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Lost Horizon
James Hilton’s bestselling adventure novel about a military man who stumbles on the world’s greatest hope for peace deep in Tibet: Shangri-La.
Hugh Conway saw humanity at its worst while fighting in the trenches of the First World War. Now, more than a decade later, Conway is a British diplomat serving in Afghanistan and facing war yet again—this time, a civil conflict forces him to flee the country by plane.
When his plane crashes high in the Himalayas, Conway and the other survivors are found by a mysterious guide and led to a breathtaking discovery: the hidden valley of Shangri-La.
Kept secret from the world for more than two hundred years, Shangri-La is like paradise—a place whose inhabitants live for centuries amid the peace and harmony of the fertile valley. But when the leader of the Shangri-La monastery falls ill, Conway and the others must face the daunting prospect of returning home to a world about to be torn open by war.
Thrilling and timeless, Lost Horizon is a masterpiece of modern fiction, and one of the most enduring classics of the twentieth century.
Hugh Conway saw humanity at its worst while fighting in the trenches of the First World War. Now, more than a decade later, Conway is a British diplomat serving in Afghanistan and facing war yet again—this time, a civil conflict forces him to flee the country by plane.
When his plane crashes high in the Himalayas, Conway and the other survivors are found by a mysterious guide and led to a breathtaking discovery: the hidden valley of Shangri-La.
Kept secret from the world for more than two hundred years, Shangri-La is like paradise—a place whose inhabitants live for centuries amid the peace and harmony of the fertile valley. But when the leader of the Shangri-La monastery falls ill, Conway and the others must face the daunting prospect of returning home to a world about to be torn open by war.
Thrilling and timeless, Lost Horizon is a masterpiece of modern fiction, and one of the most enduring classics of the twentieth century.
166 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1933
About the author
James Hilton
154 books257 followersJames Hilton was an English novelist and screenwriter. He is best remembered for his novels Lost Horizon, Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Random Harvest, as well as co-writing screenplays for the films Camille (1936) and Mrs. Miniver (1942), the latter earning him an Academy Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,142 reviews
April 7, 2024
Skyjacked! Unheard of in the early 1930's, yet it did happen to four passengers in Afghanistan, during a civil conflict there sounds sadly familiar. A "mad" Asian pilot with a gun does, flying east into the tallest mountains in the world. The aircraft goes above, around and hopefully not through them, a spectacular view for those with the guts to look, beautiful the Himalayas and frightening too. Tibet an almost unknown country with few visitors who return back home to report their findings, the apparent destination. "Glory" Hugh Conway a British consul, in some half- forgotten and remote city in Asia (suffering shell shock, from W.W.1). His vice -consul young hot- tempered Charles Mallinson, rather impetuous or just a coward. A missionary Roberta Brinklow a little past her prime the unkind would say.. . And the only non -British one on board the plane American Henry Barnard, mysterious, jovial a typical citizen of that country hiding something? Landing at an isolated mountainous spot not really a runway, getting refueled by people with lots of guns, the passengers are encouraged to stay in the plane, and obey , with few arguments, heroes none here. Again in the air, hour after hour always heading higher and higher into the mountains. The fuel is getting very low and must land soon, they do crashing in a valley. Where? Nobody knows since the pilot soon expires ...No food or appropriate clothes for this harsh, frigid climate, no way to get back to civilization. All see their deaths here, though next morning a miracle occurs, people are coming in their direction. An old Chinese man, Chang with a dozen others leads them to mythical Shangri-La. However first a little mountain climbing, up dizzy heights which scare his friends never Conway, a former mountain climber in the lofty Alps. Ropes are used stomachs lost, but at long last they enter the Valley of the Blue Moon (as the natives accurately call it). The impressive Karakal Mountain (Blue Moon), at 28,000 feet in elevation... Looking terrifying to the tiny newcomers... An uniquely contented.. peaceful ..enchanting...breathtaking paradise. A long ways from the constant wars and upheavals of the unstable world, sanctuary for those that need it. An imposing, prosperous Buddhist monastery ( is it still?) overlooking and dominating the valley, a majestic view ... below, a few thousand happy inhabitants . The other monks, seldom are seen there, Chang gives them food, rooms, books to read and even music to listen to in the Lamasery . Played by Lo-Tsen a talented Manchu girl, a teenager (she seems). The High Lama strangely is European and looks like he's 100- years -old, he's older ...And doesn't give much information to the curious Mr. Conway ... Many secrets are kept from the newcomers, questions are asked when can they leave? Much longer to stay for the foreigners? What's the purpose of the valley? How do they make money? And some of them begin to like the unearthly situation here ( others decidedly...the opposite). This Shangri- La, is not a bad place to live in ... A fantasy from the '30's, which has appeal even today, maybe not so strange.
February 16, 2008
The last time I loved a book as much as I loved this one was when I read Dune. Even though Dune is considered one of the masterworks of science fiction, I'm not really a sci-fi kind of girl, per se, I just love places that are so well-imagined by the author that you can't believe they're not real SOMEWHERE. Lost Horizon presents Shangri-La as such a place.
More personally, though, I read this book at the precise right moment in my life. Conway, the main character, has a sort of dispassionate detachment from life as a result of having fought in WWI (the story takes place right after the stock market crash) and has subsequently become an official in the British Government. His job is sort of middle management, not a great deal of responsibility, but it takes him to odd corners of the world where he has opportunities for heroism by virtue of being in foreign, unstable lands during the last years of the British Empire. Basically, he's seen enough to have made him more or less unflappable, and because of this he often is viewed as calm under pressure and courageous; at the end of the day, though, all he really wants is peace and quiet.
When the English are evacuating India, Conway and three other passengers have their airplane hijacked, and they are whisked away to Shangri-La. I won't say anymore except that he and his companions find a great deal of mystery there, but Conway also senses immediately that he's found his place of repose.
I say I read this book at the exact right moment in my life because I can identify with Conway's dispassion at times. Not that I've seen nearly all of the world or have experienced anything as dramatic as war, but having lived in Asia for two years, I know what it's like to do something out of the ordinary and to then return to the everyday. I know what that hollow space feels like that you long to fill with something else amazing. The fact that his retreat also happens to be a place that reminds us of the evils of being shackled to the march of time and desire is also no small thing for me. The West truly is obsessed with time--doing things faster and more efficiently, and more importantly, getting angry when things aren't done on the timetables we expect. Then there's the element of desire; wanting what we feel we are entitled to, seeking accolades, craving attention and adoration, and everything we are willing to sacrifice for these things. We are willing to sacrifice no less than the wisdom of the world and of this earth. Lost Horizon goes into all of this and much more, and I loved every second of the philosophical exploration wrapped up in gripping mystery.
So, in case I haven't been clear enough--read this. It's a quick read, only took me two days, a few hours. It's well worth it.
More personally, though, I read this book at the precise right moment in my life. Conway, the main character, has a sort of dispassionate detachment from life as a result of having fought in WWI (the story takes place right after the stock market crash) and has subsequently become an official in the British Government. His job is sort of middle management, not a great deal of responsibility, but it takes him to odd corners of the world where he has opportunities for heroism by virtue of being in foreign, unstable lands during the last years of the British Empire. Basically, he's seen enough to have made him more or less unflappable, and because of this he often is viewed as calm under pressure and courageous; at the end of the day, though, all he really wants is peace and quiet.
When the English are evacuating India, Conway and three other passengers have their airplane hijacked, and they are whisked away to Shangri-La. I won't say anymore except that he and his companions find a great deal of mystery there, but Conway also senses immediately that he's found his place of repose.
I say I read this book at the exact right moment in my life because I can identify with Conway's dispassion at times. Not that I've seen nearly all of the world or have experienced anything as dramatic as war, but having lived in Asia for two years, I know what it's like to do something out of the ordinary and to then return to the everyday. I know what that hollow space feels like that you long to fill with something else amazing. The fact that his retreat also happens to be a place that reminds us of the evils of being shackled to the march of time and desire is also no small thing for me. The West truly is obsessed with time--doing things faster and more efficiently, and more importantly, getting angry when things aren't done on the timetables we expect. Then there's the element of desire; wanting what we feel we are entitled to, seeking accolades, craving attention and adoration, and everything we are willing to sacrifice for these things. We are willing to sacrifice no less than the wisdom of the world and of this earth. Lost Horizon goes into all of this and much more, and I loved every second of the philosophical exploration wrapped up in gripping mystery.
So, in case I haven't been clear enough--read this. It's a quick read, only took me two days, a few hours. It's well worth it.
November 18, 2016
In 1931, four people, including Glory Conway, escape the political unrest in Baskul, China by boarding a plane, bound for Peshawar. The plane, however, much to their dismay, has been hijacked and eventually crash lands deep in the far reaches of the Tibetan Himalayas. Seeking shelter, the group soon finds themselves in the valley of the blue moon, guests at a lamasery, called Shangri-La.
Reading this is like stepping slowly into a hot, fragrant bath while strains of your own audio preferences delight; lapping against your tired muscles as you immerse yourself deep within its hypnotic scent. Even silence has a melody.
Though I have no specific memory of having read this before or having seen the movie, Hilton’s story is very familiar to me. More legend really, it transcends its medium, provoking deep, meaningful thought on spirituality, love and life’s purpose.
The water is just warm now; I have long since found my sweet spot and I tarry, reluctant to leave this precious paradise.
Be sure and read what gave birth to this legendary utopia.
Reading this is like stepping slowly into a hot, fragrant bath while strains of your own audio preferences delight; lapping against your tired muscles as you immerse yourself deep within its hypnotic scent. Even silence has a melody.
Though I have no specific memory of having read this before or having seen the movie, Hilton’s story is very familiar to me. More legend really, it transcends its medium, provoking deep, meaningful thought on spirituality, love and life’s purpose.
The water is just warm now; I have long since found my sweet spot and I tarry, reluctant to leave this precious paradise.
Be sure and read what gave birth to this legendary utopia.
September 9, 2024
I would take this book to a desert island; he'll follow me in my removals. I read it, not because it was the favorite book of the 32nd American president, Franklin Roosevelt, but because it is part of my reading-learning.
I was fascinated by the writing, the straightforward narrative, and the story: incredible and dreamlike; the reader feels like a waking dream. But, on the other hand, the plot is sober: four characters, whose character and reasons for their improbable meeting we will gradually learn to know, find themselves prisoners of a lamasery in the depths of Tibet, a country still mythical for Westerners. Everyone has their reasons for adapting to this golden prison or for wanting to escape from it at all costs.
Do the lamas of Shangri La possess the secret of eternal youth? Isn't it instead the eternally fixed moment, therefore, the negation of life? Torn from her environment, the beloved woman instantly fades like a poppy picked from a wheat field crumbles between the fingers.
