Far from the Rooftop of the World

August 15, 2023
A Chinese American journalist uses the lives of three Tibetan refugees living in India to illustrate the personal costs of Tibet's political struggle. In March 2008, at a talk commemorating the Tibetan Uprising of 1959, journalist Yee, a former Delhi correspondent for the Financial Times, was stunned when the Dalai Lama singled her out in front of a crowd of reporters. Referencing her heritage, he told Yee that it was up to journalists like her to tell the stories necessary to broker a lasting peace between China and Tibet. Following his directive seriously, the author wrote this "close-up look at the lives of ordinary Tibetans in exile who make their way in the world far from their homeland." In the introduction, Yee writes that the story focuses on three refugees: Topden, a monk and avid basketball fan, and "unlikely veterinary assistant"; Deckyi, a Mandarin speaker who fled China with her husband after photocopying fliers for Tibetan monks active in the resistance; and Norbu, a cook who the author met when he invited her to a rehearsal for a play about the experience of Chinese imprisonment. Yee also writes about her encounters with other relevant individuals, including Chinese activist Chin Jin, who believes that the battle for Chinese democracy is intertwined with the Tibetan freedom struggle; Kelsang Wangmo, a Buddhist nun from Germany who was studying for her geshe degree, "the equivalent of a PhD for Tibetan monastics"; and Vinayak Sharma, an Indian lawyer who attended a Tibetan primary school and now does pro bono legal work for the community. This densely researched book is stuffed with atmospheric details, historical facts, and scenes from daily life in India, all of which Yee recounts in a narratorial voice that is eager, vulnerable, and charming. Unfortunately, the narrative is structurally weak, bouncing between disparate topics at a dizzying pace, which may lose some readers. A well-intentioned, comprehensive, meandering look at the Tibetan refugee experience.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.