Today I am completing a 4th reading of one of my favorite novels, Lost Horizon. Lost Horizon definitely rates 5 stars for me based simply on its premise perfectly executed: the idea of searching for utopia on earth and one man's finding it - then subsequently losing it. Whether or not it equates with Christianity or not is a non-starter for me, and irrelevant to the book and the author's purposes. James Hilton superficially explores the philosophies of the Far East, Buddhism in particular.

Lost Horizon is fascinating to me on many levels: philosophical, religious and political. And I love the fact the novel's ending is ambiguous; I can't tell you how many times I have created different paths for the future of Shangri La and the fate of Conway, who once beheld the Blue Moon.

"He was gazing upwards to the gleaming pyramid of Karakal. At that moment, in bright moonlight, it seemed as if a hand reached high might just touch it; it was so brittle-clear against the blue immensity beyond. . . 'Karakal means Blue Moon', said the Chinese."

Loved the crisp writing style, but boy, this author's world view does not stand the test of time.

Ironic that the author writes about Utopia but doesn't realize that he too has a long way to go before attaining ultimate enlightenment and freedom from the world's chains of greed and bigotry.

I was inspired to read this book as a youngster because of the second movie adaptation of this novel. In retrospect, the musical version that I saw was so "lightweight" in comparison to the 1930's Frank Capra version. Loved that one!

The writing was very good, but be prepared to wince a bit here and there: so "not politically correct."

Το λάτρεψα. Χτες νύσταζα και σχεδόν το άφησα με πόνο καρδιάς. Μια τόσο υπέροχη ιστορία. Τόσο ονειρική, τόσο μαγευτική. Λοιπόν αυτό το έργο το είχα ακούσει στην εφηβεία μου, σε θεατρική διασκευή, στο ραδιοφωνικό θέατρο της Κυριακής από το Τρίτο Πρόγραμμα. Με είχε εντυπωσιάσει η υπόθεση αλλά δεν θυμόμουν τίτλο και περισσότερα στοιχεία. Τελικά το ξέθαψα μετά από κάμποσο ψάξιμο. Και με οδήγησε σε αυτό το μυθιστόρημα, στην παραμυθένια Σάνγκρι – Λα και σε αυτόν τον κόσμο που κάπως αχνά μου θύμισε ένα διήγημα του Μίχαελ Έντε με τίτλο «Το τέρμα ενός μεγάλου ταξιδιού» από τη συλλογή «Η φυλακή της ελευθερίας» (αν και το διήγημα είναι σαφώς κατώτερο).

Είναι η ματιά του Χίλτον επάνω στον κόσμο και στα πράγματα τόσο ζεστή, τόσο τρυφερή, τόσο ανεκτική που περιβάλλει τα πάντα με μια ζεστασιά, μια πρωτοφανή ανθρωπιά, που κυοφορεί μόνο θετικά συναισθήματα. Κι όλο αυτό το μυστήριο, το άγνωστο, οι τόσες αναπάντητες ερωτήσεις του πρώτου μέρους του βιβλίου μου δημιούργησαν μια γλυκειά αγωνία, κι ας μην ήταν η πρώτη φορά που άκουγα αυτήν την ιστορία. Γιατί αυτή η ιστορία είναι πανάρχαια. Υπάρχει σε όλους σχεδόν τους πολιτισμούς και τις ανθρώπινες κουλτούρες, είναι βαθιά εντυπωμένη στο συλλογικό μας ασυνείδητο.

Ζούμε σε έναν απρόβλεπτο κόσμο. Γεμάτο ομορφιά αλλά συνάμα γεμάτο με ασχήμια. Μέσα σε όλα αυτά προσπαθούμε να κρατήσουμε ισορροπίες. Αλλά πώς άραγε θα αντιδρούσαμε όλοι μας, αν μια μέρα συνέβαινε κάτι εντελώς απίθανο; Σα να ξεκινάς για κάπου και να καταλήγεις, χωρίς καλά -καλά να καταλάβεις πώς, σε ένα μέρος που πότε δεν φαντάστηκες πως υπάρχει, αν και κατά βάθος, μέσα σου, χωρίς ίσως να το ξέρεις, πάντα το ποθούσες. Ή μήπως όχι. Στο βιβλίο υπάρχει ένας νεαρός ήρωας, 24 ετών. Όταν σαν δεκαπεντάχρονη άκουγα την θεατρική διασκευή στο ραδιόφωνο ήμουν ολόψυχα με το μέρος του. Τον καταλάβαινα απόλυτα. Ταυτιζόμουν μαζί του. Διαβάζοντας στα 4ο μου, σήμερα την ίδια ιστορία, δεν μπορώ πλέον να δεχτώ τον τρόπο που βλέπει το πράγματα. Θα τον αντιπαθούσα, αν δεν μου προκαλούσε οίκτο.