Shangri La's vision is that of the Western prism, a peaceful, still city from the Golden Age where the elect was endowed with supernatural powers—a concept that, nowadays, finds all its topicality: the ultimate rampart against troubled and tragic times.
I was fascinated by the writing, the straightforward narrative, and the story: incredible and dreamlike; the reader feels like a waking dream. But, on the other hand, the plot is sober: four characters, whose character and reasons for their improbable meeting we will gradually learn to know, find themselves prisoners of a lamasery in the depths of Tibet, a country still mythical for Westerners. Everyone has their reasons for adapting to this golden prison or for wanting to escape from it at all costs.
Do the lamas of Shangri La possess the secret of eternal youth? Isn't it instead the eternally fixed moment, therefore, the negation of life? Torn from her environment, the beloved woman instantly fades like a poppy picked from a wheat field crumbles between the fingers.
Shangri La's vision is that of the Western prism, a peaceful, still city from the Golden Age where the elect was endowed with supernatural powers—a concept that, nowadays, finds all its topicality: the ultimate rampart against troubled and tragic times.
March 21, 2014
This is a fun read. They did a pretty good job with the film. Given that Hilton was a major screenwriter that makes sense. It is very Victorian in its feel, a sort of Kipling-esque yarn, in which depression era westerners find themselves in a version of paradise. The place is rather communistic, with elements of free love that no doubt raised some eyebrows when it was published. On the other hand, the place is run by a Belgian cleric. On the other hand, their motto is all things in moderation, even ethics. It was a fun, quick read and is recommended for anyone who enjoys 19th century tales of adventure.
January 26, 2023
The action starts with the airplane hijack of four westerners from Baskul (assumably Afghanistan) taken eastwards to an extremely remote place in the Himalayas. They arrive in Shangri-la.
The novel was published in 1933. Hilton had just reached the age of call-up when World War I ended. His generation was deeply effected by the war and he had personal pacifist beliefs. Lost Horizon uses that message in a mild way. It can be enjoyed as a fantasy/utopian novel but you are always aware of the times in the world outside of Shangri-la, with Hitler and his ilk a threat.
Hilton shows a group of monks who preserve learning from many cultures and believe in moderation in all things. The author uses information from adventurers and climbers of the times to base his location, eastern religions and maybe his main character, Conway.
After the great popular success of this novel a 1937 Hollywood blockbuster was made directed by Frank Capra, starring Ronald Coleman. I’d never read this novel but had seen the film. The film is reasonably like the book but has more characters and less pacifism. I’d recommend reading the book first, but the film is good too.
Small minuses—
. Slowish reading with too much internal rumination by the main character
. If you’re picky, it is a pretty simplistic depiction of Eastern religions
The novel was published in 1933. Hilton had just reached the age of call-up when World War I ended. His generation was deeply effected by the war and he had personal pacifist beliefs. Lost Horizon uses that message in a mild way. It can be enjoyed as a fantasy/utopian novel but you are always aware of the times in the world outside of Shangri-la, with Hitler and his ilk a threat.
Hilton shows a group of monks who preserve learning from many cultures and believe in moderation in all things. The author uses information from adventurers and climbers of the times to base his location, eastern religions and maybe his main character, Conway.
After the great popular success of this novel a 1937 Hollywood blockbuster was made directed by Frank Capra, starring Ronald Coleman. I’d never read this novel but had seen the film. The film is reasonably like the book but has more characters and less pacifism. I’d recommend reading the book first, but the film is good too.
Small minuses—
. Slowish reading with too much internal rumination by the main character
. If you’re picky, it is a pretty simplistic depiction of Eastern religions
July 19, 2022
4.5★
Shangri-La!
I'd heard the term of course, used for an imaginary paradise, but didn't realise it came from this book.
Which (other than at a couple of points where it became a bit talky-talky) I loved.
There are four passengers on a plane. They are unaware the plane has been hijacked until they land in a remote part of Tibet. The Lamasery to which they are taken evokes different reactions in the four passengers, & to me, it does sound like heaven - all the books you can read.
A quote for modern times.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
Shangri-La!
I'd heard the term of course, used for an imaginary paradise, but didn't realise it came from this book.
Which (other than at a couple of points where it became a bit talky-talky) I loved.
There are four passengers on a plane. They are unaware the plane has been hijacked until they land in a remote part of Tibet. The Lamasery to which they are taken evokes different reactions in the four passengers, & to me, it does sound like heaven - all the books you can read.
"It is significant," [Chang] said after a pause, that the English regard slackness as a vice. We, on the other hand, should vastly prefer it to tension. Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it be better if more people were slackers?"
A quote for modern times.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
August 4, 2022
Paradise is hidden in a dangerous, steep, and almost inaccessible mountain cleft. Four strangers are kidnapped and flown there by a foreign pilot for unknown reasons. Written in 1933, this brought back visions of the pilots of the 9/11 carnage who learned how to fly in American flight schools as this book's pilot does.
Lost Horizon's kidnapper has altruistic reasons for his act, but it still is horrific to be plucked out of your life on another person's whim. What turns out to be paradise for you, is not so for others and there is soon dissension in the kidnapped travelers. This is a thriller in the beginning, but devolves into a treatise on the ills of western society in the middle. I am not blind to the faults of the western world, but am not so sure any one society has all the answers or a solution to our problems.
Lost Horizon's kidnapper has altruistic reasons for his act, but it still is horrific to be plucked out of your life on another person's whim. What turns out to be paradise for you, is not so for others and there is soon dissension in the kidnapped travelers. This is a thriller in the beginning, but devolves into a treatise on the ills of western society in the middle. I am not blind to the faults of the western world, but am not so sure any one society has all the answers or a solution to our problems.
September 27, 2020
During British colonial days,four
westerners are on their way to Peshawar in an aircraft when their pilot takes them to the mountains of Tibet,where the aircraft crashes.They are rescued and taken to a lamasery.
It does have some beautiful writing,when describing the mountain scenery. For a while,I remained fairly interested to know why the four people were brought to Shangri La,and were being held there,against their will.
But when the mystery was revealed,it felt like an anti-climax. It also took away the rather favourable impression of the book I had till then.
As a fantasy,it didn't appeal to me,nor as a vision of utopia. The book describes the horrors of one war (World War I) and the possibility of a second,which was yet to begin,at the time.
A mixed bag,which began well,but left me disappointed with the ending.
westerners are on their way to Peshawar in an aircraft when their pilot takes them to the mountains of Tibet,where the aircraft crashes.They are rescued and taken to a lamasery.
It does have some beautiful writing,when describing the mountain scenery. For a while,I remained fairly interested to know why the four people were brought to Shangri La,and were being held there,against their will.
But when the mystery was revealed,it felt like an anti-climax. It also took away the rather favourable impression of the book I had till then.
As a fantasy,it didn't appeal to me,nor as a vision of utopia. The book describes the horrors of one war (World War I) and the possibility of a second,which was yet to begin,at the time.
A mixed bag,which began well,but left me disappointed with the ending.
August 28, 2013
For the life of me, I have no idea why anyone dearly loves this book. The narrative is plodding, the characters boring and unsympathetic, and the ending--don't get me started on the ending. This was a book club selection that I was actually excited about since its setting is the mystical Shangri-La. I thought it would be an Indiana Jones-esque action and adventure in an exotic Asian setting. What I got instead was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Boring Tibetans. There's no action; all they do is prattle on about how perfect existence in Shangri-La is (so perfect, in fact, it's painfully boring to read about). The discussions are predictably didactic ("duh, duh, double duh" I thought as each new mystery of life was revealed). I am so glad that I checked this out from the library. Now I can't wait to go check it back in.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
July 25, 2022
Note, July 25, 2022: I've just edited this to correct a single typo.
Like some other books, this is one that I read only because it was picked as a common read in one of my Goodreads groups. While I'd heard of it before, it had never struck me as something I wanted to read. In some cases, books I read this way proved to be five-star reads. This one didn't impress me to that extent; but I did ultimately like it well enough to give it three stars, and found it thought-provoking on various levels.
It's a somewhat challenging book to review, and even to classify. With regard to the latter point, I finally settled on "science fiction" for its genre, though it's very unlike most American SF from that era. (Nor does it fit into the "lost race" tradition popular on both sides of the Atlantic before and between the World Wars.) But it does have a central speculative element to its plot: the idea of long extension of human life (though not actual immortality, nor anything like it) by purely natural means. This element is squarely in the "soft" SF tradition (more characteristic of the British than the American genre), a literary conceit employed to set up and serve the human social and philosophical questions the author wants to explore. (It isn't based on any serious study of the actual causes of aging, nor on extrapolation from any known technique or effect.)
Apart from two framing sections that filter the main narrative through an effect of, in Washington Irving's term for the technique, "resonance," the premise of the latter is fairly simple. Four people --viewpoint character Conway, a WWI veteran now a British consul; his younger vice-consul Mallinson; a missionary lady; and a rather mysterious American-- being evacuated by air from a local uprising apparently on the northwest frontier of what was then British India, find their plane hijacked by a mystery pilot taking them to an unknown destination far to the East. Any more direct information would reveal plot elements that the author preferred to disclose gradually; and the genuine suspense of reading it with no more knowledge of the plot than is inevitable with normal cultural literacy about a 1933 classic is actually an integral part of the reading experience. For the same reason, I don't recommend reading the cover copy of this edition, nor the Goodreads description; where they aren't inaccurate and misleading, they can be "spoilerish" to a degree.
Basically, however, this is a novel of ideas; the plot exists strictly to serve the author's message(s). These are the messages of a pessimistic, primarily secular humanist British intellectual whose view of the world was deeply shadowed and scarred by the Great War. (The reference to Conway's wartime experience was convincing enough to make me suspect Hilton was himself a veteran. He wasn't, having turned 18 just a couple of months before the Armistice; but he was still part of the rising bourgeois liberal "Lost Generation" that was epochally disillusioned by the scope of the carnage.) He was also clearly hag-ridden by the prospect of a second world war, which he expected to be apocalyptic. (He often gets credit for being brilliantly prescient, but his expectation was more probably the fruit of dogmatic pessimism more than of astute observation of world politics; though the book was published in 1933, I'm guessing it was probably actually written before Hitler became Chancellor. And the actual World War II, though bad enough, was far less apocalyptic than Hilton imagined it would be.) The book is basically a call to preserve the human race's cultural, artistic and philosophical patrimony in the face of its anticipated near total annihilation in the coming war.
