[LGZ]≡ [PDF] Gratis Water Touching Stone Inspector Shan Tao Yun Eliot Pattison 9780312982171 Books

Water Touching Stone Inspector Shan Tao Yun Eliot Pattison 9780312982171 Books

Download As PDF : Water Touching Stone Inspector Shan Tao Yun Eliot Pattison 9780312982171 Books

Water Touching Stone Inspector Shan Tao Yun Eliot Pattison 9780312982171 Books

I was pleasantly surprised by this follow-up to Pattison's first Inspector Shan series novel (The Skull Mantra). This is a better story, but one that probably needs (or at least benefits from) the first to give it context. I especially enjoyed that this story was set in the wild border lands north of the Kunlun Mountains at the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert to the NW of Tibet making for an interesting mix of cultures; Han Chinese, Tibetan, Kazakh and Uighur - and even a touch of American thrown in. This is a tale of many layers, past and present that unfolds with many twists and turns and reveals quite a bit of the actual history of the region as well as a depth of human pathos in the fictional characters. After a slow start I couldn't put it down, and as I neared the end I felt I didn't want it to end, and when it did it was genuinely very moving and satisfying.


Tags : Water Touching Stone (Inspector Shan Tao Yun) [Eliot Pattison] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In Water Touching Stone</i>, the sequel to the internationally acclaimed The Skull Mantra</i>, Shan Tao Yun is cloistered in a remote Tibetan sanctuary when he receives shattering news. A teacher revered by the oppressed has been found slain and,Eliot Pattison,Water Touching Stone (Inspector Shan Tao Yun),Minotaur Books,0312982178,Mystery & Detective - International Mystery & Crime,AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,China,Crime & mystery,FICTION Mystery & Detective International Crime & Mystery,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,Fiction Mystery & Detective Police Procedural,Fiction-Mystery & Detective,General Adult,MASS MARKET,Mystery & Detective - General,Mystery & Detective International Mystery & Crime,MysterySuspense,The Silk Road region of China and Tibet

Water Touching Stone Inspector Shan Tao Yun Eliot Pattison 9780312982171 Books Reviews

I have been into the Buddhist way of looking at things for many many years.... I have a friend who suggested this series and have now read three of them...... To live a life of compassion is a reality for many thousands of souls. I am happy to have found this series and look forward to finishing. And living every moment with this inspiration. Om Mani Padme Hum.
North American readers of overseas mysteries, I think, are looking for a fresh view of the world and a description of life and cultures elsewhere, all in the context of a crime that must be resolved. Eliot Pattison's work in this book and others is certainly the most intense of these cultural mysteries, in that not only are the locales much different from the norm, but so, too, are the many cultural crosscurrents that gird the stories. It makes for a fascinating reading experience, but also, for those of us who are not up to speed on Tibetan, Uighur or Kazak cultural and spiritual beliefs, and occasionally difficult experience.

Some critics have wearied of Pattison's continual references to Chinese subjugation of peoples in these territories. And we certainly do get the point--these are areas that have been occupied by China, often, or perhaps usually, brutally. I don't doubt those aspects of these stories, and they serve to frame the attitudes of characters who are trying to maintain their cultural and national identities, as well as those characters that are cloaked in the attitudes of oppressors. Certainly, hearing that can get old, but that reality is very much a part of the mysteries that the main character must solve.

I highly recommend this book and others by Pattison. Just be prepared for the challenge of them.
This the second in a 6-book series set in Tibet and featuring a Han Chinese investigator sent to a hard labor camp for looking too closely into official corruption in Beijing. The story takes up a few months after Shan has been unofficially released (technically he is an escaped criminal) after 3 years, and the hidden lamas who have been sheltering and teaching him send him to an area just north of Tibet where a lama is missing, a teacher murdered, and several orphan boys living among the herding tribes are being hunted down and killed. It took only about 100 pages to figure out why the children are a target (one is a reincarnate lama), but that didn't detract from how interesting the story is, or the suspense over whether the specific child will survive.

As in the first installment, the focus is on the damage done by the Chinese invasion, especially to tribal and religious life tribes and families broken up and forced to give up their herds and nomadic life; temples, monasteries and religious artwork destroyed; and lamas, nuns and other practitioners killed outright or tortured and enslaved in work camps. Those few allowed to continue as monks are licensed by the government, which is dedicated to squelching Tibetan identity or, failing that, to finding a way to use what remains to strengthen China's hold. Honestly, it's sickening, and now every time I see something "Made in China" I'm reminded that, in China, "made by" now includes anything made by Tibetans, whether by slave labor or by invasion survivors forced into this "people's" society. Read this only if you don't mind being outraged.

The author includes a glossary and a narrative bibliography for those who wish to followup on the factual background of the novel. One of the incidental subjects in the book is collectors dedicated to making up whole choruses of crickets which have different songs. The bibliography includes a book on this too, which is neat.
Eliot Pattison is the master of the complex mystery. These are not your parlor murders or noir stories. The current story is set mostly in Xinjiang, the western region of China, noteworthy even today for the issues between the Chinese government and inhabitants, mainly Moslem Uighur peoples. As in his other novels, this story is more about the interactions of different cultures, Han Chinese vs Uighur, Kazakh, Tibetan and White Russian, primarily about the Chinese Communist efforts to eliminate those cultures in order to produce the most “efficient” socialist state, even as they begin their efforts to move toward a “market economy” (book was set in 90s).
The plot line involves former Beijing investigator Shan, who has been sent to a Tibetan prison camp, then freed, and is now requested by Tibetan lamas to solve the murder of a woman teacher and mentor of Tibetan and other students. The strength of the book is in the descriptions of Tibetan culture and religion, Uighur culture and Kazakh culture. This is a “slow mystery” and requires both an interest in these cultures and patience for the plot to unfold. Ultimately, it unsurprisingly involves greed and perfidy of the Chinese rulers.
Both the Shan series and the colonial America mystery series by Pattison are thoughtful efforts that require concentration to appreciate. They are not page-turners or light reading, but, if you are interested in serious approaches to the “clash of cultures” theme, these are well worth the time.
I was pleasantly surprised by this follow-up to Pattison's first Inspector Shan series novel (The Skull Mantra). This is a better story, but one that probably needs (or at least benefits from) the first to give it context. I especially enjoyed that this story was set in the wild border lands north of the Kunlun Mountains at the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert to the NW of Tibet making for an interesting mix of cultures; Han Chinese, Tibetan, Kazakh and Uighur - and even a touch of American thrown in. This is a tale of many layers, past and present that unfolds with many twists and turns and reveals quite a bit of the actual history of the region as well as a depth of human pathos in the fictional characters. After a slow start I couldn't put it down, and as I neared the end I felt I didn't want it to end, and when it did it was genuinely very moving and satisfying.