This book captivates a sense of innocence and honesty that is palpable on each page. Mable Lee Barby wrote the book I always wanted to read about the district that as a child I wandered and wondered endlessly. Mable is buried between "Jonce" and "Kate" overlooking the town. Cripple Creek has mostly disappeared from what I knew. There are no more "old timers" sitting on chairs in front of screen doors of dusty old shops holding so many individual memories of the characters that made Cripple Creek such an special place. The wheel house is almost gone from the surrounding hills but there is a spiritual core of a history that will never die.

Frank Waters did a wonderful job with his two books and there have been others but when I see Bennett St. or even pass the front steps of the old stone building of Colorado College I think of Mable Lee Barbee. In this book she left a record of her and others lives that will never be equaled. There is a sweet fragrance!

This is a brilliant novel which engages the reader fully. The plot twists and turns as if this were a work of fiction rather than a biography. The characters are vivid, unique and unforgettable ... and they were real people. Ms. Barbee Lee was a keen observer and her descriptions are fascinating. Most of all, I liked how she tells us interesting gossip about some of the powerful people involved in the Cripple Creek gold rush and then, explains how things turned out and why. Some of these explanations needed enough time to pass in order to be told. While reading this page-turner, I felt like I was watching the events unfold through a window. I have recommended it to friends just because it is a really good book. The fact that it is true and will give the reader more insight into the past and into Colorado's mining history is just a bonus.

For people who love to read about history they will especially enjoy this book. Rather than being a boring historical account of events that occurred during the Cripple Creek gold rush this book is a first hand experience of a young girl who actually grew up in Cripple Creek during the gold rush. It is filled with lots of tid-bits about what life was actually like back then - food they ate, clothes they wore ect. as opposed to a bunch of historical facts. A good read if you're interested in what life was like in Cripple Creek.

The Nobel Prize for Literature is given to a writer for the body of work they have produced. I have wondered in the past if the circumstances under which an author wrote, and or the danger their writing placed them in ever played a role in their recognition as well. "One Man's Bible", by Gao Xingjian was a very trying book to wade through. I received a copy early and it took me almost 2 months to finally make my way through the work. This became a book I would read between others as opposed to a work I enjoyed enough to read for what it had to offer. The book is written as though it was produced as it came to the writer's mind, not organized, rather just a chronicle of a variety of thoughts and experiences.

There are a few issues which may detract from the possibility of enjoying this work including, my lack of knowledge regarding the various rebellions, revolutions, and counter revolutions that this tale chronicles. I am also unsure how easily the original work in Chinese translates in to English. Much of the persecution the author describes is familiar to other repressive regimes that were based in Soviet Russia, or a variety of European Countries. But even though the wretched behavior of whatever group in power exerts over the weak is appalling, I have a harder time getting involved with the work. It is not a lack of empathy, but a lack of knowledge or perhaps a lack of understanding of Chinese history and culture.

This author has clearly had an impact on the literary world, and he may or may not have been recognized with The Nobel Prize if he lived in a nation that permitted freedom of expression. I don't have that answer, and that is why I do not rate the book as a poor one.

The part I really did enjoy was a chapter when the author wrote about writing and why people in general and he in particular write. While this was interesting it was confined to a single chapter, and this was not enough to keep me interested for any great length of time.

I highly recommend this book. Initially I found it difficult and the sequences with Margarethe were perhaps a little bit tiresome but warming up to the story I got a lot out of it. I don't agree that the horrors of the Cultural Revolution were just like the purges and fascist regimes in other parts of the world. Instead of simple oppression by evil regimes against suffering citizens there was instead millions of little civil wars in every commune, every factory, every office across the country.

The style is a little detached at times but this adds to the atmosphere. The writer doesn't try to create victim-heroes but shows what it was like for the compromised majority. A world dominated by fear and compromise, favours furtively delivered and favours frantically called in. Beatings, up-rooting and death are common in a situation where one is not allowed to be neutral, one must take sides to survive. It was corrosive to all human relationships and leaving a generation traumatised. One can only wonder what it really meant to experience it, or what it would be like if social purists or Christian Reconstructionists came to power in ones own country.

The description is thorough and uncompromising; the experience of being caught up in the events well communicated but it is neither a confession nor an accusation. It is ultimately the tale of ordinary fearful people put in terrifying circumstances where every thing you ever did or said could betray you. At the end there is a sort of acceptance and personal reconciliation.

Read it, its good.