Another philosophical undercurrent here is Platonism, which is clearly discernible in the glorification of the supposedly benevolent rule of what are in effect "philosopher kings," morally and intellectually far superior to the docile subject population that they rule for its own good; in the disparaging of emotion and passion as a juvenile enemy of exalted Reason; and in the upholding of "moderation" between two extremes as the all-purpose ideal for human conduct. (Hilton's prep school and Cambridge Univ. education, of course, in his day, would have steeped him in classical thought.) He also has no more real understanding of the religious mindset than a tone deaf person has of music (with the difference that those of us who are tone deaf usually understand that we can't perceive something, whereas that's not an awareness that troubles Hilton). Despite the setting of much of the story in Tibet, actual Eastern philosophy and Tibetan Buddhism doesn't furnish any real contribution to the ideology behind Shangri-La. None of Hilton's basic premises are very similar to mine. But a real value of the novel, for me, was the way it encouraged me to compare and contrast my ideas with his, and to gain insights from that process along the way.
Some reviewers have expressed dissatisfaction with the ending; and, without resorting to spoilers, I can say that I understand why. However, I don't share that dissatisfaction. IMO, the ending was perfectly crafted, both to preserve the element of mystery and ambiguity that's often seen as essential in the speculative fiction tradition, and more importantly to make a human element central to the story arc, rather than reducing it exclusively to a message-driven essay just dressed up as fiction about human beings. That's something the author deserves credit for as a writer.
Like some other books, this is one that I read only because it was picked as a common read in one of my Goodreads groups. While I'd heard of it before, it had never struck me as something I wanted to read. In some cases, books I read this way proved to be five-star reads. This one didn't impress me to that extent; but I did ultimately like it well enough to give it three stars, and found it thought-provoking on various levels.
It's a somewhat challenging book to review, and even to classify. With regard to the latter point, I finally settled on "science fiction" for its genre, though it's very unlike most American SF from that era. (Nor does it fit into the "lost race" tradition popular on both sides of the Atlantic before and between the World Wars.) But it does have a central speculative element to its plot: the idea of long extension of human life (though not actual immortality, nor anything like it) by purely natural means. This element is squarely in the "soft" SF tradition (more characteristic of the British than the American genre), a literary conceit employed to set up and serve the human social and philosophical questions the author wants to explore. (It isn't based on any serious study of the actual causes of aging, nor on extrapolation from any known technique or effect.)
Apart from two framing sections that filter the main narrative through an effect of, in Washington Irving's term for the technique, "resonance," the premise of the latter is fairly simple. Four people --viewpoint character Conway, a WWI veteran now a British consul; his younger vice-consul Mallinson; a missionary lady; and a rather mysterious American-- being evacuated by air from a local uprising apparently on the northwest frontier of what was then British India, find their plane hijacked by a mystery pilot taking them to an unknown destination far to the East. Any more direct information would reveal plot elements that the author preferred to disclose gradually; and the genuine suspense of reading it with no more knowledge of the plot than is inevitable with normal cultural literacy about a 1933 classic is actually an integral part of the reading experience. For the same reason, I don't recommend reading the cover copy of this edition, nor the Goodreads description; where they aren't inaccurate and misleading, they can be "spoilerish" to a degree.
Basically, however, this is a novel of ideas; the plot exists strictly to serve the author's message(s). These are the messages of a pessimistic, primarily secular humanist British intellectual whose view of the world was deeply shadowed and scarred by the Great War. (The reference to Conway's wartime experience was convincing enough to make me suspect Hilton was himself a veteran. He wasn't, having turned 18 just a couple of months before the Armistice; but he was still part of the rising bourgeois liberal "Lost Generation" that was epochally disillusioned by the scope of the carnage.) He was also clearly hag-ridden by the prospect of a second world war, which he expected to be apocalyptic. (He often gets credit for being brilliantly prescient, but his expectation was more probably the fruit of dogmatic pessimism more than of astute observation of world politics; though the book was published in 1933, I'm guessing it was probably actually written before Hitler became Chancellor. And the actual World War II, though bad enough, was far less apocalyptic than Hilton imagined it would be.) The book is basically a call to preserve the human race's cultural, artistic and philosophical patrimony in the face of its anticipated near total annihilation in the coming war.
Another philosophical undercurrent here is Platonism, which is clearly discernible in the glorification of the supposedly benevolent rule of what are in effect "philosopher kings," morally and intellectually far superior to the docile subject population that they rule for its own good; in the disparaging of emotion and passion as a juvenile enemy of exalted Reason; and in the upholding of "moderation" between two extremes as the all-purpose ideal for human conduct. (Hilton's prep school and Cambridge Univ. education, of course, in his day, would have steeped him in classical thought.) He also has no more real understanding of the religious mindset than a tone deaf person has of music (with the difference that those of us who are tone deaf usually understand that we can't perceive something, whereas that's not an awareness that troubles Hilton). Despite the setting of much of the story in Tibet, actual Eastern philosophy and Tibetan Buddhism doesn't furnish any real contribution to the ideology behind Shangri-La. None of Hilton's basic premises are very similar to mine. But a real value of the novel, for me, was the way it encouraged me to compare and contrast my ideas with his, and to gain insights from that process along the way.
Some reviewers have expressed dissatisfaction with the ending; and, without resorting to spoilers, I can say that I understand why. However, I don't share that dissatisfaction. IMO, the ending was perfectly crafted, both to preserve the element of mystery and ambiguity that's often seen as essential in the speculative fiction tradition, and more importantly to make a human element central to the story arc, rather than reducing it exclusively to a message-driven essay just dressed up as fiction about human beings. That's something the author deserves credit for as a writer.
March 9, 2012
I hummed Lara’s Theme while reading most of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago a couple of years back. Similarly, the first two lines of this Burt Bacharach-composition was inside my ears while reading this book.
That place is Shangri-La. Not the famous five-star hotel chain although this book inspired the owners of that hotel chain that started in Singapore. “La” in Shangri-La means mountain according to this book and it is the place where aging process slows down, people believe in moderation on everything and everyone loves everyone else regardless of religion, social status, personal beliefs, etc. In other words, this book is a utopian book. So, paging fans of dystopian genre, come and check this book out and give yourself a respite from reading pessimists and doomsayers predicting only bad things to happen in this world.
This book by James Hilton (1900-1954) was first published in 1933 but it was only noticed by readers after he released his other novel, Goodbye, Mr. Chips.Lost Horizon was filmed in 1939 the same year when it was released as mass paperback by Pocket Books. In fact, Lost Horizon is considered as the first pocketbook and officially has this title: Pocketbook #1. Paperback books have been around since the 1800s but this was the first book that made more people afford to read books and they could place books inside their pockets. Thus, mass paperback books are called pocketbooks.
Hilton’s prose is clear and succinct. The plot is intriguing and intricately woven. The philosophical and religious musings are about right. The characters are well-developed as each are given his/her own back story and motivation on why he/she wants to stay rather than leave Shangri-La. The use of the framework story, narrated by a neurologist is effective and not confusing. The characters voices are clearly distinctive and Hilton’s imagination is just awesome. Wiki says that he was inspired to write this book by reading National Geographic magazine where a place similar to this in the Tibetan mountains was featured with the corresponding explorer disappeared incognito. My only small gripe is that I found the description of the supposedly breathtaking place lacking. Had Hilton been Charles Dickens, Henry James or even Michael Oondatje (of The English Patient), I am sure he would have devoted pages and pages of wonderful descriptions about the place. Well, maybe Hilton aimed for his book to be place in a pocket so he made sure that this book would fit into a regular trouser’s pocket.
Overall, a worthwhile read – quick, easy and slightly brain-stimulating. Now, that I am done reading the book and I think I have to find out how to sing the song in full.
♪♫♪Have you ever dreamed of a placeBut I did not know neither the words nor the melody of the 3rd to the 6th lines of each stanza. So, I went to www.lyrics.com and searched for this song. There is actually a 3rd stanza but I did not know how to sing it too. Do you know how the whole song goes? This is the 1937 theme song for the Frank Capra’s movie adaptation of James Hilton’s 1933 wondrous classic Lost Horizon and I only know the first two lines. Pity me. It’s very soulful and melodious as it creates images of peace and quiet, of being in harmony with nature, like going to a serene, restful place.
Far away from it all
Where the air you breathe is soft and clean
And children play in fields of green
And the sound of guns
Doesn't pound in your ears (anymore) ♪♫♪
♪♫♪Have you ever dreamed of a place
Far away from it all
Where the winter winds will never blow
And living things have room to grow
And the sound of guns
Doesn¹t pound in your ears anymore. ♪♫♪
That place is Shangri-La. Not the famous five-star hotel chain although this book inspired the owners of that hotel chain that started in Singapore. “La” in Shangri-La means mountain according to this book and it is the place where aging process slows down, people believe in moderation on everything and everyone loves everyone else regardless of religion, social status, personal beliefs, etc. In other words, this book is a utopian book. So, paging fans of dystopian genre, come and check this book out and give yourself a respite from reading pessimists and doomsayers predicting only bad things to happen in this world.
This book by James Hilton (1900-1954) was first published in 1933 but it was only noticed by readers after he released his other novel, Goodbye, Mr. Chips.Lost Horizon was filmed in 1939 the same year when it was released as mass paperback by Pocket Books. In fact, Lost Horizon is considered as the first pocketbook and officially has this title: Pocketbook #1. Paperback books have been around since the 1800s but this was the first book that made more people afford to read books and they could place books inside their pockets. Thus, mass paperback books are called pocketbooks.
Hilton’s prose is clear and succinct. The plot is intriguing and intricately woven. The philosophical and religious musings are about right. The characters are well-developed as each are given his/her own back story and motivation on why he/she wants to stay rather than leave Shangri-La. The use of the framework story, narrated by a neurologist is effective and not confusing. The characters voices are clearly distinctive and Hilton’s imagination is just awesome. Wiki says that he was inspired to write this book by reading National Geographic magazine where a place similar to this in the Tibetan mountains was featured with the corresponding explorer disappeared incognito. My only small gripe is that I found the description of the supposedly breathtaking place lacking. Had Hilton been Charles Dickens, Henry James or even Michael Oondatje (of The English Patient), I am sure he would have devoted pages and pages of wonderful descriptions about the place. Well, maybe Hilton aimed for his book to be place in a pocket so he made sure that this book would fit into a regular trouser’s pocket.
Overall, a worthwhile read – quick, easy and slightly brain-stimulating. Now, that I am done reading the book and I think I have to find out how to sing the song in full.
