Book Description
The darker vision and sexual ambiguities of this erotic, ironic tale about a ménage a quatre in a New England university town foreshadow those of
The World According to Garp; but this very trim and precise novel is a marked departure from the author's generally robust, boisterous style. Though Mr. Irving's cool eye spares none of his foursome, he writes with genuine compassion for the sexual tests and illusions they perpetrate on each other; but the sexual intrigue between them demonstrates how even the kind can be ungenerous, and even the well-intentioned, destructive.
Customer Reviews:
Lightweight Literature.......2007-07-12
"The 158-Pound Marriage" is Irving's third novel, but it bears the seal of his trademark conversational prose, his sleek sparsity. The man is a prose pro -- even at this early point in his career -- capable of turning the simplest of descriptions into something fulsomely beautiful, larger than the sum of its parts.
However, just because someone knows how to write, that doesn't mean they know what they're writing about. In this book, Irving tries real hard to make a very little look like a whole lot. This reader wasn't fooled.
The story is about an unnamed college professor (who is also an unsuccessful writer of historical fictions) and his Viennese wife, Utchka. At a faculty get-together, they meet another couple: a Viennese German professor/wrestling coach named Severin, and his spoiled wife, Edith. Without much fanfare, the couples start up a spouse-swapping relationship that, of course, ends badly.
That's it. I'm not kidding.
Irving rounds out his dismal and repetitive plot with various anecdotes, some time-flopping devices, and lots of clever (if not over-wrought) character development. Irving is a maverick at populating his books with legitimate and understandable souls; you can feel their pulses in each slim page. The problem here is that every character is despicable. The narrator is myopic and heartless. Severin is petulant and stubborn. Utch is childish and stupid. And Edith is selfish and melodramatic. The real kicker? None of them change. Not at all.
The story's "twists," if they can be called that, are employed solely to make the reader feel like the tale is in motion, that it both arose from and is headed toward something interesting. That's not the case. These people and their histories (especially Utch's) make for some occasionally intriguing reading, but by the last third of the novel, when the couples are mostly just bickering and whining, you'll find it as intriguing as, well, as watching two couples bicker and whine.
Let's not forget the children. That's right. Both couples have two children which exist in the plot like thumbtacks holding up a map of Swingsville. Not only are the kids barely there, but when they DO show up, their presence is announced sportscaster-style by both Irving and the narrator. My guess is that the next-to-last draft of this novel had no kids at all. Just before publication, I bet Irving decided to try to ratchet the stakes up a notch by tossing in a few tykes, expecting they would give all of the self-indulgent sexuality a tincture of doom. He's trying to slap on some import, make the reader aghast, throw the amoral escapades into the light of carelessness, but such a thing would be unnecessary if the story were well-molded to begin with. As such, the overall effect is cheap and tasteless. (Maybe Irving knew this; the narrator himself frequently mentions how it's too bad he hadn't thought of the children more than he did.)
For a story about love and passion, this book is void of either. Never do the characters seem to have any feelings for anyone other than themselves, and even the occasional "erotic" passage is about as sexy as a shattered shower door or stinking wrestling mat. The book takes place at such a remove (not a surprise, since the narrator, like all the characters, has his sights turned mostly on himself) that there's no connection at all, not between the lovers, nor between the spouses, not even with the reader. There's a lot of nice-sounding prose here, but it tells a dull and dismal half-story, one that's not nearly as profound as it is pathetic.
The weakest of Irving's early works........2006-12-21
If one views the works of John Irving as a whole, this novel stands out like a sore thumb. Published in 1974, it is, without a doubt, a product of its time - when sexual freedom and experimentation were rampant and menage a quatres, such as described in the novel, were not that uncommon. Although encompassing many of the Irving themes: Vienna, wrestling, infidelity, and his character's propensity for emotionally destroying one another, it lacks the magic and playfulness of his other works. Irving's "story within a story" style is gone and is replaced by a style that seems more suitable to a writer of literary digests than to a novelist, with the result that the reader does not get to know the characters as well as in his other novels nor even really care what happens to them.
