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Sky Burial (Paperback)

by Xinran (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (7 Jul 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099461935
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099461937
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 16,375 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > Tibet
    #3 in  Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > China
    #11 in  Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > China

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the world of fiction reviewing, extraordinary is an over-used word. Yet there really is no other way to describe Chinese author Xinran's second book, Sky Burial. It is extraordinary in so many ways--the subject matter, the setting, the central character, but mostly its authenticity and the author's continuing search for the woman whose life is told here.

Sky Burial is the true story of a Chinese woman's 30-year search through Tibet for news of her lost, presumed dead, husband. Xinran is working as a radio journalist on a women's programme when a listener calls in to tell her about Shuwen. Xinran travels hundreds of miles across China to interview her and, over two days, Shuwen opens her heart and reveals her tragic, scarcely imaginable life story. Xinran returns to her life and spends the subsequent 10 years trying to find Shuwen again, researching her story and writing this book--a homage to an ordinary woman's extraordinary life-long search for the truth.

The story is a simple one: Shuwen meets her intelligent, idealistic husband-to-be while they are both training to be doctors. After less than 100 days of marriage, Kejun travels to Tibet as a Chinese army doctor and before long, Shuwen is notified that he has died in an "incident". Shuwen decides to join the army herself, travel to Tibet and find out if he really is dead, and if so, how and why he died.

And then, as if travelling to a closed country like Tibet as a young woman in the 1950s is not difficult enough, Shuwen quickly becomes separated from her unit and, close to death herself, is taken in by a family of Tibetan nomads. Her transformation from Chinese doctor to nomadic Buddhist is a long, painful and at many turns, deeply distressing one.

Sky Burial is a slight book--little more than an extended short story--and yet the ground it covers is immense, not just because of the fascinating glimpse it offers into a land and a people still largely unknown in the West. Despite its tragic themes of loss and survival in one of the world's harshest landscapes, it is an uplifting tale of unwavering loyalty and immeasurable inner strength. --Carey Green --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"'An epic of love, loss and wisdom - almost unbearably sad but ultimately uplifting' Mail on Sunday"

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly haunting and unforgettable, 23 Jul 2004
This review is from: Sky Burial (Hardcover)
If 'Sky Burial' was not a true story, I would have dismissed it as magical fable. Indeed, the story itself is amazing. It details a Chinese army doctor's (Shuwen) journey into Tibet in search of her husband, whom the army claims to be dead. Whilst in Tibet, she gets separated from her army unit together with a Tibetan 'princess' whom she saved from getting killed by her fellow Chinese troops. They are taken in by a Nomad family where Shuwen slowly adjusts to the Tibetan way of life. After several years, Shuwen faces another loss as the Tibetan 'princess', who has helped to bridge the cultural gap between her and the Nomad family, is kidnapped. After several more years of experiencing and learning how to survive the harsh Tibetan terrain, she finally sets off to search for her husband. The story unravels with it haunting customs which are incomprehensible until when you reach the end of the book. I stayed up until 3.00am reading this book until the end, partly because I didn't want to get nightmares and partly because it was so moving. You will definitely need a box of tissues. Shuwen's story is amazingly haunting and unforgettable.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, astonishing, and remarkable., 2 Jan 2006
By M. S. Bowden (Xiamen, China) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
'Sky Burial' is an astounding and remarkable tale and follows hot on the heels of Xinran's first book 'The Good Women of China'. It is a story of love, adventure, loss, friendship, and belonging. It is a true emotional roller-coaster which will, I daresay, not fail to have a profound effect upon most readers.

Xinran wrote 'Sky Burial' after a two-day-long conversation with the subject of the story, Shu Wen. Wen left her home town of Suzhou, in the east of China, for Tibet in the mid-1950s in order to discover what had happened to her husband, Kejun, who had been sent there as a doctor in the People's Liberation Army. Wen travels to this vast, distant land as a brave but somewhat naive twenty-six year old Han Chinese woman and returns some three decades later a profoundly different person, having been transformed by time and circumstances into a Tibetan Buddhist nomad.