May 15, 2016
Το λάτρεψα. Χτες νύσταζα και σχεδόν το άφησα με πόνο καρδιάς. Μια τόσο υπέροχη ιστορία. Τόσο ονειρική, τόσο μαγευτική. Λοιπόν αυτό το έργο το είχα ακούσει στην εφηβεία μου, σε θεατρική διασκευή, στο ραδιοφωνικό θέατρο της Κυριακής από το Τρίτο Πρόγραμμα. Με είχε εντυπωσιάσει η υπόθεση αλλά δεν θυμόμουν τίτλο και περισσότερα στοιχεία. Τελικά το ξέθαψα μετά από κάμποσο ψάξιμο. Και με οδήγησε σε αυτό το μυθιστόρημα, στην παραμυθένια Σάνγκρι – Λα και σε αυτόν τον κόσμο που κάπως αχνά μου θύμισε ένα διήγημα του Μίχαελ Έντε με τίτλο «Το τέρμα ενός μεγάλου ταξιδιού» από τη συλλογή «Η φυλακή της ελευθερίας» (αν και το διήγημα είναι σαφώς κατώτερο).
Είναι η ματιά του Χίλτον επάνω στον κόσμο και στα πράγματα τόσο ζεστή, τόσο τρυφερή, τόσο ανεκτική που περιβάλλει τα πάντα με μια ζεστασιά, μια πρωτοφανή ανθρωπιά, που κυοφορεί μόνο θετικά συναισθήματα. Κι όλο αυτό το μυστήριο, το άγνωστο, οι τόσες αναπάντητες ερωτήσεις του πρώτου μέρους του βιβλίου μου δημιούργησαν μια γλυκειά αγωνία, κι ας μην ήταν η πρώτη φορά που άκουγα αυτήν την ιστορία. Γιατί αυτή η ιστορία είναι πανάρχαια. Υπάρχει σε όλους σχεδόν τους πολιτισμούς και τις ανθρώπινες κουλτούρες, είναι βαθιά εντυπωμένη στο συλλογικό μας ασυνείδητο.
Ζούμε σε έναν απρόβλεπτο κόσμο. Γεμάτο ομορφιά αλλά συνάμα γεμάτο με ασχήμια. Μέσα σε όλα αυτά προσπαθούμε να κρατήσουμε ισορροπίες. Αλλά πώς άραγε θα αντιδρούσαμε όλοι μας, αν μια μέρα συνέβαινε κάτι εντελώς απίθανο; Σα να ξεκινάς για κάπου και να καταλήγεις, χωρίς καλά -καλά να καταλάβεις πώς, σε ένα μέρος που πότε δεν φαντάστηκες πως υπάρχει, αν και κατά βάθος, μέσα σου, χωρίς ίσως να το ξέρεις, πάντα το ποθούσες. Ή μήπως όχι. Στο βιβλίο υπάρχει ένας νεαρός ήρωας, 24 ετών. Όταν σαν δεκαπεντάχρονη άκουγα την θεατρική διασκευή στο ραδιόφωνο ήμουν ολόψυχα με το μέρος του. Τον καταλάβαινα απόλυτα. Ταυτιζόμουν μαζί του. Διαβάζοντας στα 4ο μου, σήμερα την ίδια ιστορία, δεν μπορώ πλέον να δεχτώ τον τρόπο που βλέπει το πράγμ��τα. Θα τον αντιπαθούσα, αν δεν μου προκαλούσε οίκτο.
Τώρα δεν θα πω πολλά για την υπόθεση και γενικά, αν κάποιος θέλει να το διαβάσει όσα λιγότερα ξέρει τόσο το καλύτερο. Άλλωστε το τέλος είναι τέτοιο που… ας μη πω τίποτα περισσότερο. Μόνο αυτό: Μακάρι να υπήρχε στα αλήθεια μια Σάνγκρι - Λα. Ίσως βέβαια να υπάρχει και να κρύβεται μέσα σε κάθε βιβλίο που μας ανοίγει νέους κόσμους...
Είναι η ματιά του Χίλτον επάνω στον κόσμο και στα πράγματα τόσο ζεστή, τόσο τρυφερή, τόσο ανεκτική που περιβάλλει τα πάντα με μια ζεστασιά, μια πρωτοφανή ανθρωπιά, που κυοφορεί μόνο θετικά συναισθήματα. Κι όλο αυτό το μυστήριο, το άγνωστο, οι τόσες αναπάντητες ερωτήσεις του πρώτου μέρους του βιβλίου μου δημιούργησαν μια γλυκειά αγωνία, κι ας μην ήταν η πρώτη φορά που άκουγα αυτήν την ιστορία. Γιατί αυτή η ιστορία είναι πανάρχαια. Υπάρχει σε όλους σχεδόν τους πολιτισμούς και τις ανθρώπινες κουλτούρες, είναι βαθιά εντυπωμένη στο συλλογικό μας ασυνείδητο.
Ζούμε σε έναν απρόβλεπτο κόσμο. Γεμάτο ομορφιά αλλά συνάμα γεμάτο με ασχήμια. Μέσα σε όλα αυτά προσπαθούμε να κρατήσουμε ισορροπίες. Αλλά πώς άραγε θα αντιδρούσαμε όλοι μας, αν μια μέρα συνέβαινε κάτι εντελώς απίθανο; Σα να ξεκινάς για κάπου και να καταλήγεις, χωρίς καλά -καλά να καταλάβεις πώς, σε ένα μέρος που πότε δεν φαντάστηκες πως υπάρχει, αν και κατά βάθος, μέσα σου, χωρίς ίσως να το ξέρεις, πάντα το ποθούσες. Ή μήπως όχι. Στο βιβλίο υπάρχει ένας νεαρός ήρωας, 24 ετών. Όταν σαν δεκαπεντάχρονη άκουγα την θεατρική διασκευή στο ραδιόφωνο ήμουν ολόψυχα με το μέρος του. Τον καταλάβαινα απόλυτα. Ταυτιζόμουν μαζί του. Διαβάζοντας στα 4ο μου, σήμερα την ίδια ιστορία, δεν μπορώ πλέον να δεχτώ τον τρόπο που βλέπει το πράγμ��τα. Θα τον αντιπαθούσα, αν δεν μου προκαλούσε οίκτο.
Τώρα δεν θα πω πολλά για την υπόθεση και γενικά, αν κάποιος θέλει να το διαβάσει όσα λιγότερα ξέρει τόσο το καλύτερο. Άλλωστε το τέλος είναι τέτοιο που… ας μη πω τίποτα περισσότερο. Μόνο αυτό: Μακάρι να υπήρχε στα αλήθεια μια Σάνγκρι - Λα. Ίσως βέβαια να υπάρχει και να κρύβεται μέσα σε κάθε βιβλίο που μας ανοίγει νέους κόσμους...
August 5, 2019
This short book is regarded a classic, and I found it quite enjoyable.
Commencing in Persia, where a plane preparing for evacuation is hijacked and flown of route. Eventually, it is established by the abducted persons that they are in the Tibetan Himalaya, and the plane attempts to land, crashing and killing the pilot / kidnapper, leaving our main characters stranded. A British consul, his deputy, a (female) missionary, an American financier are 'rescued' and taken to a Tibetan monastery (Shangri-La) and put up in some comfort, but as the story rolls out, strange details emerge about the circumstances of their kidnap, the occupants of the monastery, and their expectations around returning to 'civilization'.
Not aiming to throw out any spoilers, so that is about the extent of the plot outline.
For a book written in 1933 it still stacks up pretty well - the themes and situation are relevant, and the writing while relatively simple makes the story interesting, and there are plenty of parts where I didn't want to put this down. Set after WW1 and before WW2 it has element so utopia and projected dystopia woven through, and is largely a roll-out mystery of thoughts rather than actions. The characters are written interestingly, have various revelations in their own stories, and are all effected by the situation differently.
Worth seeking out, to cross another classic off the list in relatively easy form.
4 stars
Commencing in Persia, where a plane preparing for evacuation is hijacked and flown of route. Eventually, it is established by the abducted persons that they are in the Tibetan Himalaya, and the plane attempts to land, crashing and killing the pilot / kidnapper, leaving our main characters stranded. A British consul, his deputy, a (female) missionary, an American financier are 'rescued' and taken to a Tibetan monastery (Shangri-La) and put up in some comfort, but as the story rolls out, strange details emerge about the circumstances of their kidnap, the occupants of the monastery, and their expectations around returning to 'civilization'.
Not aiming to throw out any spoilers, so that is about the extent of the plot outline.
For a book written in 1933 it still stacks up pretty well - the themes and situation are relevant, and the writing while relatively simple makes the story interesting, and there are plenty of parts where I didn't want to put this down. Set after WW1 and before WW2 it has element so utopia and projected dystopia woven through, and is largely a roll-out mystery of thoughts rather than actions. The characters are written interestingly, have various revelations in their own stories, and are all effected by the situation differently.
Worth seeking out, to cross another classic off the list in relatively easy form.
4 stars
November 2, 2014
Lost Horizons is a very silly, dumb book, but charming and fun for all that.
It's racist and sexist, in that casual and unmalicious way that you see in, like, Mad Men. The "hard, mocking, sex-thirsty voices of women" are mentioned at one point, and the inhabitants of Shangri-La are described as "cleaner and handsomer than the average" Chinese. Compare it to Sax Rohmer's The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu from 30 years previous: that book is obsessed with the danger of cunning, diabolical Chinamen, while this one is obsessed with how romantic and wise they are. Both are dumb.
It indulges shamelessly in adolescent wish fulfillment: just an inordinate number of pages given over to explaining (never showing) how wise and interesting its hero, Conway, is. It's certainly one of those books that threatens to make your eyes roll right out of your head. Here's a great passage:
But, again, for all of its many and glaring flaws, it's...sortof fun. I mean, for one thing Hilton is inventing Shangri-La here, and that's pretty cool.
And he's dealing - ungracefully, but in his own dumb way - with a real debate between faith and atheism: do you believe that Shangri-La is magic? Or is it an asylum run by ancient nutty inmates? To his credit, Hilton gives you plenty of evidence each way. He does that part competently.
So, I mean, it's fine. It reads quickly and pleasantly. If your young adult is reading it, you might use it as an opening to talk about how Asian fetishes are racist. (Show him some porn as a visual aid!) If you're reading it yourself, just try to watch the eye rolling. You can sprain those things.
It's racist and sexist, in that casual and unmalicious way that you see in, like, Mad Men. The "hard, mocking, sex-thirsty voices of women" are mentioned at one point, and the inhabitants of Shangri-La are described as "cleaner and handsomer than the average" Chinese. Compare it to Sax Rohmer's The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu from 30 years previous: that book is obsessed with the danger of cunning, diabolical Chinamen, while this one is obsessed with how romantic and wise they are. Both are dumb.
