Thursday, Mar 12, 2009

Book Review: Undress Me In The Temple of Heaven

Author:       Susan Jane Gilman

Publisher:    Grand Central/Hachette

Website:     www.susanjanegilman.com

ISBN #:      978-0-446-55543-2

Type:         Non-Fiction/Memoir

Pages:       306 (Trade Paperback)

Purchase:   $14.39 @ Amazon.Com (HERE)

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The Story

“Undress Me In The Temple of Heaven is a riveting, funny, but harrowing true story — a modern-day heart of  darkness full of Communist operatives, backpackers, and pancakes. In 1986, Gilman and a friend  planned an ambitious trek across the globe starting in the People’s Republic of China. At that point, China had been open to independent backpackers for roughly ten minutes. Armed only with the collected works of Nietzsche and Linda Goodman’s Love Signs, the two young women plunged  into the dusty streets of Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, they quickly found themselves in over their heads — stripped of everything familiar, under constant government surveillance, and ensnared in rural China. What began as a journey full of humor, eroticism and enlightenment grew sinister — becoming a real-life international thriller that changed them forever.”

(Excerpt is from www.SusanJaneGilman.com)

The Review

I read Hypocrite in a White Pouffy Dress by Susan Jane Gilman this January.  I really, really liked that book, so much so that I gave it a 9 out of 10 rating.  Susan’s writing in Hypocrite is very funny and I found the book to be touching and an overall good read.  Therefore, Gilman had to live up to that book in my mind, especially because I just read Hypocrite 2 months ago.  Expectations were high for Gilman. 

Undress Me In The Temple of Heaven has a different flavor than Hypocrite.  Whereas Hypocrite has a myriad of stories that span across Gilman’s life, Undress Me is a beginning to end story about her post-college travel to China with a college friend.  Keep in mind, this was 20+ years ago and China had just opened its doors to Westerners.  Add to this these two 21-22 year old gals from New York and it’s going to add up to some quirky adventures.  Which, it did.

This book took some time for me to warm up to.  It may be that I was expecting something more comical like Hypocrite.  But, once I got about 1/2 way into the book, I was really hooked on the story.  I wanted to know what happened to Susan and Claire (her friend).  By the end of the book, I couldn’t put it down until I had the ending under my belt. 

Another thing to state about this book is that I learned quite a bit about China that I never knew before.  She has a remarkable memory to be able to write this book 20+ years after the fact with such clarity.  My favorite scene is when she goes to the Great Wall of China (see below).  Also, the readers really get to know all of the characters in this story very well!  To me, that makes a story.  I regretfully cannot go too much more into the review without spoiling the story.  But, if you’re a Gilman fan, you’ll enjoy this read.

A special thanks to Miriam at Hachette for letting me share my experience of this book with you!

Favorite Quotes:

“Although Jonnie’s English was excellent, he was unable to reproduce certain sounds.  Instead of love, he said ruv, and instead of Susie and Claire, he said Sushi and Crair.  His accent laid bare all his hopes and vulnerabilities.  I suddenly understood why people struggled to get rid of their accents and teased others for theirs.  An accent is a form of public nudity.  Listening to Jonnie, I felt a strange mixture of bemusement and protectiveness.  Soon enough in China, others would feel this for me.”

“… the chronic voices deep in my own head saying: Who do you think you are?  You’ll never amount to anything.  You’re untalented and unlovable.  You will die alone. –all of this was banished by a slow suffusion of peace.  At the Great Wall, I no longer freaed my own powerlessness and insignificance.  All individuals are nothing, the stones seemed to say, just a speck in the continuum.  Whether we’re beautiful or skeletal, whether we’re sharecroppers or neurosurgeons, whether we fight in wars or give birth to children, whether we eat tofu or watch Morton Downey Jr. on television, whether we’re tormented lovers or house cleaners loaded down with shopping bags on the subway train, whether we’re Chinese or American – all of this is irrelevant.  In the end, we’re all just atomic particles destined to be reabsorbed into the cosmos.  And, that’s okay.  Life will come and go, over and over.  Only the mountains and this wall have managed to endure.”

“Did Lewis and Clark ever get on each other’s nerves?”

Cool Flicks

Here is a quick peek at the Temple of Heaven:


 

Some Interesting Tidbits:

The Great Wall of China is so amazing!

“Today’s picture features the Great Wall Of China, the largest man-made object on earth. Stretching some 4,100 miles along northern China, the Great Wall is actually a series of short walls that more or less follow the ridges of hills and cross desert and grasslands on the southern edge of the Mongolian plain.”

“The history of the Great Wall of China spans approximately 2,000 years and several Chinese dynasties, finally taking it’s current form under the famous Ming Dynasty. Built as a defense against northern invaders, the wall ultimately failed to fulfill that mission because of the gaps between the various sections.”

Although it was believed for many years that the Great Wall Of China was so large that it surely must be visible from the moon, the first successful Apollo Lunar Mission debunked that theory once and for all. But the Great Wall is indeed the last man-made object that can be seen with the naked eye from a spacecraft as it travels away from the planet into space.

Today, the Beijing section of the Great Wall is China’s most popular tourist attraction, drawing over 4 million visitors each year.”

(Information on Great Wall of China provided by http://www.rlrouse.com/)

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

I would recommend this book, especially to Gilman’s fans.  This book is a true story and based on real people.  I could totally relate to the time of this setting due to my age.  It made me miss my Reeboks!  Like Gilman, I’m curious about Claire and what’s she’s up to today.   I wonder if she’ll read this story.  For the genre Non-Fiction/Memoir, I give this read an 8 out of 10.

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