Most Chinese textbooks that I have seen focus on grammar and writing Chinese characters. This is fine if your focus is academic. However, for those who simply want to acquire useful phrases via short dialogues, Putonghua: A Practical Course in Spoken Chinese would probably be useful. Dialogues are presented in pinyin, with the hanzi (character) equivalent at the end of the book. There are also short lists of related vocabulary opposite each dialogue page.

The weak point of the book is that there are almost no grammatical explanations. You have to induce grammar rules from the dialogues. Also, since the book is called Putonghua, the characters presented are the simplified hanzi, not the traditional forms used in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Anyway, for the price, it's not a bad book.

Soul Mountain is a mountainous, momentous book. It is beautifully and evocative, a portrait of journeys both physical and spiritual. It is also a very tiring read, and is a chore to get through.

The first third of this monstrously long tome is engaging and enjoyable, but the second third is dense, rambling, and confusing. I haven't managed to read past this point, but apparently things pick up at the end. This is not beach reading. This is the sort of book that you take a year on, reading a chapter a week.

The "plot", if you can call it that, of Soul Mountain is well known already. It is significant in that Gao wrote it mainly for his own benefit, and as such is less carefully constructed than his plays and other novels.

Soul Mountain's many unusual literary devices work very cleverly in the original Chinese, but are awkward in the translation. This is not to blame the translator, who did a brave job of a daunting task, as it's a matter of linguistic discrepancy. The book is so rife with folklore and obscure cultural and literary references that it will through even the most seasonsed China Hand, not to mention baffle the average reader.

My friends who read this book in the original Chinese had much higher praise for it than I could muster, and apparently Gao's other novels are less existencial and far more enjoyable. There is an unfortunate paucity of Gao's works in English. The only other option, The Other Shore, a collection of his later plays, contains only a sampling of his later, more abstract works. Early scripts, such as Bus Stop, which first established his reputation and revolutionized theater in China, are unfortunately unavailable in English. Only as more translations become available will English readers become aware of the scope of Gao's talent and why he is so deserving of the Nobel.

I thought Soul Mountain was one of the most stunning,provocative books I have ever read. It had my total attention from the first paragraph.I found myself periodically closing the book and just staring at the cover, musing to myself,"How did he write this? How brilliant and unique this writing style is." The translation-not speaking Chinese I have no idea if the translation was accurate poetically, emotionally or literally- but if Mabel Lee has made up her own work on Soul Mountain through a poor translation (as some of your reviewers suggested, I say, I can't wait to read more of Mabel Lee.

I have recommended this book to everyone I know and purchased it for scores of people. I consider it to be a brilliant cross-over journeybetween spirit and flesh and China and the West. I have re-read entire sections over and over, and each time enjoy it as much as the first reading.

I eagerly await Gao Xingjian's next book.

I was attracted to the Soul Mountain by the negative remarks of my compatriots. I agree with everyone that there are many great Chinese writers in China, but their works have not been introduced to readers in other cultures due to the great difficulty of the Chinese language. I was a little doubtful myself that the Soul Mountain may not be representative of achievement of Chinese writers, but was among the lucky few noticed by the world. As I read, however, I could not put it down. Gao Xingjian absolutely deserves the Nobel prize. I have read enough of both English and Chinese authors to tell.

I am overwhelmed, awed, amazed, dazzled, and deeply humbled at this powerful writing. There are so many things he is searching answers for. It will take me much more serching, much more thinking, much more exploring than my limited talent and experience could afford to be able to fully understand everything in this book. As far as I can tell, rarely has one writer ever produced as soul-searching, as provoking, as pounding a note in one single volume. How a work of such complexity is translated into other languages and accepted by other cultures is nothing short of a miracle. On the other hand, I believe Gao Xingjian's writing is a poem that transcends geographic border, time, and cultures. It searches answers for universal questions that have perplexed people everywhere at all times. I can't but feel sorry for those who allege that Gao won the Nobel Prize only by denigrating China. He doesn't have time nor does he need to denigrate China. There were already tons and tons of works on the Cultural Revolution and its calamities. He is not a historian or politician. He is a poet, a philosopher, a fine human being who takes life seriously.

I have read many other books on all kinds of subjects. But few, in my view, have achieved this standing. Some may have achieved in several books what he has in one chapter, or in one small tale. Some have sweated in many volumes to achieve what he achieved on one subject. This artful weaving of facts and magic, present and history, folklores and modernity, reality and imagination presents a perfect reading for those who love literature and who also are looking for a meaning of life.