Hogir Muhammad Muhammad itibaren Stajkovce, Sırbistan
I picked up Sky Burial by Xinran from the library at the school I teach at because I was in a phase where I wanted to read more Asian stories, read the first few pages and then didn't pick it up again for a month. Whether this is because Xinran frames the main story in Sky Burial with her meeting with the main character—which was not particularly captivating—or because I was generally unmotivated to read, I'm not sure. Each time Xinran cut from Shu Wen's story to recount more details of their meeting I wished it would end quickly and get back to the main story. Shu Wen's journey as told by Xinran was incredibly captivating, beautifully told and so wonderfully haunting, it stays with you long after you have read closed the book and moved on. Even the title, Sky Burial, a Tibetan funeral custom in which the deceased is cut into pieces and scattered for birds of prey to eat, has particular significance and poignancy. In less than 200 pages, Sky Burial contains a beautiful, epic love story, a moving journey, and a life so rich in detail it is surprising that time passes in fits and starts, leaping over the decades with relative ease. Time passes for the reader as it does for Shu Wen, drawn into the story by Xinran's expert skill in constructing life for a Chinese woman, taken into Tibetan life. I don't think it is a spoiler to say that you will need a large box of tissues when you read this book, and I highly recommend that you do. I have nothing but the highest praise for Sky Burial. It is the kind of story that can change your life.