The Snow Leopard

I read The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen for my book club. The book description reads, "In 1973, Peter Matthiessen and field biologist George Schaller traveled high into the remote mountains of Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and possibly glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard. Matthiessen, a student of Zen Buddhism, was also on a spiritual quest to find the Lama of Shey at the ancient shrine on Crystal Mountain. As the climb proceeds, Matthiessen charts his inner path as well as his outer one, with a deepening Buddhist understanding of reality, suffering, impermanence, and beauty."

This was a really slow read for me at first, and it just wasn't my kind of book. If it wasn't for book club, I would have stopped reading pretty early on because I found it pretty boring. However, I kept reading, and by the end, I actually kinda liked it. I was definitely glad I read it too because I like reading things that are outside my usual, and I felt proud of myself for completing it. I did find the story engaging by the end, and I enjoyed following their journey and some of the characters. And there were lots of great discussion points at book club! The book was also full of some great gems. Here are some I particularlly liked. When some of the sherpas accidentally dropped one of the other's pack in a river: "Wonderfully, Jang-bu laughed aloud, as did Dawa and Phu-Tsering, although it meant wet clothes and a wet sleeping bag for the head sherpa. That happy-go-lucky spirit, that acceptance which is not fatalism but a deep trust in life, made me ashamed." When Peter was angry about something: "My anger is wasting energy I badly need, and realizing this, it is easy to put it aside." When Peter was wondering about the Lama of the Crystal Monastery who appears happy but is also isolated and will likely never leave because he is crippled: "Indicating his twisted legs without a trace of self-pity or bitterness, as if they belonged to all of us, he casts his arms wide to the sky and the snow mountains, the high sun and dancing sheep, and cries, 'Of course I am happy here! It's wonderful! Especially when I have no choice!"

Rating: * (1/3 = It was okay)