Across Many Mountains: A Tibetan Family's Epic Journey from Oppression to Freedom

by Yangzom Brauen, Katy Derbyshire (Translator)

A powerful, emotional memoir and an extraordinary portrait of three generations of Tibetan women whose lives are forever changed when Chairman Mao’s Red Army crushes Tibetan independence, sending a young mother and her six-year-old daughter on a treacherous journey across the snowy Himalayas toward freedom.

Kunsang thought she would never leave Tibet. One of the country's youngest Buddhist nuns, she grew up in a remote mountain village where, as a teenager, she entered the local nunnery. Though simple, Kunsang's life gave her all she needed: a oneness with nature and a sense of the spiritual in all things. She married a monk, had two children, and lived in peace and prayer. But not for long. There was a saying in Tibet: "When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the earth." The Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950 changed everything. When soldiers arrived at her mountain monastery, destroying everything in their path, Kunsang and her family fled across the Himalayas only to spend years in Indian refugee camps. She lost both her husband and her youngest child on that journey, but the future held an extraordinary turn of events that would forever change her life--the arrival in the refugee camps of a cultured young Swiss man long fascinated with Tibet. Martin Brauen will fall instantly in love with Kunsang's young daughter, Sonam, eventually winning her heart and hand, and taking mother and daughter with him to Switzerland, where Yangzom will be born.

Many stories lie hidden until the right person arrives to tell them. In rescuing the story of her now 90-year-old inspirational grandmother and her mother, Yangzom Brauen has given us a book full of love, courage, and triumph,as well as allowing us a rare and vivid glimpse of life in rural Tibet before the arrival of the Chinese. Most importantly, though, ACROSS MANY MOUNTAINS is a testament to three strong, determined women who are linked by an unbreakable family bond.  

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Asia, Buddhism, History, Book Club

295 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Born to a Swiss father and Tibetan mother, Yangzom Brauen is an actress, director, writer and political activist. She lives in Los Angeles and has appeared in a number of German and American films.

With her latest film "Born in Battle' she received the UNESCO Gandhi medal as well as the UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni award.

She is also very active in the Free Tibet movement, making regular radio broadcasts about Tibet and organizing public demonstrations against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. "

Reviews

[Linda Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absorbing account of what China perpetrated by annexing Tibet, told by the granddaughter of a Buddhist monk and nun who escaped Chinese oppression walking with all they had on their backs, including one of their daughters. Across the Himalayas to India, to Switzerland, New York. Ms. Brauen writes with a fierce heart, reminding the reader that when we ignore colonial imperialism - or practice it - we change the lives of everyone dynastic imperative touches, even in a tiny village at the top of a mountain.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

The multigenerational memoir is an interesting beast. It allows for a great sweep of history, and brings to light stories that would not otherwise have been told. It’s a startling reminder of how much the world has changed, and how fast. Of course, one can’t help but wonder how true it ever is--is anyone completely honest with their offspring about their own young life? can anyone be completely honest in writing about their family?--but that’s a small price to pay for the amazing stories you get.

This book wants to be the Wild Swans of Tibet. It doesn’t have the breadth or the depth of Wild Swans, nor the background research, but it is a much quicker and easier read. It begins with the author’s grandmother’s life in Tibet: far from an easy one, but she fulfills her childhood dream of becoming a nun and is satisfied with it. She winds up marrying a monk and having children, which is unusual, but accepted. After the Chinese invade, the family flees across the Himalayas to India, where they live as refugees for years before the author’s mother marries a foreign student and they all move to Switzerland. The author’s life is the least interesting of the three--by which I mean, it’s interesting by everyday standards (she travels a lot, lives in three countries, gets arrested at a demonstration in Russia), but not so much by memoir standards (basically, she has an upper-middle-class upbringing and becomes an activist).

So, there are some great stories in the book, but the writing itself is bland. An interesting enough read, but one that would have been fascinating with more depth, more development, and better writing. The people don't quite come to life within the pages, and I wanted the author to dig a little deeper into their lives: for instance, there were a few indications that the grandmother's spiritual focus led her to be somewhat neglectful parent, but that's never developed, nor did I get a sense of how the mother's not starting school until age 13 affected her later in life. Of the places where the family lives, Tibet is certainly the most vivid; India and Switzerland fade into the background. For a pro-Tibetan activist the author does an admirable job of not giving in to the urge to idealize or turn her memoir into an op-ed, although there were a few moments when I thought she had that urge. Overall, a worthwhile read if you're interested in Tibet, but not one I'd recommend widely.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The actual story told in this book is amazing. The courage, strength and resolve the women in this story had to not only escape Tibet during the cultural revolution, but also survive their years in India after escaping, is astonishing.