When Irving is unable to create characters that the reader cares for, his whole work suffers. In fact, it is Irving's characterizations that are the center of his art. One is hard pressed to name any of his main characters that does not strike a sympathetic note with the reader; even the foolish charlatan, Bogus Trumper (The Water-Method Man), has his charming side and at least sugggests that he has learned from this mistakes and is ready to make another go of it. Not so in this novel. All four characters are fairly reprehensible. The un-named narrator, a tenured professor of history whose historical novels are not even recognized as "publications" by his department; his wife, Utch, an Austrian refugee from World War II, who confuses a cow for her mother (you'll have to read the book!); the Viennese wrestling coach and professor of German, Severin Winter, and his svelte wife and aspiring writer, Edith, all come across as caricatures rather than as real characters.
The story of the sexual escapades that seemingly consume their fairly boring lives is told in almost clinical terms and lacks any of the passion that, one would hope, would come from such a shared arrangement. As the narrator relates the story of self-absorption, self-delusion, and sexual dalliance, the reader comes to realize why the narrator's historical novels quickly go out of print and are not recognized by his colleages as serious works - he is a mediocre writer, and for a historian, oblivious to the lessons of history. But in spite of all the shortcomings of the main characters, Irving shines a penlight of hope that perhaps not all is totally lost. The two Austrians, having survived World War II and its aftermath, have their feet on much firmer ground than do the two Americans, and one gets the faintest of impressions that maybe, just maybe, the Winters will get back together and learn something from this experience, and that even the most injured of the quartet, Utch, will perhaps pull things together. As for the narrator, the reader knows with certainty that he will continue to live on the periphery, always attempting those things for which he is marked for failure.
An interesting novel of personal interaction.......2006-07-10
Being brand new to John Irving, I decided to grab the smallest novel he wrote to see what his writing style was like. This novel provides the story of two couples and their wife swapping, intermingled with their past histories.
I found the history and back story somewhat interesting, but not mundane minglings in the midst of war atrocities, art dealings, college wrestling tournaments, and in their suburban family life.
However, the mundane nature of their lives, even though appropriate in terms of sticking with the plot, doesn't tend to a page turner. The terse language and lack of fluidity also makes this book a somewhat chore to read.
While it an interesting look at love and personal relationships, the lack of anything compelling with below average fluidity means that I can't really recommend this book.
Writing, Wrestling, Bears, and Vienna.......2006-06-12
The above being the 4 things Irving is most known for in his books. Thank God there are no bears in this one. What is present are 2 couples who mutually agree to swap lovers to spice up their lives. Only something happens that hurts this little arrangement: husband and wife from marriage #1 fall in love with the wife and husband from marriage #2. Only, the feelings aren't reciprocated. Jealousy, competitiveness, contempt, and bitterness follow. The couples' children are totally ignored except when one of them is almost killed by a faulty shower door.
In situations like this, the story can never have a happy ending.
Sidenote: The "158 Pound" title refers to the different weight classes in wrestling. 158 lbs is the heaviest.
Before Garp..........2006-03-03
This novel is John Irving's Ur-Garp. As in The World According to Garp, two couples decide to openly and regularly change partners. That was a very small part of Garp however - here, it is the subject of the whole book.
The 158-Pound Marriage (the title refers to a wrestling class) is John Irving's third novel - the one right before his break-out with Garp. It has many of his staples: Vienna, a wrestling coach, etc. The difference here is that it is a New England university town instead of a boarding school town.
This is one of Irving's most sexually-explicit novels. The couples hop in and out of bed with each other, and what they do there is pretty well detailed. Considering that this is an early novel, it is very short for Irving's standards. Also, he allows himself to go off on tangents more. The story is told by a first person narrator who is more-or-less free writing - not everything comes in scenes. This makes it occasionally difficult to tell what is happening when.
Yet, Irving's strong voice and skillful characterizations are already fully intact here - as is his sense of the outrageous. Fans will not be disappointed.
Average customer rating:
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John Irving: Three Complete Novels: Setting Free The Bears, The Water-Method Man, The 158-Pound marriage
John Irving
Manufacturer: Wings
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Until I Find You: A Novel
ASIN: 0517146541
Release Date: 1995-05-21 |
catalog copy and individual title synopsis
This collection features the first three novels of this highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling author. Compassionate, satirical, deeply insightful and humorous, these compelling novels have gained him millions of fans.
Setting Free the Bears: Siggy and Hannes were disenchanted students and fellow conspirators. Astride a 700cc royal Enfield motorcycle, they roamed the Austrian countryside. When Gallen, a lovely hitchhiker, joined them, they zeroed in on the Vienna Zoo--and Siggy's dream: setting free the bears!
