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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 10, 2016
Very gratifying that my Grandmother's book is still being read!
August 13, 2016
It is absolutely tragic that I am the only one who has read this book on goodreads!
It was recommended to me by Lhasang Tsering, fellow poet and owner of the BookWorm in McLeod Ganj, India. He recommends it to people because it paints a portrait of Tibet in the early 1900's, pre-Chinese invasion.
Rinchen Lhamo is also a very funny woman and makes a good number of quips attacking her second-culture on such things as ballroom dancing.
I got into a heated debate with someone on another forum regarding the amount of bias this book. It is written from Rinchen-la's perspective, a woman from Kham who married a Westerner. It was written between the two of them, as Rinchen-la explains: "There was, for instance, the language difficulity. I know very little English, and my husband still less Tibetan. We usually talk to each other in Chinese, in which language we are both fluent. And that was the medium through which this book passed. What I wanted to say I had first to think out in Tibetan, for I do not know Chinese well enough to think in it; then I had to translate in my own mind from Tibetan to Chinese; and my husband had to translate in his mind what I said from Chinese to English-- then he wrote it down."
I would argue that would affect the bias of the book slightly, not to mention that Rinchen-la would not be writing negatively about her homeland, since her book was an unprecedented account of Tibetan life from a Tibetan, rather than a Western explorer. She seems to dismiss polyandry altogether, despite that it was practiced in her home province of Kham and is still practiced today, although sparingly.
To hail this book as the "complete truth" of what Tibet was like would be mistaken, but it is all we've got to work with. Rinchen-la also calls Tibetans to arms, to write about their culture. This is the message that is needed most in today's world, for today's generation of Tibetans, and for the world at large.
It was recommended to me by Lhasang Tsering, fellow poet and owner of the BookWorm in McLeod Ganj, India. He recommends it to people because it paints a portrait of Tibet in the early 1900's, pre-Chinese invasion.
Rinchen Lhamo is also a very funny woman and makes a good number of quips attacking her second-culture on such things as ballroom dancing.
I got into a heated debate with someone on another forum regarding the amount of bias this book. It is written from Rinchen-la's perspective, a woman from Kham who married a Westerner. It was written between the two of them, as Rinchen-la explains: "There was, for instance, the language difficulity. I know very little English, and my husband still less Tibetan. We usually talk to each other in Chinese, in which language we are both fluent. And that was the medium through which this book passed. What I wanted to say I had first to think out in Tibetan, for I do not know Chinese well enough to think in it; then I had to translate in my own mind from Tibetan to Chinese; and my husband had to translate in his mind what I said from Chinese to English-- then he wrote it down."
I would argue that would affect the bias of the book slightly, not to mention that Rinchen-la would not be writing negatively about her homeland, since her book was an unprecedented account of Tibetan life from a Tibetan, rather than a Western explorer. She seems to dismiss polyandry altogether, despite that it was practiced in her home province of Kham and is still practiced today, although sparingly.
To hail this book as the "complete truth" of what Tibet was like would be mistaken, but it is all we've got to work with. Rinchen-la also calls Tibetans to arms, to write about their culture. This is the message that is needed most in today's world, for today's generation of Tibetans, and for the world at large.
December 28, 2021
I was so happy to be able to read these small vignettes of tibetan life. The unmincing critiques of modernity, consumerism, and private property had me rolling & reiterate that Acha was only the first of a lineage of many bhoepas living in the imperial center who would, and generations later still are, creating languages of aliveness from within our lifeworlds.
January 9, 2011
An excellent inciteful and educational book.
Could have been written yesterday.
Her 'voice'is clear if you have ever read any of Louis King's books you would see just how different they are!
I recommend it!
Could have been written yesterday.
Her 'voice'is clear if you have ever read any of Louis King's books you would see just how different they are!
I recommend it!
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November 1, 2025As Tibetans, our culture is something that I would say, distinctive. This book, reveals every single detail of our culture, our religion, our language, our identity. This is a very good read. Please try it out! Read it for free at: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet....
August 21, 2020
Tibetan in every way.
The best intro to Tibetan (lifestyles, views, culture and people).
The best intro to Tibetan (lifestyles, views, culture and people).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews