When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East
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Average rating3.8
From the acclaimed author of We Ride Upon Sticks comes a luminous novel that moves across a windswept Mongolia, as estranged twin brothers make a journey of duty, conflict, and renewed understanding. Tasked with finding the reincarnation of a great lama—a spiritual teacher who may have been born anywhere in the vast Mongolian landscape—the young monk Chuluun sets out with his identical twin, Mun, who has rejected the monastic life they once shared. Their relationship will be tested on this journey through their homeland as each possesses the ability to hear the other’s thoughts. Proving once again that she is a writer of immense range and imagination, Quan Barry carries us across a terrain as unforgiving as it is beautiful and culturally varied, from the western Altai mountains to the eerie starkness of the Gobi Desert to the ancient capital of Chinggis Khaan. As their country stretches before them, questions of faith—along with more earthly matters of love and brotherhood—haunt the twins. Are our lives our own, or do we belong to something larger? When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East is a stunningly far-flung examination of our individual struggle to retain our convictions and discover meaning in a fast-changing world, as well as a meditation on accepting what simply is.
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Fabulous book about adventure, Buddhist monks and enlightenment-poetic and beautiful writing. One of the best books I've ever read.
Quan Barry made a splash in 2020 with a much talked about novel that focused on a girls field hockey team in the 80's. Naturally you expect her to follow that up with a Mongolian Buddhist quest story helmed by a 23 year old novice that shares a psychic connection with his rebellious twin brother.
Chuluun is in search of the reincarnated Lama and embarks on a reflective travelogue that includes sheep smuggling, personal hunting eagles, American paleontolgists and sky burials. But it's a spiritual journey as well as Chuluun wrestles with his place in the Buddhist order, especially when his pool hustling, cigarette smoking and decidedly “experienced” brother has forsaken much of the order's tenets.
It's a slow journey but one that was thoroughly savoured.
This is a meditative and unconventional novel. I appreciated the many gems of wisdom, and even took pictures of a few pages. The story was a bit slow at times, but I think that is part of the point. This is one that I could pick up from time to time, read a page or two, and feel a bit calmer and closer to the rest of humanity. It would be nice to discuss with friends to make sure that I didn't miss things, as that seems quite plausible.
While I appreciated reading the text, and being able to capture powerful sentences, the narrative may have gone more quickly if I had been listening.
