John Dalton
ISBN 0743246357
The premise is rather simple and is based on a real-life event in the author’s life; A young American man in Taiwan receives a proposition from a wealthy businessman. Travel to a remote region in mainland China, marry a young woman, bring her back to Taiwan, then annul the unconsummated marriage allowing the businessman’s son to marry her. It actually makes sense in the context of fragile and complex Chinese/Taiwanese culture/politics.
The young American, Vincent Saunders, is in Taiwan to open a Christian mission in Toulio (Doulio) a small city about one hundred-fifty miles south of Taipei. He starts out proud, confident and driven, but cultural circumstances and naiveté soon wear him down to a point where frustrated, angry and lonely, he succumbs to temptation and dramatically sullies his reputation and position. Destitute, ashamed and directionless he accepts the businessman’s dubious offer.
The book then takes up a tale of odyssey; planes, trains, buses, oxcarts, through deserts, heavily polluted mining regions, barren wastelands. As is to be expected he travels through and among an exotic, seldom written about backdrop, meeting and struggling with people of a culture even more foreign to him. His destination, remote and rugged Urumchi, China. The titular Heaven Lake is nearby, like the young woman herself, a beacon of breathtaking beauty in the midst of a harsh and isolated region west of Mongolia.
As with any good odyssey, there are many strange and interesting characters along the way, thugs, thieves, drug dealers, farmers, and con-men. His quest eventually leaves him penniless and desperate, and of course he falls in love with the young woman he is supposed to be acquiring for his benefactor. (though everyone involved is in on the scheme, they still insist on traditional courting ritual, dowry, etc.)
Though this is the nut of the story, it really gives little away about the book itself. A good odyssey is not a whodunit, it’s all about the journey.
And this is where the author reveals a mastery. His descriptions of completely unfamiliar people, places and culture flow comfortably. Never over-explained, never too sparse, the reader finds himself learning just enough to be able to move on to the next scene. The reader doesn’t need to know much at all about the places and cultures beforehand since they are being described expertly through the eyes and words of another outsider, Vincent. We see what he sees, think what he thinks, and figure things out only as best he can.
And as with any odyssey, we suffer, then grow with the protagonist. He started this adventure a completely broken soul. The exotic and unfamiliar terrain, the slow, archaic pace of life in northwestern China allow him time to be reborn, to reinvent himself, honed by the strange and often bizarre surroundings and events. His beasts to vanquish along the way are not those of ancient Homerian tales, but of faith, bureaucracy, tradition, language and harsh terrain.
(I found myself so engrossed in this strange landscape, that between reading sessions I would zoom in on Google Maps to many of the locations described. I’ve never done that with a James Patterson or John Kellerman novel.)
It is the writing that makes this journey unique, it shows polish and efficiency, yet tells us everything we need to know.
“Several hours into his journey he began to feel the wry pinch of his predicament, all the commonplace symbols that were unavailable to him, the railway signs for instance, with their columns of glinting white characters he couldn’t read. Nor could he make out the steward’s garbled announcements over the train’s PA. He leaned across the aisle and told a well-dressed, responsible-looking gentleman that he was on his way to Toulio for the first time and was unsure when to get off the train. From then on, after each announcement, he turned and sought the man’s guidance. Not yet, the man said with a single, restrained shake of the head. Not yet. Not yet.”
Through this voice we discover not only the vast cultural differences between east and west, we find within the people a deep, common familiarity. We can understand their struggles, their wants and desires, without understanding a word they say. We recognize community, toil, family and love, as well as sympathy and sacrifice.
More important than the story itself, the book is simply a true pleasure to read. The word-craft is smooth, nearly flawless. The dialog is simple and direct. The characters are believable, flawed, yet ultimately salvageable. You’ll find yourself rooting for Vincent, though often cringing at the same time. He’s not the golden hero you may want him to be, he’s too much like ourselves.
The Author, John Dalton, teaches writing at the University of Missouri, St. Louis.
His books are available online or in book stores.
For my writer friends, please click here for his essay on becoming a writer.
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