Fantasy Book Club discussion

I read this novel last year and liked the idea of the imaginary utopia Shangri-la, where everyone spends their days studying and you grow old very slowly (but when you do leave you suddenly do grow old). Historically it was the first ever novel released in paperback (1933) and was also made into a movie which i seen many years ago and which lead me to read the novel. For some reason the idea of this Utopian place really appealed and i liked how the story ended leaving you wondering if it all happened or was it just part of his imagination due to shock and exposure in the high mountains. I found this review quote interesing 'the subtext of Lost Horizon is not utopian: the stated purpose of Shangri-la is to create an island of civilization amid the social decline and wars to come, and to someday provide the nucleus for a "new renaissance" (a sci-fi trope later borrowed by Isaac Asimov's Foundation stories)'. Maybe not your traditional fantasy that we know now but set in a fantasy setting that worked well for its time plus it gave us the term Shangri-la.

Has anyone else read this novel and do they consider it a work of fantasy ?

Lost Horizon: A Novel by James Hilton

Wow, it's been years since I read this book, somewhere between 1968 and 1973. I remember reading it for school, but can't remember if it was high school or college. I just remember it being the first book I'd ever read for a school assignment that I truly enjoyed.

This is a book that is sorely lacking in my background. With all the movie and TV adaptations of it, I feel like I know the story by heart. Yet, I don't think I've ever actually read it.

I have not read the book, but about 8 years ago, on a sleepless night, I stumbled across AMC playing the original film, reconstructed as much as possible. I think they had said they were able to recover all of the sound track, but that something like 11 minutes or so of frame was lost, so they used stills of what was left of those frames during those portions of the movie. Normally, I'm not too much of a fan of black and white films, but Lost Horizon is one that I am very glad I caught when I did.

Am reposting this post as it had a long empty space at the bottom, so had to delete the original:

Hywela said: I read this book years ago, and I loved it. Yes, I would definitely say its fantasy. I think there was an old film which I've never seen, but which my Aunt,
who encouraged me to get the book, used to talk about. There was also a movie made in the seventies, but I thought it was very disappointing and had very little to do with the original book.

JJ, I just finished the book and to answer your question, I feel the book is more political treatise than our standard sci-fi/fantasy book. Although it has certain fantastical elements, it seems to be grounded in the aftermath of the global wars taking place at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Like you, I would love to imagine a setting filled with books and time to read them all. I don't, however, know if I would prefer being kidnapped to arrive at that situation. Yet I think that's what Hilton asks us to do in a way...examine how much of a free will we truly have. Do we have a moral imperative to save society or to save ourselves?