About this title: A fantastic tale of adventure by the English novelist. Four Europeans travelling in the Far East find themselves stranded in a lost world when their plane goes off course near Nepal and is forced to land in a mysterious kingdom called Shangri-La. One of the four, a young Englishman named Conway, narrates the tale of their experiences, which become more incredible and dreamlike as the story progresses.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books, New York
Date Published: 1973
ISBN-13:9780671783075ISBN:0671783076
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Nice soft cover, lightly read, shelf wear & aging to cover, bends on bottom corner of front cover, light creases on spine, stk #2392L7. 231 p., [16] p. of plates: ill.; 18 cm. Includes Illustrations. Seventy-sixth printing. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1973
ISBN-13:9780671783075ISBN:0671783076
Edition: Pocket book ed. 47th printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books
Date Published: 1969
Description: Good. No Jacket. Good. No DJ Issued Good. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. Cover has a bit of peeling at top/bottom edge of spine. About 5 percent of pages have some text underlining and margin notes. 169 p.; 17 cm. Cover illustration by Tom Dunn. Thirty-ninth printing. "Pocket book 1. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1967
Description: Good. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. A piece of tape on cover, slight spine creases, cover showing minor wear, name inside cover, pages tanning from age, Non smoking enviro SYNOPSIS: Lost Horizon tells of Conway's strange love of an ardent Chinese women and of a hypnotic dream of paradise that brought happiness to his life. Set in the hidden mountains of the blue Moon, it is a place of enchantment. No one grows old there. No one thinks of death. This is the story of four people brought to Shangri-La ... read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good. No Jacket. Sm. Tear On Spine, Spine Creased, Corners/Edges Shelf Worn, Previous Owners Name Inside Front Cover, Text Is Unmarked, Overall Good Copy. read more
"I first read this book in my early teens and was entranced by it. It's odd to read it again now. It's very much a novel of its time. Shangri-la is the emotional healing place for the horrors of WW1 - but we can't stay in the dreamland, we have to return to normal life, even if we spend the rest of our lives longing to return to the dreamland.
Hilton used the clumsy device of having the story retold by someone who had heard the tale from Conway, the main character - we're supposed to believe that he can remember it word for word in comprehensive detail. This technique covers up the plain workmanlike prose, the lack of description, the vague inconsistencies and puts the story on an intellectual plane rather than developing emotional involvement.
But Hilton tells the story well. He doesn't really give a strong motivation for Conway's change of heart and decision to leave Shangri-la, it's just a spur of the moment thing a complete reversal of his previous commitment.
It's interesting to compare the book to the film version. In the film they added two important characters: a comic character, Lovey, and the young woman with whom Conway falls in love - giving him motivation to stay (and later return).
In the film the character of the nun was replaced by a dying party-girl. The contrary character of Mallinson was replaced with Conway's brother, which gave Conway a much stronger motivation for leaving. The Russian girl (the brother's counterpart) actually says that she hates it in Shangri-la and wants to leave whereas in the book Lo-tsen never speaks.
The movie also made remaining in Shangri-la a matter of personal choice; the book makes it clear that Shangri-la is a prison that no one can leave - the idyllic dreamworld has a dark side and those who venture there must pay the price and surrender their freedom.
The book and the film have very different aims and themes. Hilton certainly created something that captures the imagination."
"I was assigned this book in 11th grade in Ms. Smith's AP English. I liked it then especially in comparison to the other drudgery she assigned. A strangely absorbing and fascinating story of a lost Englishman, it is a story within a story -- an adventure in time and space, in the course of which Conway and three fellow travelers are captured for the purpose of further experimentation in certain theories of longevity practiced successfully in a remote lamasery of the Tibetan mountains. In this still timely tale foreigners lost in Tibetan mountains find their dreams and then lose them in the harsh glare of reality. It takes place before World War II and is a metaphor for our lost innocence and the end of paradise."
"Great book for those looking for an easy read adventure.
This book had me from the beginning because of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a plane carry four unique characters. As the story progressed it was interesting to see each character evolve to there situation within Shangri-La. Conway, the main character, was very interesting because he was supposed to be a great leader, at least he was in the past. However, the more you found out about him you realized that he wasn't the leader that everybody though he was. Conway was content to go with the flow which is why he fit in so well at Shangri-La."
"This book takes place in a bar, where former classmates from Oxford reminisce about their friend Glory Conway and how he was intelligent and a superb athlete in college.One of the classmates says that Conway disappeared with three others in an airplane that was evacuating them from the war in Baskul to Peshawar. The plane never made it however, and vanished. He then goes on to say that he ran into Conway in a roman Catholic hospital and they both left on a ship for Honolulu. Conway proceeded to leave the ship, but before he does, he gives the classmate the manuscript that reveals what happened to him and the other passengers on the plane.
I found this book very hard to read because the style was not what i was used to. There was also may new words i had to find to understand the text."
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