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  • Nine Lives

  • In Search of the Sacred in Modern India
  • Written by: William Dalrymple
  • Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
  • Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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Nine Lives

Written by: William Dalrymple
Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
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Publisher's Summary

Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize 2010. Winner of the 2010 Asia House Award for Asian Literature.

A Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet - then spends the rest of his life trying to atone for the violence by hand printing the best prayer flags in India. A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve herself to death. Nine people, nine lives; each one taking a different religious path, each one an unforgettable story. William Dalrymple delves deep into the heart of a nation torn between the relentless onslaught of modernity and the ancient traditions that endure to this day.

©2009 William Dalrymple (P)2011 Audible Ltd

What the critics say

"An absolutely beautiful book, clean and honest and edifying and moving. I love so much about it: a delight." (Elizabeth Gilbert)
"Dalrymple's study of people and beliefs in India ranks with the very finest travel writing.... A series of biographies which unpick the rich religious heritage of the subcontinent, it makes its political points more powerfully than any newspaper article and displays deep knowledge of the culture." ( Observer)

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Interesting book that was rendered awfully

I liked that the book gets at some of the minority populations and sacred rituals/traditions which we don't often read about. Some are better covered than others in the book. And, in some stories, it almost seem callous when the author ends the chapter with something where he finds out the principal character had died, and there was not much follow up. It seems that the author gets to go back to his comfortable living and profit from their stories while his characters suffer. Overall, I did not enjoy this book as much as some of his other books.

The reading of the book is awful. Daniel tries to concoct an Indian accent while mispronouncing some of the simple Indian words. It reminded me of the Appu character on the Simpsons. And, the editing leaves a something to be desired. You can hear Daniel say, "Sorry," and continue to re-read a part of the sentence.

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