It indulges shamelessly in adolescent wish fulfillment: just an inordinate number of pages given over to explaining (never showing) how wise and interesting its hero, Conway, is. It's certainly one of those books that threatens to make your eyes roll right out of your head. Here's a great passage:
[Conrad's] love demanded nothing, not even reply; it was a tribute of the mind, to which his sense added only a flavor. She stood for him as a symbol of all that was delicate and fragile; her stylized courtesies and the touch of her fingers on the keyboard yielded a completely satisfied intimacy."Oh my God, right? Hoo boy.
But, again, for all of its many and glaring flaws, it's...sortof fun. I mean, for one thing Hilton is inventing Shangri-La here, and that's pretty cool.
And he's dealing - ungracefully, but in his own dumb way - with a real debate between faith and atheism: do you believe that Shangri-La is magic? Or is it an asylum run by ancient nutty inmates? To his credit, Hilton gives you plenty of evidence each way. He does that part competently.
So, I mean, it's fine. It reads quickly and pleasantly. If your young adult is reading it, you might use it as an opening to talk about how Asian fetishes are racist. (Show him some porn as a visual aid!) If you're reading it yourself, just try to watch the eye rolling. You can sprain those things.
April 24, 2017
Hugh Conway, a veteran of the Great War and a British diplomat, told a novelist friend an incredible story. He and three other people were being evacuated from a rebellion in Baskul when their plane was hijacked and flown to Tibet. After they crash landed in the frigid, windy mountains, their dying pilot told them to go to the lamasery of Shangri-La. The four passengers were guided there by porters and a postulant from the lamasery. After winding through dangerous mountain passes for hours, they arrived at the lamasery overlooking a protected fertile valley. It's a place of peace and contemplation where everyone is satisfied by practicing the ethic of moderation.
The lamasery is also a repository of great books, knowledge, wisdom, culture, and art. The High Lama "foresaw a time when men, excultant in the technique of homicide, would rage so hotly over the world that every precious thing would be in danger...."(144) Conway has never been the same since living through a horrible experience in the Great War, and is drawn to a peaceful, scholarly life in Shangri-La. But another member of his party feels differently and tries to convince Conway that he is losing his mind.
Published in 1933, the book points out how the world is in turmoil and foresees another huge war in the future. The story is a wonderful fantasy set in a beautiful utopia. The epilogue gives hints about what might have happened to Conway, but leaves a lot to the reader's imagination. It left me hoping that Shangri-La is real, hidden and protected by the mountains of Tibet.
The lamasery is also a repository of great books, knowledge, wisdom, culture, and art. The High Lama "foresaw a time when men, excultant in the technique of homicide, would rage so hotly over the world that every precious thing would be in danger...."(144) Conway has never been the same since living through a horrible experience in the Great War, and is drawn to a peaceful, scholarly life in Shangri-La. But another member of his party feels differently and tries to convince Conway that he is losing his mind.
Published in 1933, the book points out how the world is in turmoil and foresees another huge war in the future. The story is a wonderful fantasy set in a beautiful utopia. The epilogue gives hints about what might have happened to Conway, but leaves a lot to the reader's imagination. It left me hoping that Shangri-La is real, hidden and protected by the mountains of Tibet.
June 7, 2016
It wasn't until I finished the story and read the Afterword that I realized that this book was written by the same guy who wrote Goodbye, Mr. Chips, another story I had pretty much put out of my mind. Much, I think, like I expect to happen with this one.
So, okay, here's Shangri-La. We all know the name, but this is where it started. And that's fine. Shangri-La is this utopian society-place in the Himalayan area, where the inhabitants are almost immortal. It's supposed to be this perfect society essentially created out of moderation, which is bogus, right, because moderation is boring and, c'mon, haven't we all agreed that nearly immortal longevity is a real drag?
But Shangri-La has other good stuff, apparently, like toilets and libraries, so it's not all bad. It's just not my thing. I don't want to live forever.
It's a cute story, but just like Goodbye, Mr. Chips was a cute story. By "cute" I mean sort of annoying. Hilton was an average writer who wanted to make his readers feel good, which was important for the 30s, right? All that economic and psychological depression, that lull between two great wars. I mean, sad times all around. So why not write a short novel about a really great place that may be magic or may just be run by some nut?
I will say that I enjoyed the ambiguity of what Shangri-La really was. That spoke to me. But not enough to really get into the story the way I had hoped. There's some adventure here, but the watered-down kind of adventure that people sometimes write wherein they don't want to be too exciting or offensive, so they just write really offensive and one-dimensional characters, like Asians and women.
Fine enough, and a quick enough read. Whatever, it won't knock your socks off. Mr. Chips at least gives the occasional warm-fuzzy.
I will say that my Reader's Digest version of this book included illustrations by Robert Andrew Parker, and those were actually pretty neat.
So, okay, here's Shangri-La. We all know the name, but this is where it started. And that's fine. Shangri-La is this utopian society-place in the Himalayan area, where the inhabitants are almost immortal. It's supposed to be this perfect society essentially created out of moderation, which is bogus, right, because moderation is boring and, c'mon, haven't we all agreed that nearly immortal longevity is a real drag?
But Shangri-La has other good stuff, apparently, like toilets and libraries, so it's not all bad. It's just not my thing. I don't want to live forever.
It's a cute story, but just like Goodbye, Mr. Chips was a cute story. By "cute" I mean sort of annoying. Hilton was an average writer who wanted to make his readers feel good, which was important for the 30s, right? All that economic and psychological depression, that lull between two great wars. I mean, sad times all around. So why not write a short novel about a really great place that may be magic or may just be run by some nut?
I will say that I enjoyed the ambiguity of what Shangri-La really was. That spoke to me. But not enough to really get into the story the way I had hoped. There's some adventure here, but the watered-down kind of adventure that people sometimes write wherein they don't want to be too exciting or offensive, so they just write really offensive and one-dimensional characters, like Asians and women.
Fine enough, and a quick enough read. Whatever, it won't knock your socks off. Mr. Chips at least gives the occasional warm-fuzzy.
I will say that my Reader's Digest version of this book included illustrations by Robert Andrew Parker, and those were actually pretty neat.
July 15, 2018
Four passengers hurriedly boarded a small single engine plane to leave Afghanistan. Two Englishmen, one English woman and an American male were escaping the war as it escalated in the 1930’s. The plane though small, was powerful and was specially built to fly at 25000 ft. and above, though unheard of at the time. The pilot acted mysteriously and flew in a different direction than expected. After refueling in a obscure runway in the desert, the plane headed toward Tibet and the high mountains. Flying into a storm, the plane crashed. As the pilot died, the passengers were told to seek out the lamas of the local lamasery.
If you hear the term Shangri-la, what comes to mind? A beautiful spot on a remote island with your every need taken care of? Or, for you Goodreaders, a library with 30,000 books? How about all the time you need to do anything you want with no deadlines or pressure. Shangri-la is where the passengers ended up, though not on a sunny island, but in the Himalayas.
In fact the author of this book, James Hilton, created the fictional phrase Shangri-la for this story. Lost horizon was the first of 2 books published in 1933 and 1934 that lifted Hilton into a successful career in writing. The second book was Goodbye, Mr. Chips. An Englishman himself, he wrote mostly stories about the times between the 2 World Wars. His creative talent paints pictures of the characters and the scenery where they blend together seamlessly. The storyline brings the reader along as part of this wonderful story.
Highly recommended.
If you hear the term Shangri-la, what comes to mind? A beautiful spot on a remote island with your every need taken care of? Or, for you Goodreaders, a library with 30,000 books? How about all the time you need to do anything you want with no deadlines or pressure. Shangri-la is where the passengers ended up, though not on a sunny island, but in the Himalayas.
In fact the author of this book, James Hilton, created the fictional phrase Shangri-la for this story. Lost horizon was the first of 2 books published in 1933 and 1934 that lifted Hilton into a successful career in writing. The second book was Goodbye, Mr. Chips. An Englishman himself, he wrote mostly stories about the times between the 2 World Wars. His creative talent paints pictures of the characters and the scenery where they blend together seamlessly. The storyline brings the reader along as part of this wonderful story.
Highly recommended.
September 27, 2023
Despite the fact Hilton writes with a deep understanding and sensitivity towards the cultures and beliefs of the Asian world I don't think the novel has aged that well. The imperial power and colonial rule of Britain at the time is clearly ever present throughout the narrative, and certain words that wouldn't have been seen as an issue back then could be seen by some now as rascist. There were times I was reminded of Graham Greene, particularly in the case of Conway and, of course, the fact we travel to far off lands. There is a feeling of a J.G Ballard in there too, when I think of some his early adventure/science fiction novels. It's not that great when it comes to depth and detail, with themes of a utopia, happiness, love and desire, that aren't explored at the core, but I can see why some would view it as a classic. I liked it but still came away feeling disappointed. The setting itself of a Tibetan paradise, which is why I wanted to read this, just never came alive in the ways I'd hoped. It lacked a rich and vivid imaginary. I did like the idea of kick starting the novel through Conway's returning memories after suffering from amnesia, in which he recounts his story.
November 11, 2008
I've long been intrigued and appalled at the depravity of elites, wondering at how many persons can cause so much pain and suffering to others in their pursuit of political and economic power. Some of it, of course, can simply be explained as consequent upon the systems they work within. I myself, when a university administrator, played the institution's games, seeking promotion within it. But the influence of an American university on people's lives seemed hardly capable of being malign except perhaps in matters of property acquisition. Our conscious concerns, as regards our publics, were with providing services, raising consciousness and expanding empathic awareness. Still, from a broader view, we were part of a system, whether it be conceived in terms of U.S. imperialism or global capitalism, which certainly does do a great deal of damage. In that sense there was complicity, though we conveniently were able to assuage our guilt, even feel virtuous, by sponsoring Peace Studies programs and Radical Scholars' conferences.
But what about people at the pinnacles, people who literally plan wars, population relocations, massive layoffs? How do they manage? This remains substantially a mystery to me.
Hilton's novel addresses some of the deepest desires of human being in their purity, contrasting this world with an idealized one where such desires are met, putting persons from this imperfect world into that perfect one, showing what might happen.
The crux to the perfection of Shangra-La is that there aging is greatly slowed, slowed so much that its inhabitants tend toward wisdom, have the opportunity to reflect, to gain perspective, to really grow up. The contemplation of such a society, fleshed out in a novel, caused me to consider how the fear of growing old, disabled and unappealing may well be the greatest of human anxieties, that the pursuit of wealth and power may, in fact, resolve into that deeper fear, representing palliatives against the inevitable.
It is surprising that there isn't more literature about utopian longevity.
But what about people at the pinnacles, people who literally plan wars, population relocations, massive layoffs? How do they manage? This remains substantially a mystery to me.
