This book gives the Western reader a couple of rare things: a novel set in Mongolia and Buddhist monk characters who struggle with doubts and self-belief. Twins Chuluun and Mun, sent to join a monastery as children, have taken divergent paths as young adults. Chuluun is part of a mission to find the reincarnation of a lama in Tibetan Buddhism, which is also practiced in Mongolia. Mun has renounced his identity as a reincarnated leader himself and abandoned Buddhist teachings but is willing to assist his twin on this mission. From these two seemingly opposite poles the brothers move along the spectrum of belief and disbelief in a believable way through the story.

I've never seen the topic of identifying child reincarnations in Tibetan Buddhism treated in such a fully realized way; in Western reporting, where Tibetan Buddhism obviously has a pretty lofty spiritual reputation, it doesn't seem to get looked at from the perspective of the child himself (always a "he", though suggested here that evolution on gender roles could one day change that), asking what it means to be taken from a normal life into not just a monastic life but a complete identity - "you are this person, who did this and this and this in previous lives" - that the child doesn't get to choose for himself. In the West we're familiar with the idea of someone's childhood being taken from them due to things like super-competitive athletics (gymnasts, etc.) or bad family situations; here we see it as part of being identified as a reincarnated religious figure.

I enter my brother's chambers and find him sitting in his altar room among his booty. I'm not allowed to keep it, he says. All week gifts pour in. Stuffed animals, sports equipment, electronics, candy. It is all to be whisked away tomorrow and donated to the local school, places where children are allowed to be children.

And so my brother and I spend the night playing with objects we don't even know exist until now. One is a remote-control truck that has a siren on top that flashes red and blue lights, washing the walls with color. Tomorrow my brother is to don the gold brocade lama hat like a horse's mane. He is to be carried on an open-air litter through the crowds, the sangha of the whole country and beyond gathered... But tonight we are two little boys playing among a pile of treasures the world mysteriously brings into our lives.

A great deal of research as well as some personal experience of Mongolia went into the writing, and the story shows it off as it travels from the vast interior grasslands to the northern ice to the western mountains to the southern desert, working in a non-Western perspective that portrays Genghis (Chinggis) Khan's distant rule in a far more benevolent light while condemning the more recent rule of Mongolia's communist puppet state that destroyed the monasteries and murdered their monks, part of the 5-10% of the population that died in the communist purges. It shows the current day rebirth of Mongolian Buddhism, its intertwined connection to Tibet, and the beliefs and practices of its adherents. Sometimes the information transmission gets in the way a bit of the storytelling, but it's such interesting stuff that I hardly minded.

In sum, a unique and memorable novel, from a skilled poet/novelist/playwright who has shown off quite an impressive literary range in her career thus far. ( )

A marvelous and rewarding read! Barry evidently is deeply engaged in Buddhist thought and practice as well as having an (understandable!) geographical love affair with Mongolia. A quest tale, the search for a new reincarnated being, a tulku, known as the One For Whom the Sky Never Darkens. The narrator is Chuluun, a young monk on the verge of taking his final vows and the group that goes on the search has two other 'tulku' although one, Chuluun's twin, Mun, who had also been named as the Redeemer Who Sounds the Conch in the Darkness has taken his vows as a child (without much choice) but walked out later, as a young adult. The story alternates with ease between their story, to the history of Buddhism in Mongolia, and to Chuluun's internal struggle about whether he will not take his final vows and will leave. So it is a quest story, a journey story, complex and beautifully put together and written. ***** ( )

Otherworldly and mysterious. Esoteric and contemplative. Reading about monks in Mongolia who seek the reincarnation of an important teacher took me on a journey far from my life. The characters cross extreme landscapes of ice and snow, the scorching sands of the desert, visit the tents of reindeer herders and the bustling city of Ulaanbaatar. The monks aspire to an enlightenment most only receive upon death. Like us, they also struggle with doubt.

When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East is a journey story. How Chuluun, a novice monk, is tasked to travel to the city and find his twin brother Mun, who left the monastery. With little Bat, they are to accompany Venerable Uncle to seek the the child who is a reborn teacher destined to bring the truth to the modern world.

You and I, [Uncle] says, we don’t choose this life. But the ones among us who thrive, like His Holiness, at some point, we do choose it. We choose it every hour with every breath.
from When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East by Quan Barry

Chuluun’s journey is also internal; he is anguished, lonely, uncertain. He finds himself near a woman for the first time since he was eight, the party’s cook Saran. His physic connection with his twin has been severed, but sometimes they can still enter each other’s minds as they had in early childhood, before the monks took them to the monastery when they were eight years old. Mun was identified as The Redeemer Who Sounds the Conch in the Darkness. But he had a rebelliousness and left, and now sports Western t-shirts, a phone and ear buds, leading tours for tourists.

Buddhism had been suppressed under the Soviets, their holy books and men destroyed. Likewise their history, dating to Chinggis Khan, was suppressed. These modern monks must reestablish the faith.

This world felt so real to me, Chuluun’s first person voice offering entry into his memories, observations, and recalled Buddhist teachings. We learn about the lives of the nomadic Mongolian peoples, their gers with electricity from solar energy or a generator and colorful painted furniture, the cuisine of mutton and turnip soup and marmot roasted from the inside with hot stones.

Buddhist teachings are densely woven into the story, guiding these characters. “When the only hope is a boat and there is no boat, we will become the boat,” Chuluun repeats to himself. What he learns over this journey brings insight that could change all our lives.

Thanks to A. A. Knopf for a free ARC. ( )

Read to p. 75
Right book, wrong time? Difficult to get into, as nearly all verbs are in the present tense - to emphasize the "every moment is now" philosophy?

"Destiny is letting yourself go where you are meant to go even when your mind says otherwise." (8)

What do I know of life? And am I ready to give up the pleasures of living when I know so little of experience? (25)

It can take innumerable lifetimes to wake up from this dream we call life. When awakening finally occurs, one often wakes up laughing. I open my eyes, but as always no laughter comes. Am I ever to find my way into the one radiant moment that is all things? (57)

Twin brothers were taken to the monastery as children; one of them believed to be the reincarnation of the Dali Lama. After a number of years, Mun, rejects his role and goes to the capital of Mongolia and leads a secular life. Meanwhile, the other twin has been charged along with an older Monk to "interview" three young children who have the possibilities of being the Lama's reincarnation.

Comprised on very short chapters, this novel tells a great deal of Buddhism especially regarding different types of Buddhism. There were many places, I took the time to read more from the internet.

The most interesting thing about the book is the contrast between the brothers and yet the closeness they feel as they can read each other's minds. The pull between the religious and the secular is not just a Christian theme.

There were places in the book, that I actually did not understand, but overall, it was interesting and I enjoyed the writing and the look at Mongolian culture. ( )