In addition to the story of Kunsang and Sonam, I also enjoyed learning about Tibetan culture and Buddhist customs described in this book. Old Tibet wasn't the loving Utopia I had always thought it to be, I do appreciate that the author gave a very realistic view of Tibet from her grandmother's stories.

The story telling and style of writing in this book left a lot to be desired. There was very little emotion, though the author was telling the story of her immediate family members, the writing was very choppy and at some points confusing, and and times the author came off as haughty. I don't know if these shortfalls are due to the book's translation, but I didn't care much for the actual delivery of the story.

Overall I would recommend this book for an excellent depiction of Tibet's cultural revolution from the Tibetan point of view.

[Dimity · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this memoir from the First Reads program. I was excited to receive a copy because I love memoirs and this particular one piqued my interest. Going in, I knew very little about Tibet other than some scattered impressions gathered from the periodic popularity surges of the “Free Tibet” movement here in the United States. I enjoyed this easy read. Its structure as a multigenerational memoir was interesting and well done. I appreciated that Brauen isn’t an apologist for the unattractive aspects of Tibetan culture as it is probably easy for exiles (especially those a generation removed) to look back with nostalgia’s distorting lens.

Yangzom Brauen has a Tibetan mother and Swiss father and although she’s spent most of her life in the West, her mother and maternal grandmother wee born in Tibet before the Chinese occupation. The three women’s experiences and attitudes fit on different places in the East-West spectrum. Her grandmother, Kunsang, spent her time in Tibet serving as a devout Buddhist nun who rather unconventionally fell in love with a Buddhist monk. Even in the several countries Kunsang has lived in since her flight over the Himalayas, she has retained her devotion to Buddhism and incorporates many of the Tibetan traditions she grew up with into her daily life thousands of miles away. Yangzom’s mother, Sonam was born in Tibet but has spent most of her life in India and Europe. Sonam is not particularly Buddhist, but retains her cultural roots. Yangzom has secular Western attitudes but her Tibetan heritage is a source of great pride and she is active in the Tibetan exile community abroad.

Across Many Mountains covers almost an hundred years of Tibetan history as told through Yangzom’s family’s experiences. This memoir is rich in details about Tibetan life before and after Chinese occupation and the author writes about her great grandmother’s traditional sky burial with the same finesse as she describes the daily drudgery facing her mother and grandmother as Tibetan exiles in India. One of the things I really enjoyed about this book is that Kunsang and her family appear to be typical Tibetans. Many of the memoirs I have read written by exiles from various strife filled countries represent the country’s more privileged classes with the money and wherewithal to leave the country relatively comfortably and safely. Kunsang and her husband hiked over the Himalayans with two young children with very little provisions or a plan for their arrival in India; they didn’t board the last plane out or use student visas to escape their war torn country. Every refugee’s story deserves to be heard, but there is something thrilling and inspiring about Kunsang’s poor families setting out in one of the harshest climates of the world to an uncertain fate.

I think what surprised me most about this book is the revelation that Tibetan culture really sucked in a lot of ways. Before I read this book, my knowledge of Tibetan culture began at the Dali Lama and ended at prayer flags (throw in yaks and snow and you’ve got all my synapses dedicated to Tibet). Both the Dali Lama and prayer flags are bright, joyous, friendly things that beloved by friendly hippies in American college towns, leaving me with the superficial impression that Tibetan life was sunshine and butterflies. To learn that the unifying feature of Tibetan life for the last millennia seems to be the acceptance of unending drudgery capped by a probably early death was a bit of a shocker for me. What was even more shocking was the information that it particularly sucked to be a Tibetan woman. I thought that Buddhism was a fairly egalitarian religion as religions go so I raised my eyebrows when I read about Kunsang’s experiences as a Tibetan woman and Buddhist nun.

Tibet’s harsh living conditions also imbibe its citizens with a quiet sense of self-sufficiency and although they may resign themselves to the life fate has given them, their acceptance that life is hard also gives them great resilience. I recently ventured out with my daughter for a three mile walk on sidewalks in forty degree weather and that felt like quite the trek with a stroller and the two of us warmly bundled up. My high fructose corn syrup fueled ass couldn’t make it several hundred feet hiking through the Tibetan mountains with the supplies Kunsang and her husband carried with children in tow. I find Kunsang’s resignation to her hard life as a Tibetan woman contrasted with her unbelievable resilience fascinating.