The Water-Method Man: The acclaimed second novel by the author of the #1 international bestseller, A Prayer for Owen Meany. Fred "Bogus" Trumper is a wayward knight-errant in the battle of the sexes, and the pursuit of happiness. Yet, he stubbornly clings to the notion he'll make something of his life.
The 158 Pound Marriage: Sometimes they looked at each other, aroused half out of their minds by the thought that each had just been making love with another, and it would be enough to make them want to do it--together--all over again. Well, almost enough.
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The 158 Pound Marriage
Manufacturer: Pocket Bks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GQJ6TE |
Product Description
multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.
Product Description
Boxed set of 4 John Irving novels.
Customer Reviews:
A Werewolf & his Lover Search for a Cure before his Savage Nature Destroys them Both.......2005-10-30
THE WOLF OF HASKELL HALL by Colleen Shannon is a paranormal romance about an independent American heiress who goes to Cornwall, England and ends up falling in love with a werewolf.
I rather enjoyed this romance. Though the author tends to overwrite a bit (the dialogue seemed a bit unreal at times), she still created interesting characters in Lil and Ian, lovers who suffer from a gypsy's curse that affects them both. Plus, Ian isn't the only werewolf in the neighborhood. There's an alpha werewolf out there, and Ian isn't sure if it's the alpha or himself who is killing innocent women in his village.
Lil, in the meantime, is dead set on finding a cure for Ian, and she enlists the help of several friends - all interesting secondary characters - in trying save Ian from his more savage instincts. Plus, Lil is a strong, intelligent female character who admits when she makes mistakes and, while she does fear Ian in his werewolf form, she is courageous enough to do whatever she can to protect him, whether man or wolf.
The book is pretty simplistic, but it is an engaging, entertaining read, and both the hero and heroine are sympathetic and interesting. If you like werewolf romances, you are sure to like THE WOLF OF HASKELL HALL.
Please note that Shelley Holmes in this book is also a main character in THE TRELAYNE INHERITANCE, a vampire romance by the same author.
***More werewolf romances include TO CATCH A WOLF by Susan Kinard (set in Colorado in the 1800s), KILLING MOON (modern-day private eye is also a werewolf), NIGHT PLAY by Sherrilyn Kenyon (part of the Dark-Hunters series), and BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE by Annette Curtis Clause (young adults story about a teen werewolf).***
I Liked It........2004-07-26
There is a lot of passion in this book that is wonderful, a feeling of destiny. I would defently reccomend it to everyone.
So Much Promise,but not enough Gothic atmosphere to scare..........2002-11-15
It started out great with the curse of Haskell Hall and the deaths of the heiresses and the weird happenings while American Lil comes to grips with all she's inherited. It was weird and a little creepy, but soon fell short of the promise of pure Gothic darkness and deception when Lil falls for the keeper that everyone fears, Ian Griffith, our werewolf and cursed fellow of the hall.
Soon things aren't so creepy when they fall in love a mere fifty pages in and then we are left with their 'love' to stop the curse of the werewolf and the solving of the murders.
What I found hard to believe was when Lil saw him change right in front of her eyes and she wasn't at all turned off that her lover was a werewolf trying to kill her!
The quirky friends of Lil's were funny and kept the story going when it hit lulls, but all in all I found it a little of a struggle to finish. The action scenes were well done and I wished she had done more with them instead of centering on the curse and the 'bond' between Ian and Lil. Ian was far from creepy and didn't have much sex appeal either.
If you're looking for a good scary, but sexy goth romance, this doesn't hit the mark. But it is a good read for the love story itself. It was well written.
Tracy Talley
A great retelling of the 'red riding' story!!!.......2002-01-29
A super romp. She is the heir to Haskell Hall, a forthright American. The LAST Heiress. Her fate is tangle with Ian Griffith the last of his line as well. Both are bound by a 100 year old curse that says Ian will stalk the night as a wolf and will kill the Heiress of Haskel Hall - just as his ancestors killed all the others - unless Lil can find away to leash the heart of the wolf and set them both free.
Ian is a brooding character that will live on in your mind, long after the book is put down.
An absolute super read!!!
The Wolf of Haskell Hall.......2001-10-29
Wow! I've always avoided anything to do with werewolves because they scared me so as a child but when I picked up this book I couldn't put it down until I was done.