It is unsurprising, having read this book, that Xinran felt an intense desire to tell the world Shu Wen's story. Indeed, Shu Wen's story has, according to Xinran, been one of the three greatest lessons of her life. It will no doubt inspire many other readers with what one may interpet as its main message: that one should never lose hope.

The book is also interesting on a number of other levels. Firstly, it is a lesson on cultural exchange; what happens when is thrown into a culture completely alien to their own. The first section of the book explores how acts and beliefs which at first appear barbaric to Shu Wen come to make sense with the passage of time and when explained in their proper cultural context. Secondly, the story is interesting for the insight it provides into the life of Tibetan nomads in particular and Tibetan culture in general. Thirdly, the book sheds a different light on life in the People's Republic of China over the last thirty years in comparison with the works of other authors such as Jung Chang and Ma Jian.

'Sky Burial' is a stunning read, both for those with a deep-seated interest in Chinese and Tibetan culture and also for those who are inspired by tales of extraordinary compassion and humanity.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Lost in Tibet, 14 Sep 2004
This review is from: Sky Burial (Hardcover)
This isn't usually the sort of book which would appeal to me. I bought this book primarily because i had read another book on Tibet recently which fascinated me and i wanted to know more. This book is interesting in that it tells the true story of a Chinese woman in Tibet, and gives the reader a real insight into Tibetan life from a Chinese perspective. Shu Wen enters Tibet in the 1950's in order to look for her young husband, an army doctor who she has been told died in an incident. She cannot imagine at this point that she will end up spending 30 years in Tibet searching for him. What i found refreshing is that it's not complicated to read and it steers clear of political arguments, in fact you don't even really need to know much Chinese or Tibetan history to get into the story as it is first and foremost a story about love, loss and the strength of the human spirit told on a very personal level. Shu Wen's story really is remarkable and the author Xinran has done a superb job in condensing her life story into such a short and engaging read, i think i would have struggled to read a thicker book on the subject purely because it has such hard lessons to relate to us and is quite emotionally draining. The ending left me needing to know more about Shu Wen and her return to China, and for this reason i hope that Xinran is able to catch up with her again and bring us a final instalment.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to be read slowly and savoured
This is a wonderful book. I enjoyed it so much that I didn't want it to end. Some readers have found it dull, and yes, it is a slow ride, but it takes place over many years and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Anopheles

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, sad, yet uplifiting story!
Wen is searching for her husband Kejun in Tibet after she discovers he has gone missing in action. Her life in Tibet is extraordinary. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Julian

4.0 out of 5 stars Incredible story
This is a really lovely little book. I had to remind myself several times that it was a true story.

Shu Wen leaves China to look for her husband of just 30 days whom... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Boof

4.0 out of 5 stars Sky - Grief
We all experience and live grief differently.

This book (to me off course) was about a woman that knew deep down inside that her husband was really dead... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Isabel Maria A. Alves

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
This book is my most favorite read in 30+ years, it totally encaptures you. It was so moving and emotional i just could,nt stop thinking about the journey it takes you on. Read more
Published 11 months ago by M. Jameson

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic page turner
This book is a wonderful story. You can only imagine what it must have been like for Shu Wen. I so admired her for never ever giving up on her search for the truth. Read more
Published 13 months ago by book worm

5.0 out of 5 stars Epic love and heroic sacrifice
A truly amazing story of an army doctor's self sacrifice to the sky burial with respect of Tibetan religion, like a Buddha feeding himself to a hungry tiger, and the devoting... Read more
Published 13 months ago by X. Zhang

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic
i just finished reading this for the second time (sky burial and good women of china are the only books i've ever had the desire to read more than once) and i love it. Read more
Published 17 months ago by C. S. Richardson

5.0 out of 5 stars Page turner
I read this book in a single session, better than the "Good women of China"

The imagery and explanation of Tibet was perfect (I could see/smell/feel life in the... Read more
Published on 25 Jul 2006 by Paul Weaver

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed
Judging by the rave reviews on this site I was expecting greatness from this book but was given a good story, told badly. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2006

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