Across Many Mountains dragged on in several spots and like many translated works, some passages made me scratch my head a bit. But I can see this family’s saga engaging many readers, both those with a compelling interest in Tibet and memoir lovers like myself. Another good read for people who enjoyed this book is Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World, a memoir written by a member of a different minority group living under modern China’s rule.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Across Many Mountains” is a memoir that covers three generations of women over a period of 80 years. Yangzom Brauen, a Los Angeles actress, model, writer and activist, tells the story of her grandmother, a Buddhist nun who leaves her rural village in the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet in 1959, with her husband and two children and crosses into India and becomes a refugee. As she describes in the book, the Chinese claimed to have liberated the Tibetans from a caste system under clerics and aristocrats; however, the people did not feel subjugated or backward. They accepted their fate.

“People accepted their fate as karma, the result of their actions in past lives. The poor hoped to change their karma in the next life through virtuous deeds, contact with the gods and spirits, and having the right rituals performed at their death. The great ideological structure that shaped the lives of the common population of Tibet was less the scholarly Buddhism of the monks, nuns, and rinpoches than a form of folk religion, a mixture of Buddhism and animistic and shamanistic practices. Just as the Tibetans revered their rinpoches, gurus, buddhas, and bodhisattvas, so they also paid homage to thousands of ever-present local deities and spirits that lived in every rock, every mountain, and in every river or woodland. Anyone who crossed a pass piled a few stones at the higher point in homage to the local mountain god. The Tibetans feared the wandering souls of the dead, worried that their “shadow soul” might be stolen by a dongdre, the lost soul of a dead person. Their world was inhabited by countless beings that were to be avoided or revered, appeased or warded off. This densely populated spirit world explained everything that happened around them (pp. 89-90).

When her grandmother, Kunsang, lived in Tibet, it was like living in medieval times. No planes, no roads, no communication with the outside world—a society completely cut off from the world. It wasn’t a paradise, but it was a life of rituals including chants and prayers, a oneness with nature and a deep spirituality; she was living in peace and prayer in a monastic lifestyle. After living at the hermitage for 13 years, she unexpectedly fell in love with her husband, a Buddhist monk, and they were married and had two daughters. In their sect of Buddhism they were allowed to marry, although they had to have the Lama’s permission and to ask for prayers to overcome bad karma.

Because the Chinese were destroying monasteries and outlawed religion, the family’s life was in danger, and her grandparents felt they had no other option than to exile to India. They knew no one there, but they felt if the Dalai Lama found refuge there, they could also. The perilous journey took about a month and once the author’s mother almost died when she fell into a crevasse and the rest of the group did not notice she was gone. She couldn’t call for help because of the danger, and she miraculously climbed out and caught up with the travelers.


Kunsang loses her husband and one child on the journey, and lives in exile in India under horrible conditions for 12 years with her daughter Sonam, who eventually marries a Swiss academic and their lives change dramatically. In her later life Sonam (the author’s mother) becomes an artist. She has had exhibits in various galleries in New York. And Yangzom is a thoroughly modern Western woman with a grandmother who at 90 years old, lives in Switzerland, and prays and follows Tibetan and Buddhist folk customs and rituals. The story of this family begins in Tibet, and then takes us to India, Switzerland, Berlin, Los Angeles and New York.

Though not a literary masterpiece, a good story is a good story and the author is a natural storyteller. Once I started reading, the story unraveled clearly and simply and it was difficult to pull away from it.

Its appeal to me was the huge chasm between the life her grandmother is living today and the one in which she grew up. From 1920 to 2011, so much of Tibetan culture has disappeared. I became much more aware of the struggle of the Tibetans for independence, the complexities of the Tibet-China relationship and the ideology of Tibetan Buddhism. I had this new awakening of what Tibetan life is really like. Too often we as Westerners only see it through the perspective of the Dalai Lama and the clerical perspective. In fact, there is another culture that includes the very ordinary and simple people who practice folk Buddhism. In an interview the author gave in October 20011, she said “… technology and development doesn’t necessarily have to kill the culture. The two can be reconciled. What is destroying the culture is the Chinese saying we’re not allowed to practice our religion and our spirituality.”