Hilton's novel addresses some of the deepest desires of human being in their purity, contrasting this world with an idealized one where such desires are met, putting persons from this imperfect world into that perfect one, showing what might happen.
The crux to the perfection of Shangra-La is that there aging is greatly slowed, slowed so much that its inhabitants tend toward wisdom, have the opportunity to reflect, to gain perspective, to really grow up. The contemplation of such a society, fleshed out in a novel, caused me to consider how the fear of growing old, disabled and unappealing may well be the greatest of human anxieties, that the pursuit of wealth and power may, in fact, resolve into that deeper fear, representing palliatives against the inevitable.
It is surprising that there isn't more literature about utopian longevity.
June 25, 2016
Not the best book I've read, but certainly one of the more magical ones. It does cast a spell. I was a bit surprised at the WW I element in "Lost Horizon." Hugh Conway, the emotionally damaged hero of the novel, is a part of the Lost Generation. Hilton's turning his Valley of the Blue Moon into a kind of post-War Brigadoon is a brilliant one, especially since he sandwiches events between the known war and the worse one Hilton foresees as coming. I'm sure others in 1933, when the novel was published, saw the clouds gathering, but to turn such popular anxieties into a darkly magical and successful novel is quite an accomplishment.
"Lost Horizon" is not a long novel, and I see little point going over its well known story. It was written by a writer who thought cinematically, in both scene and dialogue. (As I was reading, I could practically hear Ronald Coleman talking at times.) I was surprised to find that movie director Frank Capra would actually expand on the novel's impressive economy by adding characters and complications. So much so that the original movie, before cuts, clocked in at 3 1/2 hours. Something of a mistake, I think, but the movie is as beloved as the novel, so Capra was able to infuse the story with his own very capable and visual magic. Still, after reading "Lost Horizon" I found myself wanting to see a modern director, a gifted one, take us once again to the Valley of the Blue Moon, but this time sticking to Hilton's original map to Shangri-La. The times call for just such a return journey.
"Lost Horizon" is not a long novel, and I see little point going over its well known story. It was written by a writer who thought cinematically, in both scene and dialogue. (As I was reading, I could practically hear Ronald Coleman talking at times.) I was surprised to find that movie director Frank Capra would actually expand on the novel's impressive economy by adding characters and complications. So much so that the original movie, before cuts, clocked in at 3 1/2 hours. Something of a mistake, I think, but the movie is as beloved as the novel, so Capra was able to infuse the story with his own very capable and visual magic. Still, after reading "Lost Horizon" I found myself wanting to see a modern director, a gifted one, take us once again to the Valley of the Blue Moon, but this time sticking to Hilton's original map to Shangri-La. The times call for just such a return journey.
December 27, 2021
LOST HORIZON - The Legend of Shangri-La: Adventure Classic by James Hilton introduces us to the fictional Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, and particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia – a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. In the novel, Hugh Conway, a veteran member of the British diplomatic service, finds inner peace, love, and a sense of purpose in Shangri-La, whose inhabitants enjoy unheard-of longevity. Among the book's themes is an allusion to the possibility of another cataclysmic world war brewing. It is said to have been inspired at least in part by accounts of travels in Tibetan borderlands, published in National Geographic by the explorer and botanist Joseph Rock. The remote communities he visited, such as Muli, show many similarities to the fictional Shangri-La. I particularly enjoy when a book I read has a corresponding movie based on it as is the case with Lost Horizon. I also couldn't help but compare this fictional account to a somewhat similar true story shared in Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff which I also highly recommend.
September 10, 2021
Again I am reading a novel that I saw the movie long ago that Frank Capra's 1937 Lost Horizon version with Ronald Coleman and Jane Wyatt and also my favorite Edward Everett Horton. Both are wonderful but like always the book has more into Conway's mind than in the movie. There are also romantic and plot differences but the jist of the story is priceless and Capra does a great job. It is also interesting that in Hilton's Random Harvest (Ronald Coleman was in that one too) and Lost Horizon deals with a main character that has had amnesia and head injury due to world war 1. Looking forward to reading him again to see if this happens again in another novel. Also this being written in 1933, pre ww 2, with insights about events in 1920 that predicted the 1930's. There is a lot to ponder about life and the meaning of it all. Worth the read for sure.
Old time radio_ NBC University Theater_ September 10, 1950
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
There is a difference in some aspects compared to the movie, whereas Conway was sought out to come and he fell in love with a girl not like Lo Tsen but his brother in the movie fell in love with her and when they leave she turns old and dies and his brother dies from an avalanche. In the movie he goes back, in my mind he makes it back. His changes after the war leaves others seeing him as touched but I see that it made an effect which his personality put things in perspective. In the movie the woman was not a missionary but was a sick girl cured in Shangri La. Three school boys now men meet for dinner. The narrator (neurologist), Rutherford (the author) & Wyland Tertitus ( the diplomat). They all go to the airfield, where a young pilot named Sanders is introduced with no favor by Wyland. Sanders talks of the help mission where a pilot was knocked out and the plane and all were never to be heard of again, and one of the four passengers was a friend named Conway. When Rutherford was alone with the narrator, he tells how he found Conway in a hospital in China, with amnesia. He takes him home with him but they travel on a ship whereas a famous pianist is aboard and hears an unknown brilliant work, which Conway says was Chopin's but the pianist says impossible. Then Conway says he heard it from a student of Chopin, but how can that be true when Chopin died mid 1800. Then when at one with Rutherford he tells him his memory is back and all which Rutherford writes down later after Conway leaves ship and gives him the slip. Later he finds that he is headed northwest and pays for the cost. The narrator leaves on his train and when he is to return Rutherford's notes he finds out that he is going to Kashmir, which does not surprise the narrator. the passengers that were evaluated together. Miss Roberta Brinklow is a missionary middle age female. Henry Barnard, it seems an American oil man. Captain Charles Mallinson is a twenty year old who seem easily upset. Hugh Conway is our main character who is quite more complicated yet simple which makes him not an easy read. Charles Mallingson was a man in his 20's with limitations, hence sent to Baskul. Conway is 37 and his jobs seem to be not the cream of the crop but more enjoyable than the other kind, so preferable.
Mallingson notices a problem with the plane's course. i
In movie his brother is the young gentleman. The plane continues but it lands to refill gasoline by native men in turbans, and the pilot is not an Englishman but readily has a gun pointed without a verbal response. The passengers can not land due to being hostages at this point. The plane takes off again and the pilot is experienced. They try to remain calm and finally sleep has come, they think Conway will be a hero of sorts, but he feels far from that. Conway awakens to a strange mountainous area below and the other passengers. Conway awakens to see some majestic mountains and it seems they are in Tibet area. Then hours later he wakes up and the plane is doing a free fall and lands with damage. They find the pilot near dead and they bring him in the cabin. Charles is still off balance, the woman is the calmest (in the movie she is dying of cancer) & the American is holding his own with some humor. The pilot is talking in a language which Conway understands but not much said except a pass nearby called Shangri La is where they should go. Charles was not wanting to go thinking that it might be a trap. He is told to starve is more likely than being murdered in a monastery. They plan on trying to trek there but then they see lights away with people coming there way. Mallingson remains pessimistic and Conway more at ease. Mallingson is ready to get away but even though his character is quite histrionic, he is young and not looking to be out of the world as Conway welcomes. Chang is the Chinese that is taken via a chair to escort them to Shangri La. They arrive after a tough trek and are shown to their rooms. It seems that they were expected and the pilot one of them but Chang does not tell Conway more and Millingson wants to leave right away but there are no porters to help until the outside ones deliver the goods ordered which can take months, which leaves him upset. Lo Tsen is the girl who played the harpsichord. They are shown around but are not introduced to the lamas. They are welcomed to the music room and library. Conway goes for a stroll and hears two men talking of burying the dead pilot who they knee and mourned. He had left on orders sometime ago and brought the strangers there. Mallingson is accidentally given Bernard's wallet by Chang. Mallingson sees the clippings for the stock crasher Bryant - who robbed people of millions. He tells Conway, about this but this does not really interest him in just being curious but Mallingson sees just black and white. Bernard tells them it is true he is Bryant but tells them they need each other but after what happens happens. Miss Brinklow thought he was traveling incognito. Conway was thinking of his contentment and how he liked Shangri La, when Chang came to him with good news thinking it was about the porters which made him sad but in reality the high lama wanted to see him. Conway is told of the beginning of Shangri La. Father Perrault story is told how around 1700, he began to live and learn with the valley people. He came from the west as was a monk with others. Another man helped him but died years later and young as the picture before his death. Conway finds the secret that the high lama is Perrault, over 200 years old. High lama tells him about the need to keep the knowledge of the past alive and Shangri La could have a safe haven for this, whereas the outside world with war and troubles could not guarantee. They also need more recruits and the pilot was a valley young man who proposed leaving and coming back with some people after learning to fly. So it was not as with the movie a special lookout to bring Conway there. Conway listens and in the end with some worries is happy to be there. Having lived there awhile leaving would age you and death if not returned in a few days. Lo Tsen came there in 1884, at the age of 18, she is from royal blood and was lost when travelling to marry another royal person. Bernard decides to stay and leave later. Miss Brinklow wants to stay too. During the talk with the high lama about the others, about Barney looking for gold and his talks with Chang is similar to the German soldier years ago who saw the gold and changed his mind to help and stay. Mallingson is told to be Conway's problem because the high lama is to die and tells Conway that he is to inherent this position and he dies. Conway is approached by Mallingson who is in a fever to leave with the porter and Lo Tsen is to come with them. Conway feels he must tell him all he knows and that she can not come. Mallingson tells him that he is insane as they all say that about him in the outside and he should not believe what he does not see . He also says Lo Tsen is indeed a girl and he knows because he made love to her and he does love as he sees she has only eyes for the boy. His world is gone and he goes into hero mode to leave without anything to have but wandering. Rutherford sees the narrator later and they discus the story. He was not able to find Conway and they wonder if he return there. The narrator is uncertain and Rutherford is more convinced. They hear nothing of Mallingson. When Rutherford questions a doctor about who brought Conway there, an old woman the oldest he has ever seen.
