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Diane , Armchair Tour Guide
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rated it 4 stars
Feb 15, 2019 02:09PM
Start discussion here for The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen.
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Hi, I have written a travel memoir that has a very different feel from The Snow Leopard but covers similar terrain. My humorous family travel memoir The Buddha Sat Right Here takes readers into the Nepali and Indian Himalaya - highlighting time in Ladakh. Thank you for taking a lookhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
I just finished the audiobook! I like that the author narrated it himself. It's a cool story about their travels but I have to be honest, not all that much happens. I work for a wildlife conservation group and specialize in big cats so the best part for me is realizing how much we're learned about the snow leopard since this book was written.
I do like the way the author talked about the people he met. How most of them were hard-working, honest, and friendly. It makes me want to go there myself and meet them.
Jamie wrote: "I just finished the audiobook! I like that the author narrated it himself. It's a cool story about their travels but I have to be honest, not all that much happens. I work for a wildlife conservati..."Jamie, thanks for the video footage! They are such magnificent creatures.
Jamie, the video is beautiful, thank you. I started reading the book, full of enthusiasm. But almost 25% through, not much climbing is happening & there has been no sign at all of a snow leopard!
I just finished Part One, and I am really enjoying the accounts of the people, the travels, nature notes, and metaphysical musings. One thing that really kind of bothers me, though, is that his wife has died very recently and he has left his 8-year-old son behind with friends, to go off on a dangerous journey that he may not return from. It makes his musings on missing his son ring a little hollow. I realize that the journey may be Matthiessen's way of dealing with loss, but the little guy must feel abandoned.
I finished this today. It’s the most disappointing book I’ve read for a long time. As Suki says above, the author left his young son. I had little patience with the author & found much of the book intensely irritating. It was all about his thoughts, his use of drugs, his religious meditation, his bereavement. He seemed to consider most people his inferiors. Perhaps the elusive GS shared my opinion, as in theory they travelled together but seemed to be apart for most of the book.I’m left wondering why he chose the title for the book - I was actually hoping to read something that mentioned snow leopards!
I'm almost 30 pages into Part Two, and I'm already disgusted at the attitude toward, and the treatment of, the porters and Sherpas. One group was left outside in the snow overnight because they didn't have a tent (while the author keeps moaning that his leaks), and had to beg, because they had no food. Of course they didn't have their own supplies, you arrogant twit, because they were carrying YOURS!!! Oh yeah, and they are also very poor. Now most of the group has snow blindness because they had no goggles, and GS snipes that "he is continually astonished by the poor adaptation of Himilayan peoples to their environment". Not nearly as astonished as I am at the unfeeling attitude of these two men towards their help. Since they are not carrying most of their supplies anyway, it wouldn't have hurt them to throw an extra large tent and a dozen goggles into their luggage. Let's not forget that while the author is complaining about blisters and snow up to his crotch, the people carrying the heaviest of the loads are doing it BAREFOOT! I'm going to try to finish the book, but I'm really annoyed at it right now. I shudder to think what's going to happen to the poor old sick man who is their latest "inconvenience".
Suki wrote: "I'm almost 30 pages into Part Two, and I'm already disgusted at the attitude toward, and the treatment of, the porters and Sherpas. One group was left outside in the snow overnight because they did..."I’m pleased to see your comments, Suki. I had wondered if I was being unfair to the author, but you have expressed your feelings very eloquently. Why did he go travelling? He doesn’t like the people or the environment. Despite a supposed interest in wildlife he fails miserably to show any enthusiasm for the creatures he sees. One scene, towards the end, summed up his attitude. He met people somewhere & demanded food - they had only potatoes & a type of butter, which they cooked & shared graciously. He went to his tent & made scathing comments about the people. He noted that the woman ate only the leftovers that her children didn’t finish, but didn’t appreciate that he seemed to have eaten more than anyone else. What a selfish man.
Trisha wrote: "Suki wrote: "I'm almost 30 pages into Part Two, and I'm already disgusted at the attitude toward, and the treatment of, the porters and Sherpas. One group was left outside in the snow overnight bec..."I'm still reading, still shaking my head. I really don't understand their attitudes toward their helpers-- seems to me that even if you're not a decent human being, at the very least it makes sense to make sure that the people who are carrying the supplies without which you would die would be well looked after, instead of half naked and half starved. (Not to mention at one point he mentions that some of the luggage that these poor men are carrying up the side of mountains are books! Any reader who has ever moved house knows that they aren't a light thing to move.) It seems really odd to me that someone who keeps blathering on about his experiences with Buddhism and enlightenment is so cold and oblivious to the needs and suffering of people who wouldn't be out on that trail at that time of year if it wasn't for him.
From your comment above, Trisha, it seems that he is totally oblivious to the fact that the woman was eating her children's leftovers because he had eaten her share. I very seldom leave a book unfinished, so I will struggle on with this one, but the author sure isn't making it easy!
After some thought, I decided to give the book 3 stars, because as much as the author annoyed me in some parts of the book (see thread above), when he was talking about the villages and villagers, mountains, scenery, and animal life, the book was beautiful.The title of the book is certainly misleading-- at one point near the end of the book, he likened the quest for the snow leopard to a metaphor for a spiritual quest. In both cases, a more fitting title would have been "In Search of the Snow Leopard". An even more fitting title would have been "I Walked Very Long Way to Chase Sheep-Goats Around a Mountain-Side and Talk About Buddhism; Then I Went Home Without Ever Seeing a Snow Leopard".
I am glad I read the book because I've had an interest in it for many years; now I can take it off my list of books to read someday. If I had known that it was about pretty much everything except snow leopards, I probably wouldn't have bothered.
I'm glad to read the comments from both of you which will help me to skip this one. I planned on reading it down the road, but I won't waste my time.
Dena wrote: "Hi, I have written a travel memoir that has a very different feel from The Snow Leopard but covers similar terrain. My humorous family travel memoir The Buddha Sat Right Here takes readers into the..."Dena, I'm so excited to read your travel memoir!! We lived in India for a few years and oh the stories of midwives (or the lack thereof). lol
