Rating: 
Summary: Ok not one of his best works
Review: In general, I like vikram seth's works. But,I found this early travelogue to be less insightful and interesting than his later novels. I did not really connect with him, his travels, his predicaments, or the people he met along the way.
Rating: 
Summary: a great vacation reading
Review: It was not the book I wanted to pack for my vacation reading but it was in my luggage when I got there... so there, and thanks god. It was the first book that I read by him so I could not compare to his other works. That being say, I really enjoyed this unique travelogue. In it, Seth took us on his journey, revealing the landscape, the people, the political systems, and make-ups of the ever-evolving-but-ancient china that up until now has not exposed to the outside world. I learned a great deal, and it was a story because of Seth's unique background I don't think anyone could tell it but him.
Rating: 
Summary: Celebrating wanderlust
Review: Much has been said about travel broadening vision, and the journal of a traveller who has a universal view of life makes a rich reading experience. From Heaven Lake is more than a travel book that traverses the length and breadth of a place with smatterings of history, geography and local culture - It is a verbal album of direct images that personify the soul of the areas. The book contains relatively little on the culture, civilisation or customs of China or Tibet. Rather it is the personal account of an economics student's experiences while returning home to Delhi from Beijing, via Tibet and Nepal, the novelty of the journey being that it is almost entirely hitchhiked, relying on luck and optimism alone against all odds. The idea of hitchhiking to Lhasa comes as a sudden inspiration to Mr.Seth while touring Turfan with fellow non-Chinese students. In serendipitous circumstances, he gets a travel-permit to Lhasa -The indirect repercussion of his singing 'Awara Hoon' (I'm a wanderer) at the students hostel. The song is symbolic of Mr.Seth's wanderlust impulses that make him embark on this fantastic journey. The rest of the book narrates his experiences that has many such co-incidences and fortuitous events that indicate life imitating art, as in an action-packed adventure story. The journey also has a more than fair share of obstacles, from dealing with a suspicious mosque doorkeeper or a slightly eccentric truck driver, to major ones like trying to get a lift on a truck to Lhasa, going on an impromptu chase of lost luggage or being stuck indefinitely on deserted, muddy roads. But these not-so-enticing situations are handled comfortably by Mr.Seth who simply refuses to give up. With remarkable candour and a liberal dash of his characteristic humour, he talks about his frustration, anger and minor irritations during the journey and how he got over them eventually. Mr.Seth also focuses a great deal on the unexpected gestures of kindness that he encountered in course of the journey - Friendly policemen, amiable officials, store managers, tailors and citizens who helped him. Mr.Seth seems to be at home in any part of the world - Climbing into lost caverns in Chinese temples or wading in underground canals, playing basketball with officials or frisbee with waiters, assimilating the quietude of a Chinese shrine and a mosque alike, enjoying a picnic with a Tibetan family he had just met and above all, conversing on all kinds of topics with an assortment of strangers. Not so surprisingly, the people he describes also begin to come alive, like many of the characters in his fiction. Reflections and musings on various aspects of China, India and life in general are diffused throughout the book, along with an occasional verse. There is a great attention to detail like the descriptions of Heaven Lake, the Lhasa mosque with its amalgam of Chinese and Arabic styles, the interior of a common truck and even the unpalatable soup served on the way, that suggest Mr.Seth's potential as a superior writer, this being one of his early works. To quote Tolkien, not all those that wander are lost, and "From Heaven Lake" conveys that there is indeed much to be found for potential wanderers, besides ideas and ways of thought, experiences, insights and interactions with peoples and cultures - a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them.
Rating:
Summary: If only I could go there myself!
Review: Surely the best test of a good travel book is that it makes you want to go the same places, while still describing them in a way that makes you feel like you have already been there. Even though it is now 20 years since Seth made the journey that he records here (and much would have changed) reading this book still made me want to make the same journey, even with all the hardship that it entailed. Another aspect that makes this book exceptional is that the commentary doesn't just focus on descriptions of the trip but wanders off into discussions of political and social issues prompted by the surroundings. One telling comment (especially for westerners) occurs on the last page when he writes of India and China, "the fact that they are both part of the same landmass means next to nothing. There is no such thing as an Asian ethos or mode of thinking". My only disappointment with this book (and the reason that it only gets 4 stars) is that, while Seth regularly describes taking photographs of various sights, none of them are included in the book. Seth's descriptions are amazing, but some of the visuals would have been even better. If you are interested at all in travel in China and Tibet read this book (and then Paul Theroux's `Riding the Iron Rooster' for a very different viewpoint).
Rating:
Summary: twenty years on
Review: This summer, I was in Nanjing. In the afternoons it is so hot, that all I did was to stay in and re-read Seth's book. It was probably the fifth time I was reading it.
I am from India and since childhood I was always fascinated with China and one of the reasons was this book. Twenty years on (since the book was published) and some places in China have changed so much. Nanjing itself has become a bustling city and the teashops in Kunming have become swanky cafés. Still, any train journey provides with interesting travel mates and generally kind people similar to the people in the book. In my opinion the greatest accomplishment of this book (at least for me) is that it made me go east at time people growing up with me in India were only interested in the west. It is very funny, I went to China to look for differences in our cultures and everywhere I looked, I found more similarities.
Rating:
Summary: Unique viewpoint
Review: Very well done travelogue around China. A perfect counterpoint to Salzman's Iron & Silk. Salzman stayed in one spot for his sojourn in China; Seth, although he spent two years at Nanjing University, here is concerned with an impromptu hitchhiking trip through western China and Tibet. Seth isn't afraid to put some dangerous questions to his hosts and fellow travelers--questions about the cultural revolution and Red Guard, how life is now under the communists compared with before, could Tibet be a separate country once more? But the best thing about this book is Seth's viewpoint: an Indian writing about China and Tibet for an English/American audience. He takes the time to ruminate on the relations between the countries and the conditions in each country. In particular, his comparison of the living conditions of the poor and aged in China (cared for, if not greatly) and India (left destitute) was eye-opening.
Rating:
Summary: Unique viewpoint
Review: Very well done travelogue around China. A perfect counterpoint to Salzman's Iron & Silk. Salzman stayed in one spot for his sojourn in China; Seth, although he spent two years at Nanjing University, here is concerned with an impromptu hitchhiking trip through western China and Tibet. Seth isn't afraid to put some dangerous questions to his hosts and fellow travelers--questions about the cultural revolution and Red Guard, how life is now under the communists compared with before, could Tibet be a separate country once more? But the best thing about this book is Seth's viewpoint: an Indian writing about China and Tibet for an English/American audience. He takes the time to ruminate on the relations between the countries and the conditions in each country. In particular, his comparison of the living conditions of the poor and aged in China (cared for, if not greatly) and India (left destitute) was eye-opening.
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