What readers think of Across Many Mountains, plus links to write your own review.

I enjoyed this book because it informed me about the plight of the Tibetan people under Chinese domination and about the Buddhist way of living. It is written in a straight forward manner and could be classified as a young adult book. I would like to see it receive plenty of publicity to raise awareness of this situation and provide ways that people could help.

Across Many Mountains is both a memoir and an introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, culture, and Chinese occupation. It tells the captivating story of a family escaping Tibet in fear of approaching Chinese soldiers.

It is truly a learning experience of the lifestyles of Tibetans prior to Chinese occupation. Also, the occupation, which we seldom hear or read about, is an important part of the book's content.

In the straightforward telling the author very capably intertwines Tibet that was and the family's personal story. It is exciting, informative, and a very compelling read.

What this book lacks in writing style it makes up for in real-life story. Ms Brauen recounts the tale of three generations of Tibetan women surviving monumental life events across three continents and four countries. Their individual and collective strengths are brought to bare on their circumstances and result in the three of them now living in the 21st century far from their Tibetan roots.

Beginning with their simple and deeply-religious life in remote Tibet and continuing through their flight to India during the 1959 Chinese invasion, the author recounts somewhat flatly, the story of her grandparents' early experiences as they were forced to leave the land they loved. Ms. Brauen's writing style gains a dynamic quality as she moves through her mother's young life in India and later her romance with Ms. Brauen's now-famous father, Martin Brauen. It is Mr. Brauen's proposal of marriage that leads to their move to Switzerland and eventually to the United States.

This is an important retelling of one Tibetan family that was forced to leave their native land yet remain devoted to the religious and cultural beliefs of their people. Having traveled in the Tibetan Autonomous Region and having met other Tibetan families, I find this book to be very representative of the stories told by many other Tibetans living outside the boundaries of Tibet today.

Editor's Note: Some months after submitting her review, Soosi emailed us with some additional thoughts...

I wanted to comment further on my previous review of Across Many Mountains. I discovered that I had already bought this book last Spring when I was in Hong Kong, but had not read it and had put it aside to read 'later' as I often do. My context for reading it (and rating it) was based on two (and now three) trips to Qinghai Province, China to the eastern Tibetan Plateau region that is settled primarily by rural Tibetans and Hui (Chinese Muslims). Our guide each time has been a wonderful young Tibetan man who has a similar history as the main characters, He made a similar trip from his monastery at the age of 15 to Lhasa, on to Katmandu with a group of 57 'pilgrims' who then traveled the rest of the way to India and Dharmsala, where he was educated in refugee schools in English and computer science. He returned to his family seven years later and now resides part time in the city of Xining and part time in his very primitive village where his family still lives. He is a fascinating, very conflicted young man.

I think I would have been less distracted by the quality of writing in Across Many Mountains if I had been reading about an experience such as theirs for the first time....so I guess it works both ways. In hindsight, I really did enjoy the content of the book. Interestingly, I had my review copy in my suitcase on our trip to Sichuan/Qinghai this November and it disappeared from my suitcase in Chengdu. No one said anything, it was just taken! I was hand-carrying it to our guide who was very eager to read it. I should have kept it closer to my body! I hope it got passed along and not burned.

ACROSS MANY MOUNTAINS: A TIBETAN FAMILY'S EPIC JOURNEY FROM OPPRESSION TO FREEDOM by Yangzom Brauen is made up of descriptions of one Tibetan family’s progression through different cultures, beginning in Tibet before the Chinese invasion and ending in Switzerland until they do a complete circle and return to Tibet many years later after the Chinese allow them back in. Each culture the family moves to is more technologically advanced than the last. This book is about their ability to cope in each new culture and how they view Tibet on their return. At least, that’s what I thought Brauen intended.

Actually, only two members of the family, the mother and daughter, make it all the way. The daughter’s daughter, Brauen, did not make the journey as the title and cover picture imply. She was born and raised in Switzerland but likes to call both Switzerland and Tibet her countries. Although she did go to Tibet with her mother, brother, grandmother, and Swiss father many years later, their return wasn’t permanent.

But the book doesn’t end there. Maybe it ought to. Instead, it continues. Notice, I say the book continues, not the story. That is because my impression was that the continuation was another story, that of Brauen’s protests against oppression of Tibet and her hope that Tibet not be forgotten.

I have a problem with books that have no dialog, with unemotional, impersonal descriptions of people and things. That’s how this book is, especially in its first half. It contains so many details it drags. Details should enhance a story. But here they mostly don’t because the author tries to cover too much.

This is the risk I find in most nonfiction. Although I prefer nonfiction over fiction, most nonfiction fails for me because most authors don’t know how to write it other than to state the facts.

Although the second half of this book is better than the first, it, too, is made up of many impersonal descriptions. I was never made angry, sad, touched, or happy for anyone.

This book has received many favorable reviews on amazon.com and goodreads.com. Maybe you should believe them and not me. Maybe you will be able to manage to keep your mind from wandering. But I think that will be a trick.