The heroine of the story is an american who goes to England to take over her inheritance, Haskell Hall. She is the last of the Heiresses and has no idea of the link her family has had with the hero's family. The horrible deaths of the previous hieresses makes her curious and she seeks answeres from Ian, our hero, only to find more mysteries and things which should make her run back to america as fast as she can. But its the pain and longing in Ians eyes that draws her to him and to discover his secrets and to help him build a life.
I stayed up all night reading this exciting, sensual book. I'd recommend it to all.
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- Jabba's Posse
- What ever happened to ....?
- Jabba and his band of merry sentients
- My Favorite of the SW Tales Books
- Good Tie In
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Tales from Jabba's Palace (Star Wars.)
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ASIN: 0553568159
Release Date: 1995-12-01 |
Amazon.com
One of the more prolific--and proficient--Star Wars authors, Kevin J. Anderson, edits and contributes to this anthology of ... well, tales from Jabba's palace. Each of the 19 short tales focuses on a different personality, from the rancor keeper to Salacious Crumb, putting faces and facts on the internecine intrigue swirling around everyone's favorite Huttese crime lord. (As it turns out, you can find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than Mos Eisley.) Find out how Bib Fortuna hoped to overthrow Jabba, or hear the philosophical ramblings of a not-so-bright teenage skiff guard. Or, perhaps best, learn how Boba Fett escaped the Sarlacc in the Great Pit of Carkoon. Style, mood, and quality vary by author, but these Tales are mostly funny and mostly well done, including those by Anderson, Star Trek author A.C. Crispin, Nebula-winner George Alec Effinger, and Hugo-winner Timothy Zahn. --Paul Hughes
Customer Reviews:
Jabba's Posse.......2007-10-08
Tales from Jabba's Palace is a collection of 19 stories by a number of different authors with the common ground being the presence of the main characters in Jabba's palace at the time of the rescue of Han Solo from his carbonite slab. As is true with the other Tales collections in the Extended Universe, the concept is sound. Take a particular place at a particular point in time and interweave stories of the characters involved, no matter how insignificant. Previously we have been through Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales of the Bounty Hunters, and we still have a couple more books to go.
The authors developing these tales for Jabba's characters had mixed results. The first tale is "A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keeper's Tale" by Kevin Anderson, and it gets the book off to a good start, particularly for those of us in the Rancors Love to Read program. A good rancor story is hard to beat. The book also finishes well with "Skin Deep: The Fat Dancer's Tale" by A. C. Crispin. The tales in between deal with such characters as Salacious Crumb, Ephant Mon, Ree-Yees, Bib Fortuna, EV-9D9, and Boba Fett. Most of the stories are interesting, and I admire the editing that enables the stories to fit together. It is somewhat like putting together a literary Jabba's palace jigsaw puzzle.
Of course, all of the stories can't be good. For example, as was true in Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, we have another tale about Dannik Jerriko and his addiction to soup - not vegetable or chicken noodle, but the fluid he withdraws from unwilling victims. The story from Mos Eisley was bad. This one ("Out of the Closet: The Assassin's Tale") is worse. It can be skimmed or just skipped entirely. Another bad one is "And Then There Were Some: The Gamorrean Guard's Tale". Apparently, one of the guards is so stupid that he carries two dead bodies around with him for days or weeks until he can decide what to do with them. Entirely preposterous.
Tales from Jabba's Palace is worth reading, but some judicious tale selection can be worthwhile.
What ever happened to ....?.......2007-10-05
Various tales of the minions of Jabba's Palace from Star Wars Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (Full Screen). Good read & ties into the Star Wars saga.
Jabba and his band of merry sentients.......2007-07-18
One of the most memorable scenes from the first Star Wars film is inarguably the Mos Eisley Cantina. It features a vast array of strange alien creatures and several key character moments, including the introduction of Han Solo and Chewbacca. The Empire Strikes Back stayed away from alien background characters as eye-candy, instead keeping a tight focus on our main heroes and villains. For Return of the Jedi, George Lucas introduced a locale absolutely dripping with fascinatingly bizarre critters and new species. This was Jabba's Palace, a dank and dangerous place indeed. Of course, the most memorable character introduced here (besides the RANCOR!!!) was Jabba the Hutt himself, but many of his unsavory crew of toadies, supplicants, and bodyguards left a sufficient visual impact to make fans thirsty for more information.
