent prose places the reader directly on the path to Kailas, culminating with the final glimpse of the sacred site.”
Booklist (starred review)
“The journey is the reward, for both writer and reader, in this rich, beautiful account of the landscape, people, culture, and politics of Tibet.”
Christian Science Monitor
“[Thubron has] been called one of the world’s greatest living travel writers. Few will doubt it, after they accompany him on this search for earthly sanctity.”
Financial Times
“Thubron’s descriptive writing is as dazzling as the scenery. His scholarship on the area’s religious and political history is enthralling.”
National Geographic Traveler "Book of the Month"
“One of the greatest contemporary travel writers. . . . As he guides us along these braiding trails, Thubron’s moving evocation makes for an unforgettably enlightening journey.”
New York Times Book Review
“Thubron has, as always, thoroughly researched his subject, so his descriptions of shadowy Buddhist shrines and wildly various religious supplicants are interspersed with eloquent accounts of Tibet’s place in the imaginings of the West...”
Philadelphia Inquirer
“More meditative than his sweeping Shadow of the Silk Road. . . . Walking with Thubron up the sacred mountain, strenuous as it is at times, is well worth the effort.”
Times Literary Supplement (London)
“With great elegiac precision…Thubron adroitly navigates the difficult line between an emotive personal memoir…and a vivid description of one of the most spectacular mountain journeys…”
Wall Street Journal
“Thubron has spent four decades writing in forceful and respectful ways of foreign lands, and To a Mountain in Tibet is no exception.”
Library Journal
Best-selling author Thubron's approach to this book differs slightly from that of his other work (e.g., Shadow of the Silk Road). His mother, last of the family, passed away as he began this extraordinary journey. Mount Kailash, a mountain sacred to Buddhists and Hindus, has never been climbed, only circumambulated. It is similar to the Ganges or Mecca—followers want to visit or be buried there. Thubron quotes monks, pilgrims, porters, guides, and fellow travelers to enliven his work. He vividly describes the physical world he treks—e.g., he writes, "yaks have shabby petticoats and their tread is slow, almost delicate." More moving are his profiles of people who make the journey in thin shoes and flimsy clothing. They are joyous despite suffering, loss, and the dislocation of everything they value.Verdict Thubron's own journey of grief and his search for understanding heightens his experience and augments his descriptions of believers he observes. This personal narrative will enrich readers interested in memoir, travel, and Tibet. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/10.]—Susan Baird, formerly with Oak Lawn P.L., IL
Kirkus Reviews

Novelist and acclaimed travel writer Thubron (Shadow of the Silk Road, 2007, etc.) chronicles his trek to Mt. Kalias, "the most sacred of the world's mountains."

The book opens with the author traveling across northern Nepal toward Kailas, a 22,000-foot mountain in Western Tibet. Considered holy to the adherents of four religions and one-fifth of humankind, Kailas beckons to pilgrims and travelers alike. Thubron's reasons for undertaking the arduous trek across magnificent but desolate lands at the "roof of the world" were personal rather than faith-based. His travel party—comprised of "a guide, a cook, a horse man, myself"—reflected the private nature of his journey, which actually began the day he lost his mother. The author sought to mark the passing of the last member of his birth family by going "somewhere meaningful on the earth's surface." The closer Thubron drew to Kailas, however, the more he found himself inexorably drawn into the mystical heart of Tibet's "death-haunted culture." Western objectivity fell away, transforming an impartial observer of monks, pilgrims, temples, monasteries, religious relics and end-of-life rituals into a very human seeker struggling to come to terms with the transience of human existence and the fact of his own aloneness, both as a man and a writer. Travel offered no freedom from the pain of surviving (or dying); it only brought "an illusion" of change that temporarily distracted rather than cured. Yet Thubron still found a kind of grace in the unexpected cross-cultural connection he experienced with the Tibetan poet-yogi, Milarepa. However alien the terrain, a shared humanity with Tibetans rendered the author's experience of loss universal rather than unique. Emotional subtlety and vivid evocations of the people and places are only part of what makes the book so enjoyable. The present-tense narration allows readers make discoveries alongside Thubron, which adds immeasurably to the intimacy and immediacy of the reading experience.