In speaking about the uprising of the monks near Lhasa in 2008, Yangzom said: “I had to acknowledge that the Tibetan freedom fighters were heroes, perfectly aware of the consequences of their actions. Were they acting out of total desperation because they could see no other future? It was the first time since the Tibetan uprising in the late 1980s that the world had seen pictures of the Chinese occupiers’ oppression. …My country has been occupied for more than sixty years, but the world’s politicians have taken no action. They know about the arrests for no reason, the reeducation camps, the violence and the torture, but they close their eyes to it” (p. 275).

Obviously because of our strong economic ties with China, the U.S. will probably remain as silent as ever about Tibet and its people.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

I won a finished, hard cover copy of this book through luxuryreading.com. So I actually feel guilty for disagreeing with their two reviews of ACROSS MANY MOUNTAINS. But there it is.

[Kamila Kunda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yangzom Brauen’s “Across Many Mountains. Three Daughters of Tibet” (poor English title, compared with meaningful German “Eisenvogel”, and unnecessarily referring to Jung Chang’s now classic “Wild Swans. Three Daughters of China”) is a memoir about three generations of women from the author’s family, including herself. Kunsang, the author’s grandmother, a Tibetan nun, fled from Tibet to India in the 1960s with her husband and two small daughters, fearing Chinese persecution. Her husband and younger daughter later died and so Kunsang had to support herself and her daughter Sonam doing a variety of jobs and trying to educate Sonam so that she wouldn’t live in poverty. Sonam would marry a Swiss scholar of Buddhism and the whole family would eventually move to Switzerland, where the book’s author was born.

I admire Brauen’s effort to describe her family’s history and the journey the women experienced. They not only left patriarchal structures of underdeveloped Tibet - which, as Brauen emphasises, was “not a utopian Shangri-La”, but the country with the society build around exploitation of others - but they also worked hard to adapt to ever-changing circumstances and cultures of first India, then Switzerland, then, in the case of Brauen, Berlin and Los Angeles. All three women looked for the purpose and meaning of life in their own way and for all of them the country of their origin and Buddhism meant something different and was practised differently.

I found the story interesting but having knowledge about Tibet, its culture and Tibetan Buddhism I learned nothing new. The writing is rather bland and uninspiring, despite the best intentions of the author. Brauen’s parents and grandmother are idealised by her and as a result do not appear like real people but characters from a morality play. The author is more convincing writing about herself but she is definitely, nor should she be, the centre of the book. All in all, it’s a nice memoir to read if you’re stuck in some hotel with nothing else to read or if you know nothing at all about Tibet and are looking for basic information. In that case it may make you think. But a life-changing masterpiece it is not.

[Sailor Figment · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book may only tell the story of 3 generations of women, but you get the feeling of traversing many centuries. The story begins high in the Tibetan Himalayas in a small village lacking any modern conveniences. Modern, for 1910, that is. But it could have been 1810 or 1710. Life was hard but simple, and the author's grandmother was content. Her contentment and detachment from worldly life is felt in the narrative. Then in 1959 the Chinese took over and imposed Communism on the country. They sought to destroy Buddhism and the Tibetan social hierarchy. The author describes the brutality and humiliation inflicted on her grandparents were a poor monk and nun, not rich gurus. In the end the family makes a daring escape over the highest passes of the Himalayas to join the Dali Lama in India. To me, this was the most interesting part of the book.

Life in India seems harder than life in Tibet. Even though it is the 1960s, the family is crushing rocks manually to make gravel. The story centers more on the author's mother who is now a teenager. The narrative takes on her questioning and unsure nature.

The family eventually travels to Switzerland where 21st century Western life and technology is thrust upon them. Even a plastic glass of orange juice is unknown to them. The narrative shifts to the story of the author growing up with her Swiss dad and Tibetan mother and grandmother. Her modern Western childhood seems more than a generation removed from her mother's. I didn't like this part of the book as much. It didn't seem like there was much of a story to tell and that the author was looking for filler between major events.

This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in Old Tibet, Free Tibet, and the plight of the refugees. It gives the reader a look at centuries of culture and the intimate lives of Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns.

