- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Phoenix; New Ed edition (2 Sep 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 185799082X
- ISBN-13: 978-1857990829
- Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.4 x 19.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
230,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #20 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > Tibet
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The perfect travel book' New Statesman Hitch-hiking, walking, slogging through rivers and across leech-ridden hills, Vikram Seth travelled through Sinkiang and Tibet to Nepal: from Heaven Lake to the Himalayas. By breaking away from the reliable routes of organised travel, he transformed his journey into an unusual and intriguing exploration of one of the world's least known areas. 'Vikram Seth is already the best writer of his generation' Daniel Johnson, The Tmes
About the Author
Vikram Seth was born in 1952. He trained as an economist and has lived for several years each in England, California, China and India. He is the author of A Suitable Boy, which was an international number one bestseller, An Equal Music and several other novels. He has also written five volumes of poetry including Beastly Tales.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First published in 1983, it describes his hitchhiking travels in the summer of 1981. Seth was a student at Nanjing University on leave of absence from Stanford.
The starting point is in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang on an organised tour for foreign students. He is soon frustrated by the limitations imposed by the trip's 'minders' and makes plans of his own. A mixture of guile, doggedness and luck land him a visa that allows him to hitch through Tibet to Lhasa and on through Nepal to Kathmandu.
We get descriptions of the terrain, the towns and small settlements, the physical and beaurocratic impediments to travel; but most fascinating is the picture of a society in a state of flux, built up from the stories of the people he meets.
Quoting Seth '...to learn about another great culture is to enrich one's own life, to understand one's own country better, to feel more at home in the world, and indirectly to add to that reservoir of individual goodwill that may, generations from now, temper the cynical use of national power.' He was bold enough to learn by direct experience: others may do so vicariously by reading this absorbing and illuminating book.
These comments are based on a reading of the 5th impression of the book, 1999, that includes Seth's foreword of 1989.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Vikram Seth's travels through China and Tibet are a superb vehicle for his storytelling abilities. Seth is a cosmopolitan, educated, witty, sensitive writer. He's Indian and well traveled, having lived in the UK and US as well as India and China and travelled to many other countries. I couldn't put this book down.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
beautifully written; and still very interesting nearly 30 years after it was published. I imagine both China and Tibet , and the journey described; would be very different now. A classic
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A long journey
Ostensibly From Heaven Lake is a travel book. The description is both apt and limiting. It is worth musing on the idea that travel may be merely a way of collecting a pool of... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Philip Spires
an interesting read
From Heaven Lake is Vikram Seth's first non-fiction book. First published in 1987, it tells the story of his travels through China, Sinkiang and Tibet in the summer of 1981. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Cloggie Downunder
Traveller's Tale
This journey from Eastern China to India has some wonderful descriptive scenes of the outstandingly beautiful country and its mountainous terrain. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Daws
Excellent reading
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. There is a lot to learn in it for anyone who wants to become a traveller. Read more
Published on 1 July 2008 by Jaione Noguera
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