Τώρα δεν θα πω πολλά για την υπόθεση και γενικά, αν κάποιος θέλει να το διαβάσει όσα λιγότερα ξέρει τόσο το καλύτερο. Άλλωστε το τέλος είναι τέτοιο που… ας μη πω τίποτα περισσότερο. Μόνο αυτό: Μακάρι να υπήρχε στα αλήθεια μια Σάνγκρι - Λα. Ίσως βέβαια να υπάρχει και να κρύβεται μέσα σε κάθε βιβλίο που μας ανοίγει νέους κόσμους...

"Laziness in doing stupid things can be a great virtue"

"We are a single lifeboat riding the seas in a gale, we can take a few chance survivors, but if all the shipwrecked were to reach us and clamber aboard we should go down ourselves ..."
James Hilton, Lost Horizon

The action starts with the airplane hijack of four westerners from Baskul (assumably Afghanistan) taken eastwards to an extremely remote place in the Himalayas. They arrive in Shangri-la.

The novel was published in 1933. Hilton had just reached the age of call-up when World War I ended. His generation was deeply effected by the war and he had personal pacifist beliefs. Lost Horizon uses that message in a mild way. It can be enjoyed as a fantasy/utopian novel but you are always aware of the times in the world outside of Shangri-la, with Hitler and his ilk a threat.

Hilton shows a group of monks who preserve learning from many cultures and believe in moderation in all things. The author uses information from adventurers and climbers of the times to base his location, eastern religions and maybe his main character, Conway.

After the great popular success of this novel a 1937 Hollywood blockbuster was made directed by Frank Capra, starring Ronald Coleman. I’d never read this novel but had seen the film. The film is reasonably like the book but has more characters and less pacifism. I’d recommend reading the book first, but the film is good too.

Small minuses—
. Slowish reading with too much internal rumination by the main character
. If you’re picky, it is a pretty simplistic depiction of Eastern religions

LOST HORIZON - The Legend of Shangri-La: Adventure Classic by James Hilton introduces us to the fictional Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, and particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia – a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. In the novel, Hugh Conway, a veteran member of the British diplomatic service, finds inner peace, love, and a sense of purpose in Shangri-La, whose inhabitants enjoy unheard-of longevity. Among the book's themes is an allusion to the possibility of another cataclysmic world war brewing. It is said to have been inspired at least in part by accounts of travels in Tibetan borderlands, published in National Geographic by the explorer and botanist Joseph Rock. The remote communities he visited, such as Muli, show many similarities to the fictional Shangri-La. I particularly enjoy when a book I read has a corresponding movie based on it as is the case with Lost Horizon. I also couldn't help but compare this fictional account to a somewhat similar true story shared in Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff which I also highly recommend.

3.5 stars for this entertaining bit of adventure and mystery.

Written (and set) in the early 1930s, it does show its age in some of the language used by the author, especially re: the Asian characters. I wasn't fond of the author's prose style--I felt he was straining in his efforts to describe the wonders of our mysterious mountain locale. Certain phrases became repetitious, leading me to skim in an effort to get to the action. Also,the construction of the story, with one character relating a strange story told by another character, meant that we never had a chance to know any of the characters as fully developed people.
However, the story itself has held up quite well. Four people are being evacuated by plane from an Indian city that has become a hotbed of civil strife. They are the British Consul (Hugh Conway) and his deputy (Capt. Charles Mallinson), an American (Henry Barnard), and a British missionary (Miss Roberta Brinklow). They are unaware that they've been kidnapped by their pilot until they find themselves heading in the wrong direction. Their harrowing flight ends in a crash, high in the Himalayan Mountains. They are soon rescued and escorted to this hidden valley--Shangri-La. Ah, an almost paradise--a land of pleasant living, indeed. With only one teeny little problem: it is nearly impossible to leave.
I will leave the reader to discover the pluses and minuses that our four people discover during their sojourn in Shangri-La. Let's just say that the more I read, the more unsettled I became.
I can see why the book became a best-seller, and why Hollywood turned it into a movie.
I enjoyed reading this, but I can't see myself reading it again.