A powerful and hauntingly elegiac hybrid of travelogue and memoir.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780061768279
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 3/6/2012
  • Pages: 256
  • Sales rank: 239,855
  • Series: P.S. Series
  • Product dimensions: 5.20 (w) x 7.80 (h) x 0.70 (d)

Meet the Author

Colin Thubron is an acknowledged master of travel writing. His first books were about the Middle East—Damascus, Lebanon, and Cyprus. In 1982 he traveled in the Soviet Union, pursued by the KGB. From these early experiences developed his great travel books on the landmass that makes up Russia and Asia: Among the Russians; Behind the Wall: A Journey through China; The Lost Heart of Asia; In Siberia; and most recently, Shadow of the Silk Road.

Colin Thubron is an award-winning novelist as well as, arguably, the most admired travel writer of our time. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 19 )

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  • Posted March 26, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Not sure what the point of the story is about

    As I read this book, I thought it had great promise, although the author describes beautiful scenery surrounding Tibet, the tale never really got going. The story just wasn't engaging enough.

    3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted April 12, 2011

    Highly Recommended

    A take your time reading. Very educational. Helped me learn about Tibet. I will read again. Next time I will get even more out of it Enjoyed it very much. Can't wait to share the book.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 7, 2012

    good book

    In recording his journey to a sacred mountain, Thubron paints a subtle, and excellent portrayal of modern Tibet. The ending's a bit abrupt, but it's a very good book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted January 30, 2012

    I cancelled the order days ago. Why ask me for a review?

    Please test your automated software asking for reviews of books
    when they are not even ordered. Test your software before you use it.
    I cancelled the order for this book days ago.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted July 25, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    A spiritual journey worth the taking

    "In the beginning Kailas was just rock-rock and stones. Without spirit. Then the gods came down with their entourages and settled there. They may not exactly live there now, but they have left their energy, and the place is full of spirits."(the myth behind Mt. Kailas)

    Now in his seventies, famed travel writer Colin Thubron left his wife and home in England and trekked to a holy mountain in Tibet from Nepal. It was a personal journey. From Nepal, where his father hunted bear and big cats eighty years before, Thubron headed to Kailas, or Gangs Rinpoche, the holy mountain, the "precious jewel of snow." "Early wanderers to the source of the four great Indian rivers-the Indus, the Ganges, the Sutlej, and the Brahmaputra-found to their wonder that each one rose near a cardinal point of Kailas." Kailas is a holy mountain for Buddhists and Hindu alike, and thousands of worshippers every year pilgrimage to Kailas to circumnavigate the base. At 15,000 feet, the base of Kailas is 52 km long, and it sits next to the highest freshwater lake in the world, Manasarovar. Kailas is reflected in its waters: "To the Hindus.the lake is mystically wedded to the mountain, whose phallic dome is answered in the vagina of its dark waters." Kailas has never been climbed. Perhaps it is true that "only a man entirely free from sin could climb Kailas." Thubron's journey to Kailas is spiritual as well. He meditates on his life, his recently deceased mother and long-dead sister as he walks, but he shares with us what he sees along the route, in case we don't get the chance. The journey begins as if "through a ruined English garden," strewn with viburnum, jasmine and syringa, honeysuckle, dogwood and buddleia. Soon the track becomes "savage and precipitous," and as he gets closer to Kailas, the road becomes positively alive with pilgrims dressed "in a motley of novelty and tradition," often scattered in groups of two or three, who look "unquenchably happy". And closer yet: The monks, who have been praying in a seated line for hours, advance in a consecrating procession. Led by the abbot of Gyangdrak monastery from a valley under Kailas, they move in shambling pomp, pumping horns and conch shells, clashing cymbals. Small and benign in his thin-rimmed spectacles, the abbot hold up sticks of smouldering incense, while behind him the saffron banners fall in tiers of folded silks, like softly collapsed pagodas. Behind these again the ten-foot horns, too heavy to be carried by one monk, move stentorously forward, their bell-flares attached by cords to the man in front. Other monks, shouldering big drums painted furiously with dragons, follow in a jostle of wizardish red hats, while a venerable elder brings up the rear, cradling a silver tray of utensils and a bottle of Pepsi-Cola." But finally the destination is reached, and a Buddhist monk shares his philosophy: "Only karma lasts. Merit and demerit. Nothing of the individual survives. From all that he loves, man must part."

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    Posted August 9, 2011

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