Louisa Waugh's passionately written account of her time in a remote Mongolian village. Frustrated by the increasingly bland character of the capital city of Ulan Bator, she yearned for the real Mongolia and got the chance when she was summoned by the village head to go to Tsengel far away in the west, near the Kazakh border. Her story transports the reader to the glacial cold and the wonders of the Seven Kings as they steadily emerge from the horizon. Through her we sense their trials as well as their joys, rivalries and even hostilities, many of which the author shared or knew about. Waugh's time in the village was marked by coming to terms with the harshness of climate and also by how she faced up to new feelings towards the treatment of animals, death, solitude and real loneliness, and the constant struggle to censor her reactions as an outsider. Above all, she aims to involve readers with the locals' lives in such a way that we come to know them and care for their fates.
Hearing Birds Fly: A Year in a Mongolian Village
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'With a skill and art quite extraordinary for a first book . the reader is drawn into the world she describes through the warmth of her friendships and the sympathy and generosity with which she treats all aspects of her subject. I put the book down finally with a sense of absolute satisfaction, having spent the last few hours beneath the spell of a writer of real integrity and power' - Chris Stewart 'With a skill and art quite extraordinary for a first book . the reader is drawn into the world she describes through the warmth of her friendships and the sympathy and generosity with which she treats all aspects of her subject. I put the book down finally with a sense of absolute satisfaction, having spent the last few hours beneath the spell of a writer of real integrity and power' - Chris Stewart
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* Wonderfully accessible travel book on an inaccessible country - Outer Mongolia.
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First Sentence
The word tsengel means 'delight'. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The word tsengel means 'delight'. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"Hearing Birds Fly" is the extraordinary travelogue of Louisa Waugh, an English Language teacher who whilst living in Mongolia decides to spend a year at one of the furthest outreaches of the country living the lifestyle of the nomadic herders who inhabit the remote and isolated area.
The book is a rare and insightful look at the lives of the proud peoples of the Tsengel village and also an interesting look at how in some areas of the world the turn of the seasons is still the guiding hand to all activities that go on.
Louisa's style is warm and friendly and she never comes across as an arrogant foreigner scoffing at the primitive ways of the people. Likewise the people themselves come across to the reader as a noble and dignified folk, who do not generally begrudge their hard existence and yet can enjoy lighter moments as well. It was also refreshing to read that although Louisa's point of view was obviously from a female perspective and her closer friends were all women, she doesn't allow her writing to become a feminist crusade. The frankness of her writing is also a great credit to her.
The names of the villages are difficult to follow and more than once I had to refer to the handy guide of characters at the front of the book, and likewise, even though Louisa doesn't bombard the reader with Mongolian phrases there is a simply glossary of common phrases at the start. The one criticism I have is that there simply aren't enough photos of both the area and the people. I'm guessing this was done purposely for the privacy of the inhabitants, but it would have been nice for some more for the nosey reader!
The book was warm, sentimental, (but still factual) and extremely satisfying. I would actively seek out other books by Ms Waugh.
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By Lucy Buykx
Format:Paperback
Louisa's book is a very interesting account of life in a Mongolian village - a lifestyle that is being threatened by politics and modernity. However I found her writing particularly flat and pedestrian in style. To her credit though, she is brutally honest about being a foreigner in a society little touched by westerners. An example is when she admits to her possessiveness of the village when another foreigner is coming to visit for a day. Through her friendships with local women she and the reader are able to see the gulf of cultural divide, particularly for women.
Although I found the writing style a little dull, I would recommend the book on two counts. First is for the information about nomadic lifestyles. Secondly is for the opportunity to reflect on westerners living and attempting to become a part of remote cultures, particularly when the experience is to be commoditised into a book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By HTin
Format:Paperback
Although the sub-title to this book is 'A nomadic year in Mongolia', the author spends most of her time in a small, drab settlement in the predominantly Kazakh region of the country. Despite working as an English language teacher in a school, children hardly feature and we learn nothing of how they view their lives, the wider world as they see it, and their futures.
Even when she spends time in the mountains during the summer, the 'stark and beautiful landscape' mentioned on the book's marketing blurb largely passes unnoticed, as do the horsemen, eagles, yaks and camels that feature in the book's front and back cover photographs. To quote the author 'The only conclusion I did come to was that the nomads work harder in the summer than any other time of the year'.
The author clearly has the physical and emotional toughness to live in a very different and difficult environment, but unfortunately this does not translate into particularly good travel writing.
Even when she spends time in the mountains during the summer, the 'stark and beautiful landscape' mentioned on the book's marketing blurb largely passes unnoticed, as do the horsemen, eagles, yaks and camels that feature in the book's front and back cover photographs. To quote the author 'The only conclusion I did come to was that the nomads work harder in the summer than any other time of the year'.
The author clearly has the physical and emotional toughness to live in a very different and difficult environment, but unfortunately this does not translate into particularly good travel writing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hearing Birds Fly: A Year in a Mongolian Village
Very good, wish I had read it before my trip to Mongolia. A seemingly true insight into the the life of the Mongolian Nomads
Published 17 months ago by crazycowgirl
4.0 out of 5 stars
A refreshing change for travel writing
It makes a nice change to read a book where the traveller/journalist is so non-egotistical. Louisa Waugh did her best to experience life in Mongolia as it was, and not to try and... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Auntie Annie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Anthropology and a good read ...
What a great title! I am very much enjoying this book, it's a vivid and evocative tale of Louisa's nine months in a Mongolian village. Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2005
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Addictive Read
I have always been interested in Outer Mongolia as it's remoteness and geographical position has intrigued me. Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating reading
What a picture Louisa paints. You can feel the intense cold, and the summer warmth when she was able to bathe in the river. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2003 by Lyn Parnell
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