What do you think?
Rate this book
Invading Tibet
In 1904 a force of 2500 British Imperial troops invaded Tibet. Their mission was to march on the fabled capital of Lhasa and seize its ruler and spiritual head, the Dalai Lama, and compel him to expel foreign provocateurs. All this was but another strategic deployment in the Great Game being played by the major European powers as part of their international one-upmanship and global jousting.
The soldiers were accompanied by London journalist Edmund Candler, who reported the experiences of the invaders (and published them in a book The Unveiling of Lhasa). As Candler notes, the further into the country they march, the odder things get, and the less certain they become of their mission. Tibet seems a cryptic place, full of magic and menace, rocks and snow and natives that look like clay. Most of the time it is as if they, the Westerners, are invading nothing. Tibet seems an awesome emptiness bounded by soaring mountains, yet something is there, awaiting them. But it is more like a rendezvous - an appointment with a metaphysical reality far greater than the Europeans' mechanistic concept.
The Tibetan troops who resist are easily dispatched by the invaders' superior weapons, yet it is the English who are unnerved. The fallen defenders do not cry out, they do not weep. The deeper the British trek, the more penetrated and undone the soldiers feel. The commanding officer grows sick and weaker the further they advance, as if he himself were violated by the incursion. Some of the men under his command become contentious, others lust for punitive combat with no quarter given. Yet, as Candler observes, the enemy they most often engage is themselves.
Unlike the rest, Candler is enthralled - mesmerized by the extraordinary terrain and events; it is obvious to him that no objective awaits the invasion force in Lhasa, despite what the officers insist. Yet he continues on with them, drawn by the ineffable beauty and mystery of this fabled realm into which they have trekked with their demonstrable superiority and high-minded, self-serving purposes.
The soldiers were accompanied by London journalist Edmund Candler, who reported the experiences of the invaders (and published them in a book The Unveiling of Lhasa). As Candler notes, the further into the country they march, the odder things get, and the less certain they become of their mission. Tibet seems a cryptic place, full of magic and menace, rocks and snow and natives that look like clay. Most of the time it is as if they, the Westerners, are invading nothing. Tibet seems an awesome emptiness bounded by soaring mountains, yet something is there, awaiting them. But it is more like a rendezvous - an appointment with a metaphysical reality far greater than the Europeans' mechanistic concept.
The Tibetan troops who resist are easily dispatched by the invaders' superior weapons, yet it is the English who are unnerved. The fallen defenders do not cry out, they do not weep. The deeper the British trek, the more penetrated and undone the soldiers feel. The commanding officer grows sick and weaker the further they advance, as if he himself were violated by the incursion. Some of the men under his command become contentious, others lust for punitive combat with no quarter given. Yet, as Candler observes, the enemy they most often engage is themselves.
Unlike the rest, Candler is enthralled - mesmerized by the extraordinary terrain and events; it is obvious to him that no objective awaits the invasion force in Lhasa, despite what the officers insist. Yet he continues on with them, drawn by the ineffable beauty and mystery of this fabled realm into which they have trekked with their demonstrable superiority and high-minded, self-serving purposes.
215 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
1 person is currently reading
10 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 23, 2016
Frustrating, disappointing book, made all the sadder by the fact that this particular chapter of the Great Game really cries out for a good historical novel.
Frutkin had the germ of a good idea here in creating a fictional author researching and writing a biography of Edmund Candler, the real-life Daily Mail correspondent who accompanied the Francis Younghusband mission to Tibet in 1904 - a favorite subject of mine. But what potential there was got quickly lost in the larger - although infinitely less interesting - story of the writer/narrator himself. For every chapter on Candler, there are two on the author and his hugely annoying and overbearing friend Milton, who goes off on a variety of non-sequitorial digressions which frequently bring the story to a dead halt.
This would be a very confusing book for anyone not already familiar with the Younghusband mission - and will still be at least mildly confusing to even the most well-read follower of this particular episode. The author may well have been aiming for a larger, more universal message - perhaps some "aren't we all just invading Tibet?"-type of thing - but if so, I totally missed it. So while Frutkin's heart might have been in the right place, I find it impossible to recommend this book to anyone.
Frutkin had the germ of a good idea here in creating a fictional author researching and writing a biography of Edmund Candler, the real-life Daily Mail correspondent who accompanied the Francis Younghusband mission to Tibet in 1904 - a favorite subject of mine. But what potential there was got quickly lost in the larger - although infinitely less interesting - story of the writer/narrator himself. For every chapter on Candler, there are two on the author and his hugely annoying and overbearing friend Milton, who goes off on a variety of non-sequitorial digressions which frequently bring the story to a dead halt.
This would be a very confusing book for anyone not already familiar with the Younghusband mission - and will still be at least mildly confusing to even the most well-read follower of this particular episode. The author may well have been aiming for a larger, more universal message - perhaps some "aren't we all just invading Tibet?"-type of thing - but if so, I totally missed it. So while Frutkin's heart might have been in the right place, I find it impossible to recommend this book to anyone.
March 26, 2018
Unfortunately not a book that I can recommend. It had some great parts about the "invasion" by the British into Tibet in the early 1900s, but it tried too hard to be about the authors journey in writing the book and the journey of the "invasion".
I was looking forward to this book, but was left a little disappointed.
I was looking forward to this book, but was left a little disappointed.
December 17, 2025
This was a super interesting book. It took me a while to get the hang of it, because I went in blind - I was expecting more or less a historical retelling of the Younghusband expedition. Gradually, it dawned on me that it was not that at all, rather it was using this odd piece of history on which to hang a modern Lovecraftian tale. The time-bending effects of Tibet, the enigma of Sarge, the statue, Milton's gift, the illnesses- all these enigmas creep up until the whole affair has a very otherworldly feel.
The mechanism of using the modern author looking back works for me (Milton's digressions added a lot to the feel of the book), and enhanced the Lovecraftian feel - what would a Lovecraft story be without an intrepid explorer finding an old sea captain's diary?
I feel like I "got" this book and enjoyed it for what it was. I really recommend it to the open minded.
The mechanism of using the modern author looking back works for me (Milton's digressions added a lot to the feel of the book), and enhanced the Lovecraftian feel - what would a Lovecraft story be without an intrepid explorer finding an old sea captain's diary?
I feel like I "got" this book and enjoyed it for what it was. I really recommend it to the open minded.
July 17, 2020
This book was just plain weird, with an aura of indecisive existential crisis akin to "The Things They Carried." I had the hardest time just trying to figure out just what exactly this book was about. I understood the premise, the invading of Tibet and the march into their homeland, but the authors personally journey was odd and it seemed like he was constantly under the influence of some kind of hallucinogen. Wouldn't recommend.
January 12, 2016
Sad book about the 1904 British invasion and kidnapping of the Dali Lama where so many were needlessly murdered all for this crazy cause.
More could have and should have been written on the British in why they were taking up arms in this, but the book tends to lean on the Tibetan theme without really explaining the heavy details of this despicable act.
More could have and should have been written on the British in why they were taking up arms in this, but the book tends to lean on the Tibetan theme without really explaining the heavy details of this despicable act.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews