3.5 Stars
This novel is set in 1869 on both sides of the India-Tibet border. At this time Tibet was closed to Europeans, this policy of isolation intended to preserve Tibet's culture, Buddhist traditions, and political independence.
The novel follows two European explorers venturing into the Forbidden Kingdom from India. Fifty-year-old Katherine, the illegitimate child of an English father and Indian mother, can pass as Indian. She hires Mani, a young man, to pretend to be her son as he guides her into Tibet. She intends to be the first European woman to reach Lhasa and thereby perhaps secure a place with the Royal Geographical Society. The other explorer is an Englishman called Captain who, disguised as a monk, undertakes a surveying expedition. He hires Balram, an Indian teacher who has periodically worked as a surveyor for the British, to lead him into Tibet where he wants to chart the course of a major river. Balram, however, has his own agenda: he is intent on rescuing his friend Gyan who went missing on a previous expedition and is rumoured to be imprisoned in a Tibetan monastery. Both parties encounter various obstacles on their treks: storms, bandits, soldiers, illness, injuries, and wild animals.
I kept expecting the two expeditions to meet, but there is virtually no interaction. I’m not certain what the point is of two parallel stories that barely intersect. Midway through the book, Katherine sees the captain but “she hurried away, afraid he would look in her direction and see her for who she was as clearly as she saw him.” This avoidance creates some suspense, but a subsequent meeting is certainly anti-climatic. In fact, the conclusion of the entire book is unsatisfying.
Katherine and Balram, the two characters whose perspectives are the focus of the book, are well developed with interesting backstories. Katherine has always felt like an outsider and this may account for her restlessness. Haunted by her sister’s death, she is seeking redemption and hopes to find it in Lhasa. Balram’s thoughts reveal that he feels responsible for Gyan’s fate, that he is an inept guide and an unsatisfactory father, especially to his son, and that he has unresolved feelings for his friend. Though both he and Katherine have positive qualities, I didn’t particularly like either of them. Katherine’s treatment of Mani, her prejudices, and her falsehoods in her journal don’t make her admirable. Balram pretends to follow the Captain’s orders but is not above theft and manipulation.
There are many minor characters. Balram is in charge of a team of men who are individually identified, but there are so many of them, it is difficult to remember who is who. Each remains a flat character. Then there’s Chetak, a mysterious figure who appears, almost like an apparition, whenever his help is needed. He interacts with both sets of travellers, but his motives are obscure. His behaviour towards Katherine, because of his dislike of the English, is particularly strange.
I was not enamoured with the writing style. There are poetic descriptions of the landscape: “Walking alone under clouds silvered by the sun, past fields yellow with rapeseed and pewter mountains striated with snow, he felt his heart beat to the rhythms of the world: the lapping of the waves of a river, the wind whistling down hills, even the snorts of a yak or the rustle of grass as a startled hare leaped toward its hiding place.” Unfortunately I found that the many descriptions really slow down the pace of the novel. Then there is the piling on of sentences like “The captain invited . . . Chetak and the young guide seemed . . . Samarth went to sleep. Balram looked up at the sky.” When I read I visualize the action, but I had difficulty doing that because the action sequences are described vaguely.
Of course there are elements I enjoyed. I liked how Balram often imagines what his wife or Gyan would say in reaction to something. I appreciated how the discrepancies between Katherine’s journal and reality reveal her character. Colonial attitudes, characterized by a sense of cultural and racial superiority, are clearly emphasized in a way that cannot but affect the reader. I also enjoy learning about Tibetan culture and religious practices.
I loved the author’s debut novel, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2020/02/review-of-djinn-patrol-on-purple-line.html), but was not as impressed with this one.
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
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