Undoubtedly made famous by the film of the same name
starring Brad Pitt, Seven Years in Tibet,
as is usually the case, is a better book.
The story is visually stunning on screen, but the hardships and troubles
Heinrich Harrer and his partner experience getting to and surviving in the
Himalayan kingdom are revealed in more affective and detailed fashion on the
page. Having almost a fictional feel due to larger-than-life size of the story,
Harrer’s autobiography of his transition from prisoner in India to adviser to
the Dali Lama makes for amazing reading.
Working as an Austrian mountaineer at the outbreak
of Word War II, Harrer was suddenly “the enemy” in British occupied India as
Germany attacked in Europe. Placed in an
internment camp at the base of the Himalayas, Harrer bided his time and eventually
escaped along with Peter Aufschnaiter.
Their escape did not immediately reap benefits, however. The greatest mountain range in the world
greeting them, the pair’s plight through the Himalayas tested every bit of
integrity and will to survive they possessed, and is a great travelogue by
itself for anyone interested in survival stories of the range. Staggering into the Shangri-la kingdom in the
Tibetan plateau months later, suffering the long-term effects of altitude sickness
as well as bone and nerve issues, they hoped life would get better. Learning of the strange white men who’d found
their way into his land, the Dali Lama, then just a boy, opened communication
with the duo, and was soon absorbing every ounce of knowledge they had of the
outside world. The rest history, it’s
this relationship, and the titular seven years the two spent in Tibet that are
the truly poignant side of the tale.
Transcending the religious and political bounds
which would try to engulf the scenario, Seven
Years in Tibet is fundamentally a human account. Seeking simply to survive and desiring
knowledge of the world outside their mountain realm, Harrer, Aufschnaiter, and
the Dali Lama are easy to relate to, making for the most interesting of
historical reading. The Chinese
breathing down the neck of Lhasa and Germans in the cross-hairs India, not to
mention the ideological differences inherent to the background of the people
involved, the situation exudes tension, a tension that face to face
communication between Harrer and the Dali Lama diffuses with simple human
interest. Each, in fact, becoming a
tutor to the other, the exchange of knowledge is a testament to the virtues of
humanity surpassing the tremors of war and conflict on their respective doorsteps.
Along with the human side of the experience, Harrer
likewise goes into wonderfully descriptive detail regarding the landscape,
customs, and setting of Tibetan life.
Though the book is predominantly set in the capital, Lhasa—a hive of
life in itself, Harrer also details their plight through the mountains in
wonderful clarity. The peaks and
conditions, nomads and soldiers, who help or hurt their cross-country trek come
to life under his watchful eyes and attentive pen. These descriptions alone make the book well
worth reading.
In the end, Seven
Years in Tibet is the vividly recollected story of one man’s escape from
captivity and the friendship with the Dali Lama which resulted. The Himalayas the setting and Tibet the
cultural backdrop, Harrer’s experiences are as exotic as can be for a Westerner
and are related to the reader in affecting terms. Authorial license (i.e. occasionally
manipulating dialogue as needed to create a smoother narrative) perhaps the
only potential drawback, the book is otherwise a powerful indication of the humanity’s
virtues in the face of adversity and war.
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