Great book. I read this when I was 12...it was the first book I read for which I decided to create my own ending (happy) when the ending was vague.

A fun and quick read, and remarkably prescient.

Shangri-La - a remote earthly paradise

How’d you like to coin a term for the English language? Credit author James Hilton in ‘Lost Horizon’, a compelling narrative which takes a group of tossed together travelers to this bizarre, mountainous, unknown locale, at least to most of the world, where you get to sit around, without any immediate physical need, ponder the world, and drink tea.

Published in 1933, the story reflects a desire to solve the world’s problems without going through another World War.

Philosophical concepts are explored as the stranded travelers debate the purpose of existence in their monastic style , though plush, quarters run by all knowing, seeing and even almost ageless hosts, or could be captors?

It’s a story that keeps you thinking and hoping for the future and pondering the paradox that such a place exists avoiding the combative outside world, but with all the luxuries that that distant world can supply.

Since the book, the term Shangri-La was used for many things, buildings, a 1960s musical group, a US Aircraft carrier, just part of a long list. I’m now eager to see the 1937 Frank Capra movie, Lost Horizon, which I’ve somehow missed over the years.

It’s incredible to think that it isn’t 100 years since Shangri-La entered our lexicon as a place of nirvana, a refuge against the world’s worries, and yet this little word was coined in 1933. The story of a four people hijacked and taken to a hidden monastery in Tibet, where people seemingly live forever, has also become hackneyed since Lost Horizon was written.

It is a jolly fun adventure story, but for the contemporary reader it can be uncomfortable. Chinese are devious, lazy and can’t be trusted; only the English are hardworking heroes; and women are either dried up old evangelists or young harpies meeting the needs of men. Although I don’t condone these sentiments, it is a product of its time, and these unsavoury aspects need to be overlooked to enjoy the story.

If you ignore the patina, there are some interesting messages amongst the pages. Essentially it is: find inner peace, and you find nirvana. Those rewards and riches you drive yourself to obtain, do not bring you eternal happiness. For a 1933’s reader these would have been novel at the least, and exotic with eastern flavour for those that had experienced India and Buddhism.

Being one of the target readers (a white bloke), I found it a great read that was easy, with the eastern mysticism nicely and palatably flavoured. Be kind to it, dear reader, and enjoy it for what Hilton intended.

Fascinating story about a man and three others who found themselves brought to Shangra-La. Our protagonist Conway falls in love with the calm mystery of the place, but his young friend's dissatisfaction and desire to leave colors his experience. The story takes place around 1930 and includes some less than PC ethnic references, but not the sentimentality. It's a remarkable tale that will make it hard to put down. I couldn't.

Despite the fact Hilton writes with a deep understanding and sensitivity towards the cultures and beliefs of the Asian world I don't think the novel has aged that well. The imperial power and colonial rule of Britain at the time is clearly ever present throughout the narrative, and certain words that wouldn't have been seen as an issue back then could be seen by some now as rascist. There were times I was reminded of Graham Greene, particularly in the case of Conway and, of course, the fact we travel to far off lands. There is a feeling of a J.G Ballard in there too, when I think of some his early adventure/science fiction novels. It's not that great when it comes to depth and detail, with themes of a utopia, happiness, love and desire, that aren't explored at the core, but I can see why some would view it as a classic. I liked it but still came away feeling disappointed. The setting itself of a Tibetan paradise, which is why I wanted to read this, just never came alive in the ways I'd hoped. It lacked a rich and vivid imaginary. I did like the idea of kick starting the novel through Conway's returning memories after suffering from amnesia, in which he recounts his story.