[Jaylia3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This moving personal family history covering three generations of Tibetan women conveys the tragedy of the Chinese occupation of Tibet with more power than news reports or statistics. The details are different, but in a way it is a universal story not just of Tibet, but of every culture that has been purposely suppressed by another. Author Yangzom Brauen chronicles the lives of her grandmother, who has maintained the life of a Tibetan nun in all the years she’s had to live abroad, her mother, who had to make a dangerous escape from Tibet as a young child, and herself, an actress and Tibetan activist. After her mother met and eventually married a Swiss man in India, Brauen was born in Switzerland, giving her a foot in both Tibet and the West and an ideal vantage point for writing this account. While in many ways Brauen has lived the life of a typical Westerner, she grew up celebrating Tibetan holidays, eating Tibetan food and listening to her grandmother’s and mother’s stories of life in Tibet and in exile. Across Many Mountains, which manages to be both heartbreaking and inspiring, begins when Brauen’s grandmother was a young girl in a small, remote Tibetan village and continues through the 2008 Tibetan uprising and 2010 earthquake. I stayed up late reading this fascinating book, completely wrapped up in the lives of all three women.

[Sweetp-1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

A friend loaned me this book. I don't usually read this sort of nonfiction but decided to give it a go because it was about Tibet.

Content wise there were some really interesting observations and recollections about life in Tibet - buddhism, rural life in Tibet in the 1930/40s, the impact of Chinese rule. Also some memorable descriptions about life for Tibetan refugees in India and the perilous journeys they made across the mountains to get there.
The story follows 3 generations of a family who escaped from Tibet to India in the late 1950s - the grandmother (a buddhist nun) pictured on the cover who took her young daughter to India, and then finally the granddaughter who is also the author of the book who was born in Switzerland.

Delivery wise I didn't find this book particularly engaging. There was very little emotional connect and I found it hard to be emotionally invested in any of the stories. It improved a little bit towards the end when the writing switched to first person and the author was telling her own story. I don't know if this is a symptom of a translated work or whether it the writing style, either way I didn't really care for the delivery even though the subject was quite interesting.

[Carolyn Lind · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the earth."-old saying in Tibet

Compared to some memoirs, this story has a strong ring of truth and authenticity. Through the eyes of the author's grandmother, a devout Buddhist nun, the reader gains an inside view of her religion as well as the challenges she faced when the Chinese destroyed much of what she considered sacred. Driven from their homeland by the 1950 Chinese invasion, her world was turned upside down. Carrying one child and leading another, she crossed the Himalayas to find freedom in foreign lands; but her heart was always with her beloved Tibet.

"When my mother has made her way back from the chapel on the hill, and Mola has finished her prayers, the three of us stand outside together to watch the sun set behind the mountains. This landscape of stone and sky looks almost like Tibet. That is why my family loves this place. Mola, Amala, and I fall silent as the last glow of the sun fades in the sky. I am moved almost to tears. I feel as if we are nearing the end of a long journey, a journey I want to share with you."

[Shahrun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't think I was going to get along with this book at first, because I struggled to get into it. I'm so glad I stuck with it because the story contained in this book is really amazing! Once hooked I was fascinated by the little details the author included about ordinary, every day details of life in Tibet (like how her grandma stored butter). I was equally absorbed by all the information about Buddhism in Tibet. It was completely blended into the actions of everybody in their ordinary day to day existence. It's all so different from my life and how I have grown up in England. That is why this book is so important - it is keeping alive Tibet's culture, customs and traditions. Essential reading for the Human race! I just can't believe all this family has survived, and any other Tibetan family could tell an equally moving story too. I hope there is a happy outcome in region. I would really love to visit Tibet one day.

[Rahul · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

After being welcomed in Tibet (Labrang, Sangke, Ganjia) by the warmest/friendliest locals I've ever met while travelling, I wanted to learn more and seek answers to sensitive questions I felt were inappropriate to ask the people we'd met. My gf found what seemed to be the Tibetan equivalent of Wild Swans (Jung Chang) and I was immediately sold.

It's been quite some time since I read Wild Swans but, unfortunately, Across Many Mountains fell slightly short of my expectations. It lacked the depth of Wild Swans and it felt that it wasn't as well researched, with Brauen focusing on the "mémoire" aspect at the expense of providing us an understanding of Tibet and it's history. She's understandably critical of the CCP/China, given the occupation of her country and subjugation of her people, but her expression of such often reads like protest poster slogans which cheapens the her messages: "[Educated Tibetans] knew that monks and nuns were in particular danger, since communist China rejected anything to do with faith, believing only in the god it had created: the roundheaded peasant's son Mao Zedong, a brutal killer who had stopped at nothing to achieve great power and was capable of any savagery". I do, however, appreciate that. Brauen canvasses that Tibet was no Shangri-la prior to the CCP and did have many problems of its own; it was far from a model society.

