Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Lost in Shangri-La: Book Review



Lost in Shangri-La
By Mitchell Zuckoff


Lost in Shangri-La, takes place in New Guinea. There is a military army base at the end of WW2.  On May 13, 1945, 24 military men, and women decide they want to take a fun trip. They want to take a pleasure trip into the valley, known as Shangri-La. There is plenty stories that has come out of the valley.

They are flying on the Gremlin Special into the valley, and then a fatal crash occurs.   Of the 24 men and women, only three survive the plane crash. The three are hurt very badly, Margaret Hastings, John McCollum, and  Kenneth Decker, are severely wounded.

How they trek on foot with their multiple injuries in the jungle. Worried they will succumb to health problems. Such as gangrene, sepsis, and eventually loosing their leg, and possibly death. How they were able to survive.

But, not only do they have to worry about the Japanese, and the jungle elements. But, the natives from a "lost Civilization". They come upon natives that are friendly as well as cannibals and headhunters.

It is a interesting story about how these three connect with the natives. The natives think they are g-ds that fell from the sky. They are from a lost civilization, where life is primitive.

We learn about how the rescue happened instead of a plane they used the invention of a glider, into the jungle. How they found the right people for the rescue team, and what difficulties happened along the way.

The story is not just about the survivor's survival, but a lost civilization of natives they met.
The author uses Margaret's journal that was found, to thell about their survival, the planned rescue, the culture of the natives, that lived in Shangri-La.

After the rescue this lost civilization, what happened to the lost civilization of Shangri-La? During the time the three were living in Shangri-La, there was air drops of necessities. The natives were curious of course.  They wanted to become civilized.  The world came to them, and modernized the natives.

The ending tells what happened to the natives, the survivors, and the rescuers. What fame did to them, etc. The book reminded me of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I wanted to read this because, I wanted to read something different.  If you want to read to transport you,to someplace else than this is it.   I am glad I read this book.  I highly recommend.

If you want to supplement your reading, go to the author's website. There are videos that show the interesting rescue of the three survivors on the Gremlin Special.

 This copy was borrowed from the library.










1 comment:

Abel Persall said...

Margaret Robertson Hastings Kennedy had a son in Australia who is doing a dna test with someone in New Zeland aka Papa New Guine aka Rabbit and Hastings Island.

I think she was also marylyn monroe baker abd Margaret Thatcher (isolated in the fualkins Shangri la to me)

Maybe it just obvious to me because I'm her daughter Sue Ann Hastings, son, Abel.