Old time radio_ NBC University Theater_ September 10, 1950
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
There is a difference in some aspects compared to the movie, whereas Conway was sought out to come and he fell in love with a girl not like Lo Tsen but his brother in the movie fell in love with her and when they leave she turns old and dies and his brother dies from an avalanche. In the movie he goes back, in my mind he makes it back. His changes after the war leaves others seeing him as touched but I see that it made an effect which his personality put things in perspective. In the movie the woman was not a missionary but was a sick girl cured in Shangri La. Three school boys now men meet for dinner. The narrator (neurologist), Rutherford (the author) & Wyland Tertitus ( the diplomat). They all go to the airfield, where a young pilot named Sanders is introduced with no favor by Wyland. Sanders talks of the help mission where a pilot was knocked out and the plane and all were never to be heard of again, and one of the four passengers was a friend named Conway. When Rutherford was alone with the narrator, he tells how he found Conway in a hospital in China, with amnesia. He takes him home with him but they travel on a ship whereas a famous pianist is aboard and hears an unknown brilliant work, which Conway says was Chopin's but the pianist says impossible. Then Conway says he heard it from a student of Chopin, but how can that be true when Chopin died mid 1800. Then when at one with Rutherford he tells him his memory is back and all which Rutherford writes down later after Conway leaves ship and gives him the slip. Later he finds that he is headed northwest and pays for the cost. The narrator leaves on his train and when he is to return Rutherford's notes he finds out that he is going to Kashmir, which does not surprise the narrator. the passengers that were evaluated together. Miss Roberta Brinklow is a missionary middle age female. Henry Barnard, it seems an American oil man. Captain Charles Mallinson is a twenty year old who seem easily upset. Hugh Conway is our main character who is quite more complicated yet simple which makes him not an easy read. Charles Mallingson was a man in his 20's with limitations, hence sent to Baskul. Conway is 37 and his jobs seem to be not the cream of the crop but more enjoyable than the other kind, so preferable.
Mallingson notices a problem with the plane's course. i
In movie his brother is the young gentleman. The plane continues but it lands to refill gasoline by native men in turbans, and the pilot is not an Englishman but readily has a gun pointed without a verbal response. The passengers can not land due to being hostages at this point. The plane takes off again and the pilot is experienced. They try to remain calm and finally sleep has come, they think Conway will be a hero of sorts, but he feels far from that. Conway awakens to a strange mountainous area below and the other passengers. Conway awakens to see some majestic mountains and it seems they are in Tibet area. Then hours later he wakes up and the plane is doing a free fall and lands with damage. They find the pilot near dead and they bring him in the cabin. Charles is still off balance, the woman is the calmest (in the movie she is dying of cancer) & the American is holding his own with some humor. The pilot is talking in a language which Conway understands but not much said except a pass nearby called Shangri La is where they should go. Charles was not wanting to go thinking that it might be a trap. He is told to starve is more likely than being murdered in a monastery. They plan on trying to trek there but then they see lights away with people coming there way. Mallingson remains pessimistic and Conway more at ease. Mallingson is ready to get away but even though his character is quite histrionic, he is young and not looking to be out of the world as Conway welcomes. Chang is the Chinese that is taken via a chair to escort them to Shangri La. They arrive after a tough trek and are shown to their rooms. It seems that they were expected and the pilot one of them but Chang does not tell Conway more and Millingson wants to leave right away but there are no porters to help until the outside ones deliver the goods ordered which can take months, which leaves him upset. Lo Tsen is the girl who played the harpsichord. They are shown around but are not introduced to the lamas. They are welcomed to the music room and library. Conway goes for a stroll and hears two men talking of burying the dead pilot who they knee and mourned. He had left on orders sometime ago and brought the strangers there. Mallingson is accidentally given Bernard's wallet by Chang. Mallingson sees the clippings for the stock crasher Bryant - who robbed people of millions. He tells Conway, about this but this does not really interest him in just being curious but Mallingson sees just black and white. Bernard tells them it is true he is Bryant but tells them they need each other but after what happens happens. Miss Brinklow thought he was traveling incognito. Conway was thinking of his contentment and how he liked Shangri La, when Chang came to him with good news thinking it was about the porters which made him sad but in reality the high lama wanted to see him. Conway is told of the beginning of Shangri La. Father Perrault story is told how around 1700, he began to live and learn with the valley people. He came from the west as was a monk with others. Another man helped him but died years later and young as the picture before his death. Conway finds the secret that the high lama is Perrault, over 200 years old. High lama tells him about the need to keep the knowledge of the past alive and Shangri La could have a safe haven for this, whereas the outside world with war and troubles could not guarantee. They also need more recruits and the pilot was a valley young man who proposed leaving and coming back with some people after learning to fly. So it was not as with the movie a special lookout to bring Conway there. Conway listens and in the end with some worries is happy to be there. Having lived there awhile leaving would age you and death if not returned in a few days. Lo Tsen came there in 1884, at the age of 18, she is from royal blood and was lost when travelling to marry another royal person. Bernard decides to stay and leave later. Miss Brinklow wants to stay too. During the talk with the high lama about the others, about Barney looking for gold and his talks with Chang is similar to the German soldier years ago who saw the gold and changed his mind to help and stay. Mallingson is told to be Conway's problem because the high lama is to die and tells Conway that he is to inherent this position and he dies. Conway is approached by Mallingson who is in a fever to leave with the porter and Lo Tsen is to come with them. Conway feels he must tell him all he knows and that she can not come. Mallingson tells him that he is insane as they all say that about him in the outside and he should not believe what he does not see . He also says Lo Tsen is indeed a girl and he knows because he made love to her and he does love as he sees she has only eyes for the boy. His world is gone and he goes into hero mode to leave without anything to have but wandering. Rutherford sees the narrator later and they discus the story. He was not able to find Conway and they wonder if he return there. The narrator is uncertain and Rutherford is more convinced. They hear nothing of Mallingson. When Rutherford questions a doctor about who brought Conway there, an old woman the oldest he has ever seen.
March 22, 2009
The plane that launched a thousand derivatives...
Before there was the ABC juggernaut that is LOST, there was James Hilton's afternoon read Lost Horizon. This fantastical tale, billed as the first paperback, introduced four characters, and a world audience, to Shangri-La, a time capsule of knowledge and wisdom hidden in the crevasses of the Himalayas.
The conceit: a plane crashes and the motley crew of survivors (two British officials, and American, and a missionary) are left to fend for themselves. When a traveling party arrives from a neighboring lamasa, the true adventure begins. Hilton weaves themes of "East" versus "West," apocalypse and utopia, and soteriology into his yarn while begging the question: is it the lunacy of humans or the will of God that "creates" our sense of existential crisis...or is it the lunacy of humans and God? Perhaps phrased another way: the line between creative genius and madman is blurred indeed.
The book clips along in eleven short chapters making it an easy read for your morning commute. You'll even find yourself asking "What Would Edward Said Do" in certain passages, but that's part of the fun in reading a book almost a hundred years old...You may even ask yourself (although quietly, if you're in public) to examine how much free will we truly have. Do we have a moral imperative to save society or to save ourselves?
Fans of LOST, Battlestar Galactica (the post-millennial version), and Testament(the graphic novel) will appreciate this mythic grandfather story. They may also be curious to know that Lost Horizon spawned both a book sequel, a movie, and a musical. Hopefully, ABC learned their musical lesson from Cop Rock.
religion, science fiction
Orientalism
Before there was the ABC juggernaut that is LOST, there was James Hilton's afternoon read Lost Horizon. This fantastical tale, billed as the first paperback, introduced four characters, and a world audience, to Shangri-La, a time capsule of knowledge and wisdom hidden in the crevasses of the Himalayas.
The conceit: a plane crashes and the motley crew of survivors (two British officials, and American, and a missionary) are left to fend for themselves. When a traveling party arrives from a neighboring lamasa, the true adventure begins. Hilton weaves themes of "East" versus "West," apocalypse and utopia, and soteriology into his yarn while begging the question: is it the lunacy of humans or the will of God that "creates" our sense of existential crisis...or is it the lunacy of humans and God? Perhaps phrased another way: the line between creative genius and madman is blurred indeed.
The book clips along in eleven short chapters making it an easy read for your morning commute. You'll even find yourself asking "What Would Edward Said Do" in certain passages, but that's part of the fun in reading a book almost a hundred years old...You may even ask yourself (although quietly, if you're in public) to examine how much free will we truly have. Do we have a moral imperative to save society or to save ourselves?
Fans of LOST, Battlestar Galactica (the post-millennial version), and Testament(the graphic novel) will appreciate this mythic grandfather story. They may also be curious to know that Lost Horizon spawned both a book sequel, a movie, and a musical. Hopefully, ABC learned their musical lesson from Cop Rock.
religion, science fiction
Orientalism
March 28, 2020
This was a reread for book club, but I enjoyed it as much as I did (1990) 26 years ago!
It's not too long. It's kind of mysterious. It was first published in 1933 which I think is an interesting era. It's about 4 people who get kidnapped and accidentally end up in Shangri-La. Or do they? I enjoyed it :)
Also, the same author wrote Goodbye, Mr. Chips, it's a good one too!
It's not too long. It's kind of mysterious. It was first published in 1933 which I think is an interesting era. It's about 4 people who get kidnapped and accidentally end up in Shangri-La. Or do they? I enjoyed it :)
Also, the same author wrote Goodbye, Mr. Chips, it's a good one too!
November 8, 2016
Hilton's beautiful tale is hard to classify. It reminds me, in a way, of "The Twenty-One Balloons," by William Pène du Bois, and in another, curious way, of C.S. Lewis's "Till We Have Faces." I do know that I want to go back to Shangri-La.
October 12, 2024
Today I am completing a 4th reading of one of my favorite novels, Lost Horizon. Lost Horizon definitely rates 5 stars for me based simply on its premise perfectly executed: the idea of searching for utopia on earth and one man's finding it - then subsequently losing it. Whether or not it equates with Christianity or not is a non-starter for me, and irrelevant to the book and the author's purposes. James Hilton superficially explores the philosophies of the Far East, Buddhism in particular.
Lost Horizon is fascinating to me on many levels: philosophical, religious and political. And I love the fact the novel's ending is ambiguous; I can't tell you how many times I have created different paths for the future of Shangri La and the fate of Conway, who once beheld the Blue Moon.
"He was gazing upwards to the gleaming pyramid of Karakal. At that moment, in bright moonlight, it seemed as if a hand reached high might just touch it; it was so brittle-clear against the blue immensity beyond. . . 'Karakal means Blue Moon', said the Chinese."
Lost Horizon is fascinating to me on many levels: philosophical, religious and political. And I love the fact the novel's ending is ambiguous; I can't tell you how many times I have created different paths for the future of Shangri La and the fate of Conway, who once beheld the Blue Moon.
"He was gazing upwards to the gleaming pyramid of Karakal. At that moment, in bright moonlight, it seemed as if a hand reached high might just touch it; it was so brittle-clear against the blue immensity beyond. . . 'Karakal means Blue Moon', said the Chinese."