But, the lives of these 3 women are definitely worth reading about, especially Brauen's grandmother (Kunsang) and mother (Sonam). Their journey from Tibet to India to Switzerland is nothing short of incredible and a testament to their resilience and character. It's a perilous journey that so many Tibetans took to seek freedom, and learning about the treatment of Tibetans in India was heartbreaking - was told by some people while travelling in Tibet that Indians did accept Tibetans warmly but this was definitely not the case, they were treated like refugees are in most places of the world even today - appallingly. The courtship between Martin Brauen (a then student coming from an aristocratic & storied european family) and Sonam (a then refugee working as a waitress at a restaurant) was fun to read about, in contrast with the heavier parts of the book, and I was very glad that it worked out for the two of them. Kunsang and Sonam's cultural shock and adjustment to life in Switzerland was also very interesting and I wished there was more focus on this as well. Unfortunately, the least interesting parts of the book (to me) were those relating to the author herself as a middle-upper class Tibetan-Swiss woman, though it was nice to see Kunsang and Sonam finally had some peace and stability in their lives. Also v cool to see Sonam starting her own bio Tsampa business, and the fact she was so adamant on buying bio/organic, in line with her Tibetan values.

Also, as has become customary, list of some interesting things I learned:
• prior to Chinese occupation, 1/5 of men were monks;
• tibetans pray for 49 days after someone dies to assist their rebirth;
• food poisoning from meet was common in Tibet because Tibetans lived in a manner consistent with minimising suffering to all creatures. They would kill/eat yak instead of smaller animals/fish as it would feed more people (one yak life lost to feed a dozen vs many small animals/fish required to feed same number of people). Applying similar logic, they also did not want to waste any meat, often keeping it for too long and causing food poisoning (and the death of ppl incl Kunsang's mother);
• Chöd ritual to cut through the ego is one of the few Tibetan practices introduced by a woman (Tachig Labdrön) and is practiced today the same as it was almost 1000 yrs ago;
• tibetan hierarchies were god-given, karmic and fixed (e.g. aristocrats, rinpoches, wealthy ppl had favourable rebirths bc of past karma). Tibetans didn't question these and accepted them;
• Nyingma Buddhist sect tolerates (although frowns upon) marriage for monks and nuns (e.g. Kunsang and her husband), unlike other sects, where celibacy is a hard rule;
• anything touched by a lama is considered holy and is a valuable commodity - some ppl used lama urine to moisten tiny balls of clay that they would swallow in times of need or to prevent sickness/harm;
• CCP imprisoned/re-educated Tibetan aristocrats, involved beating, kicking, dragging them through dirt by their hair;
• Some poorer Tibetans were serfs prior to CCP;
• CCP completely uprooted ideological structure/shared beliefs of Tibetans;
• Tibetan refugees were employed by Indian road building programs were many died from exhaustion or poor nutrition;
• Indian government gave Tibetans land in Orissa - impenetrable jungle filled with poisonous snakes/insects and diseases. Many died there.
• Tibetan class differences meant high-class ppl would not take care of low-class friend's children;
• sharing a wife was common in Tibet esp to brothers (why, if one dies the other can care for the family and avoids dividing property between two sons);
• Lhasa ruined with dull Chinese buildings + thousands of bikes;
• CCP razed 6000 Buddhist monasteries during cultural revolution in 1960s;
• a Buddhist monk told the author it's better to pray to remedy people's suffering instead of donate money/food as the latter only benefits the sufferer's body not their mind;
• 2008 Tibetan uprising two months before the Olympics.

[Zoi Gkatziona · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shouldn't be viewed from a literary standpoint. Rather, it is the interesting life story of three generations of women from a Tibetan family through which the reader can have a glimpse of the history of Tibet, its traditions and culture. But mostly one can be informed about the sufferings of its people because of the imposition of Chinese rule on them and their struggles against it. A really amazing and moving book!

[Virve Fredman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mielenkiintoinen kirja Tiibetistä, sen kulttuurista sekä siitä, mitä tiibetiläiset ovat joutuneet kokemaan kiinalaisten alistamina. Kirja oli kirjoitettu mukaansatempaavalla tavalla ja käsitteli aihetta kolmen eri sukupolven kautta, mikä antoi siihen moniulotteisuutta.

[Sj Renfroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book at a local used bookstore here in Boulder called Trident Books and Cafe. It was wedged in the lower corner of a shelf between the few other books on Tibet the small shop had (I was surprised at the amount they did have, seeing as it isn't a huge bookstore). I picked it up. I study anthropology and the book looked like the story of Tibetan women written by Tibetan women, which is the lens through which I wish to understand Tibet.