The format of this novel is quite similar to Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina in that all the stories contained within revolve around the events we are familiar with from the film. In this case, everything from C-3PO and R2-D2 arriving at Jabba's Palace to the fight at the Sarlacc pit is used as source material to build upon for tales for many of Jabba's goons. The stories range from the darkly serious to the excessively comical, and I found the tone of the book to vary a bit much to make for a consistent read. In terms of story, Kevin J. Anderson does a good job of editing the disparate threads in the many stories into a fairly coherent whole.
One of the standout stories of this collection is Anderson's "A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keeper's Tale." This story is a good kickoff and certainly manages to make the rancor's keeper, Malakili (the bane of my childhood toy box), a more interesting figure. From there we are presented with eighteen more tales, plus an epilogue that does some wrap-up on various loose ends left throughout the stories.
A few of the best stories in the collection are Timothy Zahn's "Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade," "Old Friends: Ephant Mon's Tale" by Kenneth C. Flint, and A. C. Crispin's "Skin Deep: The Fat Dancer's Tale." Zahn uses his short story to add to the mythology of Mara Jade, telling us of her first attempt to assassinate Luke Skywalker. Flint's first-person story of Ephant Mon, Jabba's only true friend, is a nice change of pace from the parade of tales dealing with courtiers seeking to double-cross Jabba. Crispin's story of Yarna d'al' Gargan concludes the book and manages to wring some real emotion out of a character who gets about three seconds of screentime in Return of the Jedi. Like Ephant Mon's story, it's good to have a few characters who are not shallowly and stereotypically evil living in Jabba's Palace.
The majority of the other tales are entertaining and decently well-written, but there are a few that did nothing for me: "That's Entertainment: The Tale of Salacious Crumb" by Esther M. Friesner, George Alec Effinger's "The Great God Quay: The Tale of Barada and the Weequays," and "Out of the Closet: The Assassin's Tale" by Jennifer Roberson. The Salacious Crumb story is written in a lightly farcical manner and features a foolhardy academic who dreams of interviewing Jabba the Hutt. This one stretches my credulity too far, even in a novel populated by elements such as mechanical spiders controlled by monks' brains in jars, a Gamorrean guard becoming best friends with two corpses, and the "frog-dog" on the stairs to the throne room being part of an assassination plot. My concern with Effinger's story about the Weequay guards also centers around its almost goofy tone. The Great God Quay is literally a magic eight-ball which answers supplicants' questions with silliness such as "Very doubtful" and "Concentrate and ask again." Roberson's story is a continuation of the annoying Anzati Dannik Jerriko from Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina; like its predecessor, the goal here seems to be able to use the word "soup" as many times as humanly possible.
Overall, this collection is more of a mixed bag than the Mos Eisley book, but still well worth a read for anyone looking for a break from the main film characters or anyone who would like more background information on the wild menagerie of characters that lurk in Jabba's Palace.
My Favorite of the SW Tales Books.......2007-06-12
I like this book - a lot. It's a quick read and I tore through it, interested in every story, which is something I can't say for the other Tales books. The stories of the various characters really interconnect, more so than in other SW anthologies, and that lent a nice continuity to the book. There was even a recurring mystery that popped up in several stories.
I thought the writing was excellent through out and some great authors pop up in the pages. I'm a particular fan of Jennifer Roberson. The only story I was somewhat disappointed in was Timothy Zahn's tale of Mara Jade - and that is mostly because I wish they would have made it longer with more depth.
But otherwise, this book does a great job of fleshing out the stories of the various beings in Jabba's place during the beginning of RotJ - I recommend it to any Star Wars fan.
Good Tie In.......2007-05-20
I like these Tales books. They seem to play off each other rather well, and to expand the main SW tale a bit without going over the top. The stories are exciting and at times insightful. This book deals with the Mos Eisely Cantina scene from Episode5 where the camera pans around the room and you see all the aliens inside the bar. It tells a back story for nearly every being in the shot. My favriotes were the Devron's Tale, The Bartender's Tale (Greedo's demise is nastier than you think) the Hammerhead's Tale, and the Spacer's Tale, which has quite a bit of humor in it- you almost feel sorry for those poor Force-controlled Stormtroopers manning the roadblock. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the origional movies and is interested in exploring the Expanded Universe. I would also suggest watching the Cantina scene from A New Hope again after finishing the book. It will look even better.
Product Description
This omnibus collection of 40 stories provides background and information on many of the characters in the Star Wars universe.