July 30, 2019
Dost Kitabevi'nde dolanırken ismi ilgimi çekmişti Yitik Ufuklar'ın. Kitabı bitirdiğimde iyi ki de almışım diyorum; çünkü merakla okudum. Alırken böyle seveceğimi hiç düşünmemiştim.
Hikâye çeşitli amaçlarla Çin'de bulunan dört kişinin iç savaş nedeniyle ülkeyi terk etmek üzere bir uçağa binmeleriyle başlıyor. Bu yolculardan ikisi Dış İşleri çalışanı olan İngiliz, biri İngiliz kadın misyoner, diğeri ise kim olduğu net olmayan bir Amerikalı. Bu dört kişinin bulunduğu uçak kaçırılıyor ve kimselerin bilmediği bir yere inmek durumunda kalıyor. Aksi gibi kendilerini kaçıran kişi de ölünce ne yapacaklarını bilemiyorlar; fakat tam bu sıralarda ilginç bir kafileyle karşılaşıyorlar. Bu kafile onlara dönmeleri için uygun ortam sağlanıncaya kadar manastırlarında, Şangri-La'da, misafir etmeyi öneriyor. Onlar da mecburen bu öneriyi kabul ediyorlar; fakat en sonunda manastıra ulaştıklarında hiç beklemedikleri rahat, konforlu, huzurlu bir ortamla karşı karşıya kalıyorlar.
"...geleneklere esir olmamak bizim geleneğimizdir. Hiçbir katı duruşumuz, hiçbir değişmez kuralımız yoktur. Uygun gördüğümüzü yaparız. Biraz geçmişi örnek alsak da en çok bugünkü aklımıza ve yarınla ilgili uzgörümüze güveniriz" (s. 177).
Şangri-La, aslında bir "ütopya" diyebiliriz. Temel felsefeleri ılımlılık. Bu manastır hiçbir konuda aşırıya kaçmadan yaşayan kişilerle dolu. Hiçbir şey yasak değil; ama her şey tam anlamıyla serbest de değil. Tam bir denge söz konusu. Herkes birbirine karşı son derece saygılı. Ayrıca burada kimse istemediği bir şeyi yapmıyor. Diğer toplumlardan farklı olarak Şangri-La'dakiler para kazanmak için çalışmaktan ziyade kendileri diğer yönlerden geliştiriyorlar. Bol bol okuyorlar, müzikle, resimle ilgileniyorlar, bir sürü yabancı dil öğreniyorlar, kitap yazıyorlar... Aslında okurken "Neredeymiş bu Şangri-La; keşke gerçek olsa da oraya gidebilsek" diyorsunuz ister istemez. Yine de arada sırada "bu beni gerçekten mutlu eder miydi, yapabilir miydim, sıkılmaz mıydım" diye sormadan da yapamıyorsunuz.
Ben gerçekten ummadığım bir keyifle okudum. Filmi de varmış sanırım, onu da en kısa zamanda izlemek istiyorum.
Hikâye çeşitli amaçlarla Çin'de bulunan dört kişinin iç savaş nedeniyle ülkeyi terk etmek üzere bir uçağa binmeleriyle başlıyor. Bu yolculardan ikisi Dış İşleri çalışanı olan İngiliz, biri İngiliz kadın misyoner, diğeri ise kim olduğu net olmayan bir Amerikalı. Bu dört kişinin bulunduğu uçak kaçırılıyor ve kimselerin bilmediği bir yere inmek durumunda kalıyor. Aksi gibi kendilerini kaçıran kişi de ölünce ne yapacaklarını bilemiyorlar; fakat tam bu sıralarda ilginç bir kafileyle karşılaşıyorlar. Bu kafile onlara dönmeleri için uygun ortam sağlanıncaya kadar manastırlarında, Şangri-La'da, misafir etmeyi öneriyor. Onlar da mecburen bu öneriyi kabul ediyorlar; fakat en sonunda manastıra ulaştıklarında hiç beklemedikleri rahat, konforlu, huzurlu bir ortamla karşı karşıya kalıyorlar.
"...geleneklere esir olmamak bizim geleneğimizdir. Hiçbir katı duruşumuz, hiçbir değişmez kuralımız yoktur. Uygun gördüğümüzü yaparız. Biraz geçmişi örnek alsak da en çok bugünkü aklımıza ve yarınla ilgili uzgörümüze güveniriz" (s. 177).
Şangri-La, aslında bir "ütopya" diyebiliriz. Temel felsefeleri ılımlılık. Bu manastır hiçbir konuda aşırıya kaçmadan yaşayan kişilerle dolu. Hiçbir şey yasak değil; ama her şey tam anlamıyla serbest de değil. Tam bir denge söz konusu. Herkes birbirine karşı son derece saygılı. Ayrıca burada kimse istemediği bir şeyi yapmıyor. Diğer toplumlardan farklı olarak Şangri-La'dakiler para kazanmak için çalışmaktan ziyade kendileri diğer yönlerden geliştiriyorlar. Bol bol okuyorlar, müzikle, resimle ilgileniyorlar, bir sürü yabancı dil öğreniyorlar, kitap yazıyorlar... Aslında okurken "Neredeymiş bu Şangri-La; keşke gerçek olsa da oraya gidebilsek" diyorsunuz ister istemez. Yine de arada sırada "bu beni gerçekten mutlu eder miydi, yapabilir miydim, sıkılmaz mıydım" diye sormadan da yapamıyorsunuz.
Ben gerçekten ummadığım bir keyifle okudum. Filmi de varmış sanırım, onu da en kısa zamanda izlemek istiyorum.
March 21, 2022
Like most people, I have heard of ‘Shangri-la’ but didn’t know where the notion had come from. Hilton’s novel came out in 1933 and somehow the mystery took root in readers’ mind, and kept growing from there.
The story itself is structured in the usual bookended fashion, technique often used to give the illusion of verisimilitude. I didn’t mind this; on the contrary. Also, I couldn’t help smiling at how nearly ‘perfect’ the hero is described. Less fun were the sexist and racist elements, often inherent to texts of this time. Most the characters are stereotyped too (Mallison is beyond annoying), and yet. The focus is really on Shangri-la and all it stands for. Instead of an adventure, Hilton gives us a philosophical study. I must admit it did appeal on an intellectual level, especially with its tenets of moderation. The story ends in a way that fosters the mystery but also allows readers to opt for what they would wish for. Pretty smart.
The story itself is structured in the usual bookended fashion, technique often used to give the illusion of verisimilitude. I didn’t mind this; on the contrary. Also, I couldn’t help smiling at how nearly ‘perfect’ the hero is described. Less fun were the sexist and racist elements, often inherent to texts of this time. Most the characters are stereotyped too (Mallison is beyond annoying), and yet. The focus is really on Shangri-la and all it stands for. Instead of an adventure, Hilton gives us a philosophical study. I must admit it did appeal on an intellectual level, especially with its tenets of moderation. The story ends in a way that fosters the mystery but also allows readers to opt for what they would wish for. Pretty smart.
October 25, 2010
A beautiful story set deep with in the Himalayans, sits a mysterious place known only to a few as Shangri-La.
Four people are kidnapped in a plane and land in the unknown regions of Tibet. There they embark on a physical and spiritual journey to a Utopian society of Lamas living deep within the beautiful mountains of the east. Here they are learning about transcending their lives to something wonderous and more meaningful.
Our story opens when our lead character, Conway, is found in a hospital by a friend of his and he has no memory of anything before he came to be there. His friend takes him out and puts him on boat back to England. On this boat a man is playing Chopan on a piano and this seems to stir something deep within Conway. As the pianist is leaving the room, Conway goes to the piano and begins to play a unknown piece of music that is however obviously Chopan's. But how can this be? The pianist is truely confused as to where he learned this piece of music and how can it be Chopan's? Conway's memories come alive that evening and he in turn recites his long, mysterious tale of Shangri-La to his friend. Once they land, Conway is no where to be found. His friend discovers he has booked a boat heading east hoping to find his way back.
The story that Conway tells is a a wonderous tale of a utopian society that not only brings long life, but peace and tranquility as one has never known. To leave your attachments behind and to embrace serenity and calmness is so enticing. To never be confined by the handcuffs of time and be surrounded by such beauty. I think for those of us who are seeking enlightenment, can only dream of a place like Shangri-La. I for one would love to just know a place like this really existed.
I really felt I needed to add to this review. The more I thought about Shangri-La, the more I felt this place was a more of a metaphor than an actual physical "place". I believe the author was trying to convey a message to the world. That reaching true enlightenment for those who seek it, will find their Shangri-La. It's right in front of them. If they learn to let go of their attachments, and find a way to grow from their hurried lives and learn to be peaceful, they will find what they are looking for. I believe in my heart that Shangri-La lives in each of us if we truely want it. However, it will be forever elusive to those who fail to not only understand it, but cannot move forward towards true enlightenment. James Hilton was a truely progressive author and it amazes me that this book was written in 1933!!!
Four people are kidnapped in a plane and land in the unknown regions of Tibet. There they embark on a physical and spiritual journey to a Utopian society of Lamas living deep within the beautiful mountains of the east. Here they are learning about transcending their lives to something wonderous and more meaningful.
Our story opens when our lead character, Conway, is found in a hospital by a friend of his and he has no memory of anything before he came to be there. His friend takes him out and puts him on boat back to England. On this boat a man is playing Chopan on a piano and this seems to stir something deep within Conway. As the pianist is leaving the room, Conway goes to the piano and begins to play a unknown piece of music that is however obviously Chopan's. But how can this be? The pianist is truely confused as to where he learned this piece of music and how can it be Chopan's? Conway's memories come alive that evening and he in turn recites his long, mysterious tale of Shangri-La to his friend. Once they land, Conway is no where to be found. His friend discovers he has booked a boat heading east hoping to find his way back.
The story that Conway tells is a a wonderous tale of a utopian society that not only brings long life, but peace and tranquility as one has never known. To leave your attachments behind and to embrace serenity and calmness is so enticing. To never be confined by the handcuffs of time and be surrounded by such beauty. I think for those of us who are seeking enlightenment, can only dream of a place like Shangri-La. I for one would love to just know a place like this really existed.
I really felt I needed to add to this review. The more I thought about Shangri-La, the more I felt this place was a more of a metaphor than an actual physical "place". I believe the author was trying to convey a message to the world. That reaching true enlightenment for those who seek it, will find their Shangri-La. It's right in front of them. If they learn to let go of their attachments, and find a way to grow from their hurried lives and learn to be peaceful, they will find what they are looking for. I believe in my heart that Shangri-La lives in each of us if we truely want it. However, it will be forever elusive to those who fail to not only understand it, but cannot move forward towards true enlightenment. James Hilton was a truely progressive author and it amazes me that this book was written in 1933!!!
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