This story is magnificent. Beginning with Kunsang, the author's grandmother or "Mola," Yangzom Brauen described the beauty and deep spirituality of old Tibet, vividly painting a picture of humble monks and nuns, sacred monasteries, and the stark Himalayas. Yangzom continues to tell the story of her mother, Sonam's, birth and the encroachment of the Chinese political domination.

The family is forced to flee Tibet, traveling a dangerous route through the Himalayas to reach India. Yangzom's description of her mother, grandmother, and other Tibetans' lives in India is, beyond anything, devastatingly eye-opening.

Yangzom herself is an activist and an actress, finding ways of blending the two into a lifetime movement to free Tibet from Chinese oppression. Her recounting of the trials Tibetan refugees have been forced through and the incredible wonder of old Tibetan culture is indescribably necessary to read. She truly opens up the world of Tibetan culture, religion, and politics to someone like myself, who is ignorant yet curious, which is what she meant to do.

This book has brought me incredible awareness of a part of the world which, as Yangzom notes, most Westerners cannot even identify on a map. My heart is stolen by this culture, and this will not be even nearly the last book I read about Tibet.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from a First Reads Giveaway. It tells the story of three generations of Tibetan women and their transition from Tibetan inhabitants to refugees of Chinese communism to assimilated European immigrants. There is a particular analogy that the author uses to refer to these women- a sandwich. The grandmother is completely Tibetan in manners and culture, the granddaughter is completely Western in culture and manners and the mother is sandwiched between the two cultures. I found the resilience of the women, particularly the grandmother and mother, to their circumstances amazing. The descriptions of climbing the Himalayas to escape communism, you can feel the cold leaping off of the page. I also think the author did a good job transitioning between the different woman and the different cultures in which they were placed.

I did not know that much about Tibetan Buddhism before reading this book, and I like that the author made no apologies for its contradictions while discussing how intertwined Tibetan religion and culture are. Killing of animals is wrong, yet Tibetans consume meat. Buddhists are suppose to have compassion for their fellow man, yet they do not assist the poor because their karma is bad for them to have been born poor. I found this story to be as much an ethnography of Tibet as a memoir of the author's family. Going back to her sandwich analogy, I do think that her perspective on each person's place within each culture allows her to take a more objective approach to her mother and grandmother's history. Overall a well written, interesting read.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an Advance Readers' Copy of this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

"Across Many Mountains" is a memoir of three generations of women from a family. Kunsang was born and raised in Tibet, prior to the Chinese invasion of Tibet. As an adult, she chose to be a Buddhist nun. With her family she flees across the Himalayas during the Chinese occoupation of Tibet. Her daughter, Sonam, is born in Tibet, becomes a refugee in India as a child, eventually moving to Switzerland where she raises a bicultural family. Her daugher, Yangzom, is born and raised in Switzerland, but feels ties to her Tibetan heritage. She is the author of the book.

I enjoyed many facets of this book. It was fascinating to learn about traditional Tibetan culture, Tibetan Buddhism, and the lives of Tibetan refugees in India. I also respected that the author did not hide the flaws of her Buddhist faith, providing a non-sanitized, accurate portrayal of her religion.

On the other hand, I do not think that the book is well-written. The author switches from first- to third- person point-of-view throughout the book, often within chapters and paragraphs, which is distracting to the reader. Many times the author also includes descriptions of events or details in one or two paragraphs that distract from the narrative. Finally, the book seems rushed--like the author was trying to include too much information in too short a space. Both Kunsang and Sonam are fascinating women but their stories seem to have been skimmed. Yanzom's story is by far the weakest, seeming unfocused.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the earth."


This book outlines the impact of the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950. When Chinese soldiers arrived at Kunsangs monastery, destroying everything as they went, Kunsang and her family escaped across the Himalayas, sadly spending years in Indian refugee camps. Kunsangs husband and her youngest child both died under the conditions of the camps, but the future held an extraordinary twist that would dramatically alter the families path. During their arrival in the refugee camps, so to arrived a young Swiss man who was fascinated with Tibet. Martin Brauen then falls instantly in love with Kunsang's young daughter, Sonam, eventually winning her heart and hand, and taking mother and daughter with him to Switzerland, where Yangzom will be born.

