The Mountain Is Young

by Han Suyin

Book Overview

Abandoning her passionless marriage to colonial civil servant, John Ford, Ann journeys to Kathmandu in a voyage of self-discovery and spiritual awakening. Against the erotic and mystical backdrop of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0586038167
• ISBN13: 9780586038161
• Release Date: February 1987
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

"The Mountain is Young"--The Young Mountain is Old

I am almost 200 pages into Han Suyin's(pseud) novel (over 500 pages), The Mountain is Young ). So that this review may be flawed by that limitation. Still, so far, it is a great "read", containing as it does a vivid (idealized?) picture of Nepal and its capital Khatmandu some years soon after the Second World War. Tts long list of characters rivals that of Tolstoy's War and Peace--though certainly not in power and depth. However, I feel compelled to offer some exceptions to the general praise of this novel. Anne Ford, the heroine, in company with her husband John, arrives in Khatmandu, she to go to work as a teacher of young children, he to enjoy his retirement from his job as a colonial administrator. Her fellow teachers, allegorically--and demeaningly--represented as Geography and History (subjects they respectively teach) are just as two dimensional as their generic names would imply. Not only are they two-dimensional as characters, but they are portrayed as narrow, tight little spinsters who intersperse their talk with comments of contempt for the pagan "natives," these two being (Christian) missionaries. But it is Isabel, Anne's old school friend from Shanghai days, who takes the prize for being Miss Prig: she sees only dirtiness in the not-so-innocent sensuality (as distinct from sexuality) of the natives. She recoils in proper outrage from the statues of the various gods represented by lingums (huge phaluses which dominate the Nepalese landscape). Here we have pictures, not so much of Ugly Americans, but of Ugly post-colonial Brits. Anne is appaently an unhappy person, unhappy with her new friends and colleagues, unhappy with a husband who is that in name only: he a British (ex-Colonial) Babbit, who assumes himself to be a kind of travel guide, who boasts to tourists that he will someday "write a book" about the place. As a previous reviewer has suggested, Ms Han Suyin seems to have written this novel out of a need for catharsis. This may be too general, or even cruel a comment, since many novels (as well as other literary forms) are born out of catharsis. Yet there is some truth to the allegation. For Anne, like Han, has a withering contempt for all things British and American. Han Suyin is celebrated for that other "Asian" novel A Many Splendored Thing (its tile taken from a line in Francis Thompson's poem "In No Strange Land"). This novel, more autobiography than fiction, was perhaps the most famous since it was made into an academy award wining film under the title Love is a Many Splendored Thing (and the song that came from the movie). In that novel and the film adapted from it, the Eurasian doctor, whose "fictitious" name is identical with the author's, finds herself shocked and depressed by the rise to power of the Chinese Communists in 1949. Jennifer Jones, as Han Suyin, gives a not exactly convincing portayal of her disgust with the communist take-over. From the film (alone) one would suspect that these were Ham Suyin's sent

Worth the Read

0...This novel tells a tale of self-exploration, romance, and finding ones self. It is spiritual, yet objective. Suyin Han does a magnificent job of helping me to know and understand the culture of the nepalese. She seeks out the falsities of faith, and the importance of love.The Mountain is Young tells the story of Ann Ford, a young women who married for security, not love. When she takes a teaching position in the small city of Khatmandu, she discovers herself again, and the importance love has on ones life. Not only love for a significant other, but love of nature, love of yourself, and love for all things living. This novel will give you a whole new understanding of life and is definitely worth the read. If you can get your hands on this novel, I suggest you do so. Here is what it reads on the back of the bookABANDONING HER PASSIONLESS MARRIAGE TO COLONIAL CIVIL SERVANT, JOHN FORD, ANN JOURNEYS TO KHATMANDU, LAND OF GODS, TEMPLES AND SNOW PEAKS IN A VOYAGE OF SLEF-DISCOVERY AND SPIRITUAL AWAKENING.AGAINST THE EROTIC AND DEEPLY MYSTICAL BACKDROP OF KHATMANDU SHE LEARNS THE REALITY OF LOVE, WITH ITS PAIN AND SACRIFICE. HERE SHE MEETS THE MAJESTIC UNNI MENNON, WORSHIPPED BY HIS OWN PEOPLE, RESENTED BY THE EUROPEANS. AND AS THEY STRUGGLE AGAINST THE RIGID MORALITY OF EUROPEAN COLONIAL STANDARDS AND THE MAN-MADE PERVERSION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, THEIR REMARKABLE STORY-AND THE STORY OF KHATMANDU- UNFOLDS.

I brought this book on vacation and couldn't put it down

This was a book of romance and intrigue. I read it in 3 days and enjoyed it thoroughly. It leads us through the life of a woman who discovers life. Who finds a way to live that she had never known before. And in reading about her discovery I made some discoveries of my own! I don't want to tell you more of the plot, but I will tell you it is a good read and worth it!