Lost Horizon, by James Hilton

Reviewed by: The Blind Monkey

On a quiet Christmas Eve, I was compelled to find treasure in my Grandfather’s book collection. Twinkling out from rows and rows of carefully preserved spines, I made a sparkling discovery… James Hilton’s Lost Horizon.

Now many of you are probably much smarter than the Monkey. You probably already knew about this timeless classic. But I’m sad to admit, I did not. In fact, when I began the first pages, I didn’t even know what the book was about. But as I continued, I knew that I had read it before. No doubt, at a much younger age when I couldn’t appreciate it or recognize its beauty.

In case you don’t know.. or if you, like me, have forgotten, let me reintroduce you to this remarkable story. Published in 1933, Lost Horizon introduced the world to the Tibetan utopia known as Shangri-La. It is the story of three men and one woman who are kidnapped and taken to a remote and secluded lamasery in the Himalayas. There, these travellers undergo a physical, mental, and spiritual transformation.

This story has an amazing timelessness, and could as easily have been written today as it was back in the early 1930′s. The simplest way to put it is that it rings of ‘truth’. The spiritual and intellectual journey of these characters is one that most dream of achieving. A means to shedding the pressures and torment of everyday life to discover a greater understanding of the individual and the world at large.

I highly recommend it to any monkey looking for entertainment and introspection.

Mass Market Paperback – 231 pages Reissue edition (October 1991) Pocket Books; ISBN: 0671664271; Dimensions (in inches): 0.65 x 6.73 x 4.17