This is where the youngest Yangzom then tells the story of her families life. In rescuing the story of her now 90-year-old inspirational grandmother and her mother, Yangzom Brauen has given us a book full of love, courage, and triumph, as well as allowing us a rare and vivid glimpse of life in rural Tibet before the arrival of the Chinese. Most importantly, though, ACROSS MANY MOUNTAINS is a testament to three strong, determined women who are linked by an unbreakable family bond.

Well recommended!!

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the first chapters talks about the Chinese coming into Tibet in the late 1950's early 1960's. The Communists dragged the aristocrats through the streets by their hair, tortured them and took all their lands and holdings to distribute to Chinese peasants. Class envy isn't new. Every account I've read of communism getting started begins the same way.

The book gives a good insight into the Chinese occupation of Tibet which still continues (and will probably never cease) and the hardships of being a refugee. The grandmother, a Buddhist nun, remains faithful to her religion through the book -- one of the examples given is her reluctance to show her bare abdomen to a doctor for an exam. But, later on when the granddaughter (and author) becomes a performance artist in Switzerland who "performs" by being naked on stage with only 150 snails crawling on her, I couldn't help but think, what the heck just happened here between these generations? That's when I began reading the ego into the author's words and motivations. She is willing to be a spokesperson for Tibet and Buddhism if it furthers her career. And, now with this book, she's obtained what she's always wanted -- fame and money.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Across Many Mountains is a true account of a people and a country that are not widely known in the West, or at least not known by this reader. In 1950 China invaded Tibet (this was not the first time). A Buddhist monk and his wife, a Buddhist nun (it's OK in their branch of Buddhism), and their two young daughters began a tortuous journey on foot through the Himalayas to the safety of India. The younger daughter died, the monk's health was ruined, but the mother and older daughter survived. This is the story of the mother's absolute determination to save her child and her faith, written by the daughter's daughter, Yangzom Brauen.
This is no ordinary family! I imagine that not many Buddhist nuns from the Himalayas have granddaughters who were born in Switzerland and are models and authors. Yangzom is a fine writer. The book was a fast read because I didn't want to put it down. I learned so much history and so much about a culture and religion that we in the West are barely aware of.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it better than expected. Expected something of the refugee memoir genre: native life, violence forcing migration, harrowing escape, horrors of refugee camps, reconstruction of life, eventual return to native land. AMM has all these elements, but it has a unique personal story that transcends the genre and made this a good read. Tibet, of course, located on the Roof of the World with its unique cultural and religious history is an enticing locale for a good story. The three generations of women featured are all strong women. The narrator is primarily the grand-daughter -- actress, film director (?), activist, international citizen.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't expect this book to be as compelling as it was. It is the story of Brauen's mother's and grandmother's journey and it is also a story of Tibet's unfinished journey. It is always fascinating to me to read how much people will endure for freedom -- and sad that they must endure anything. It's inspiring to see them prevail. Kunsang and Sonam did indeed endure and prevail. Brauen has taken to heart their stories and is doing what she can to help Tibet to prevail. Her story is part of that journey. It was also interesting to me to see the juxtaposition of Switzerland's and China's political systems, and both of those to the much simpler system of Tibet.

[Brook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would like to give this more stars, but I just can't. It was just okay. I think I read it hoping that after all the dramatic hardship the women suffered, there would be something inspiring in their lives that would give me reason to be better. Instead, I felt like, "so what? Doesn't everyone suffer something in this life and learn to live with it?" I'm not saying it doesn't have any redeeming qualities, just that I wasn't very touched or lifted by their story.

[Shauna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for book club and actually liked it more than most of the others in my group. I thought that the story of Kunsang and Sonam's escape from Tibet was riveting; however, once they are safely out, the story loses much of its vibrancy. Still I found it interesting and enjoyable, at least until the last chapters when Yangzom gets overly preachy and self-reflective. She is a much more successful author when she is talking about her family than when she focuses on herself.
3-1/2 stars.

[Missy Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great story of three generations of Tibet tradition. I really had no idea about Tibet and the history of the country. It tells of struggle, the constant battle to survive and the endurance of a people to maintain as much of their culture as they can. It also tells of the tenacity of the younger generation and how they can make a difference.

[Djamila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing story of a family's journey from Tibet. If you have any interest in that part of the world, you will throughly enjoy this insider's account of being forced to flee your home and the hardships that follow.

[Gary Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

28th book read in 2012.

Number 110 out of 260 on my all time book list.

Follow the link below to see my video review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq2IqF...

[Michele Denault · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable in depth look into the Tibetan culture and struggle to maintain their identity through the eyes of 3 women.

[Ardith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye-opening