Sky Burial - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099484927 ISBN 13: 9780099484929

Publisher: Random House Uk Ltd, 2005

Synopsis

It was 1994 when Xinran, a journalist and the author of The Good Women of China, received a telephone call asking her to travel four hours to meet an oddly dressed woman who had just crossed the border from Tibet into China. Xinran made the trip and met the woman, called Shu Wen, who recounted the story of her thirty-year odyssey in the vast landscape of Tibet.

Shu Wen and her husband had been married for only a few months in the 1950s when he joined the Chinese army and was sent to Tibet for the purpose of unification of the two countries. Shortly after he left she was notified that he had been killed, although no details were given. Determined to find the truth, Shu Wen joined a militia unit going to the Tibetan north, where she soon was separated from the regiment. Without supplies and knowledge of the language, she wandered, trying to find her way until, on the brink of death, she was rescued by a family of nomads under whose protection she moved from place to place with the seasons and eventually came to discover the details of her husband’s death.

In the haunting Sky Burial, Xinran has recreated Shu Wen’s journey, writing beautifully and simply of the silence and the emptiness in which Shu Wen was enveloped. The book is an extraordinary portrait of a woman and a land, each at the mercy of fate and politics. It is an unforgettable, ultimately uplifting tale of love loss, loyalty, and survival.

About this title

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

Review:

"Xinran tells the story with spare elegance, doing particular justice to the awesome emptiness and silence of Tibet.... The text paints Tibet as outside time and politics, an elemental backdrop for musing on love everlasting and noble suffering."
-"The Globe and Mail
Praise for Xinran's "The Good Women of China:
"Remarkably evocative, bursting with details that make each account haunting. These stories have all the force of good fiction."
--"The Washington Post
"The Good Women of China is delicate, beautiful, low-key and devastating."
--"Toronto Star

"From the Hardcover edition.

" Remarkable. . . . Heartwrenching from beginning to end." - "The New York Times Book Review"
" Shu Wen's remarkable story is simply told. . . . Her actions speak volumes." - "San Francisco Chronicle"
" This story of one extraordinary woman written by another extraordinary woman will stay with you long after closing the book." - "The Sunday Times "(London)
" Lyrical. . . . Illuminates a largely inaccessible country's hardy people, its communal, religious spirit, and its continuing political struggles with its Communist neighbor." - "Entertainment Weekly"
" An unexpected joy. . . . This remarkable novel is an extraordinary tale that is fast-paced and packs quite the emotional punch." - "Tucson Citizen"
" Xinran tells the story with spare elegance, doing particular justice to the awesome emptiness and silence of Tibet... . The text paints Tibet as outside time and politics, an elemental backdrop for musing on love everlasting and noble suffering."
- "The Globe and Mail"
Praise for Xinran's "The Good Women of China":
" Remarkably evocative, bursting with details that make each account haunting. These stories have all the force of good fiction."
-- "The Washington Post"
" The Good Women of China is delicate, beautiful, low-key and devastating."
-- "Toronto Star"

Remarkable. . . . Heartwrenching from beginning to end. The New York Times Book Review Shu Wen s remarkable story is simply told. . . . Her actions speak volumes. San Francisco Chronicle This story of one extraordinary woman written by another extraordinary woman will stay with you long after closing the book. The Sunday Times (London) Lyrical. . . . Illuminates a largely inaccessible country s hardy people, its communal, religious spirit, and its continuing political struggles with its Communist neighbor. Entertainment Weekly An unexpected joy. . . . This remarkable novel is an extraordinary tale that is fast-paced and packs quite the emotional punch. Tucson Citizen Xinran tells the story with spare elegance, doing particular justice to the awesome emptiness and silence of Tibet . The text paints Tibet as outside time and politics, an elemental backdrop for musing on love everlasting and noble suffering. The Globe and MailPraise for Xinran s The Good Women of China Remarkably evocative, bursting with details that make each account haunting. These stories have all the force of good fiction. The Washington Post The Good Women of China is delicate, beautiful, low-key and devastating. Toronto Star"

"Remarkable. . . . Heartwrenching from beginning to end." -The New York Times Book Review"Shu Wen's remarkable story is simply told. . . . Her actions speak volumes." -San Francisco Chronicle"This story of one extraordinary woman written by another extraordinary woman will stay with you long after closing the book." -The Sunday Times (London)"Lyrical. . . . Illuminates a largely inaccessible country's hardy people, its communal, religious spirit, and its continuing political struggles with its Communist neighbor." -Entertainment Weekly"An unexpected joy. . . . This remarkable novel is an extraordinary tale that is fast-paced and packs quite the emotional punch." -Tucson Citizen"Xinran tells the story with spare elegance, doing particular justice to the awesome emptiness and silence of Tibet.... The text paints Tibet as outside time and politics, an elemental backdrop for musing on love everlasting and noble suffering."-The Globe and MailPraise for Xinran's The Good Women of China "Remarkably evocative, bursting with details that make each account haunting. These stories have all the force of good fiction."--The Washington Post"The Good Women of China is delicate, beautiful, low-key and devastating."--Toronto Star

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Uk Ltd
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0099484927
• ISBN 13: 9780099484929
• Binding: Paperback