Amazon.com
From 1966 to 1976 the malevolent rage of the Chinese Cultural Revolution struck a devastating blow to all religions in China, destroying countless temples and shrines that had stood for centuries and forcibly returning thousands of monks and nuns to lay life. Bill Porter had been told that the venerable hermetic tradition in China had also succumbed, but he went looking anyway. What he found, Taoist and Buddhist monks and nuns living in huts and caves deep in the mountains of central China, is more than a revelation, it is a glimmer of hope for the future of religion in China.
Customer Reviews:
road to heaven.......2006-03-19
The over all knowledge displayed by the Author Bill Porter
is Exclent,and the knowledge of China.
A glimpse of immortals.......2005-11-21
"You can't be in a hurry. You have to be prepared to devote your whole life to your practice," says Master Hsueh T'ai-li after forty-five years on the slopes and summits of Huashan. "This is what's meant by religion. It's not a matter of spending money. You have to spend your life."
"Road to Heaven, Encounters with Chinese Hermits" by Bill Porter provides a fleeting image of the cloud people, the Chinese hermits who have turned their backs on this world of red dust - and survived.
There is a stark, and sad, contrast between the monks and hermits, and the busy American writer who is rushing about asking homely questions like: "Were you upset when the Red Guards burned your library?" or "Do you get any mail?"
"Taoism is very deep. There's a great del to learn, and you can't do it quickly. The Tao isn't something that can be put into words. You have to practice before you can understand," reiterates Master Hsueh.
And yet I find myself returning to this "Road to Heaven" because it captures a few anecdotes, gems and asides about famous and unknown hermits that makes it worthwhile reading. Searching for a lost quote, I return to the hasty interviews with abbots and nuns standing guard at old temples and crumbling shrines. And I find more layers to their brief stories than first meets the eye.
There is stillness and tranquility in the frugal lives of these Chinese hermits, and a firm and unwavering grip on the essentials of a religion. They represent the last living flicker of the spiritual wisdom originating with Lao-tzu thousands of years ago. And now their world is vanishing into the darkness, like the last sparks from a windswept fire.
From Communism to Tourism.......2005-11-02
This book is a great account of traveling in communist China and searching for the remnant hermit monks in the country's rugged mountains. I've noticed many reviewers apparently expected all sorts of different things from this book - Porter as enlightened writer weilding his pen as a delusion-cutting sword, hermit wisdom never before heard in the west that offers instant nirvana, etc. But the book is just what the title says it is: encounters with Chinese hermits, who, by going deep into the mountains and saving the essentials of their practice are "on the road to heaven."
It is refreshing to know that in China there still are hermit monks and nuns, clarifying their insight away from the world's distractions.
The hermits Bill Porter encounters in China have all survived communism, which is one subject of the book. The hardships the monks and nuns faced under communism is not a suprise, what is a suprise is the monks, nuns and temples now being sold as tourist attractions by the Chinese government. An entirely different threat - capitalism - now rears its exhausting head, and the hermits move deeper into the mountains to save their practice from becoming part of a Human Buddhist Zoo.
I stopped wanting to be a hermit.......2005-07-25
I enjoyed this biographical account of extraordinary journeys made by the author, Bill Porter, and his friend Steven Johnson in 1989. Their quest was into the heart of a range of mountains in China rumored by a few to be home to some modern Chinese Buddhist and Taoist hermits. But these hermits have been thought to be long gone, even by Buddhist and Taoist folk living in the local monasteries. Bill Porter followed his heart and a few good leads and encountered some, including some who were unaware that there had been a Maoist "cultural revolution." He was able to interview a number of these sages of the mountains, and here shares them with us plus his own studies and insights into the traditions of Chinese hermits. More exciting than fiction, here is the real deal. Quiet lives hidden away in stark, sparse, cold places, content with a dirt floor and a small fire for tea, not the romantic images I had encountered in reading the ancient poets. You should know that this is more a travelogue of incredible journeys than a book of inspiring insights into Buddhism or Taoism. Jim Harrison calls this book "a startling reminder of how far we have gone astray" and "a part of any serious Zen or Taoist library." I heartily agree.
Great reading enjoyment!.......2005-01-16
This book reads like an adventure story but it is all true...Bill Porter speaks Mandarin and has many friends in China so he could travel into territories where few Westerners are able to go without a guide. He won the trust of many hermits high up in the mountains of China and tells a wonderful tale of their survival against all odds...Sadly, they are a dying breed and the last of a generation who dedicated themselves to a monastic life of meditation and living without wordly goods. A really good read! Marilynn Seits
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Books Index
Books Home
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