Among Flowers: A Walk In The Himalaya (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
There is something about Nepal, something a little magical, a little mystical, completely absorbing and intriguing. Sometime during my university days, I joined a group of fellow students (from that other university in Singapore) who were going trekking in Nepal, specifically making the trip to the Annapurna base camp. It was an 18- day trip and as I had been a member of the Outdoor Activities Club in my junior college (that’s kinda like the last two years of high school) where we did plenty of hiking and camping, I thought it sounded great and hoped it wouldn’t be all that difficult.Alas, it was. All that climbing and steps and steps and steps. Steps into the village and out of the village and in again. But it was also just amazing. The porters and their ability to carry most of our stuff around in gigantic towering packs were just astonishing and the food they managed to whip up in the middle of nowhere – they even made an apple pie and roast chicken once! And every morning, you were greeted by a friendly voice outside your tent and a steaming mug of tea. And at the end of the day as we headed into the day’s campsite (usually almost all set up by the time we arrived – I was usually at the tail end of the group) a refreshing drink of pineapple juice.Food and steps aside, among my favourite memories of the trip is one as we were leaving one of these mountain-side villages, down a step, and another, and another… And as we treaded our careful way down (these steps, I should add, tend to be larger than your typical stairs – usually requiring both feet to be on the one step, unless I suppose you have really long legs or are just used to these kinda of steps), these two kids in greyish, worn school uniforms, a boy and an older girl, fly past us. They dash down these very steps and head off into the distance, off to school which seemed to be a mountain away. I could follow their journey a little way as they raced down and out of their village and across to the next set of mountains until they were such tiny figures I could hardly see them anymore.“And it was brought home to me again, that while every moment I was experiencing had an exquisite uniqueness and made me feel that everything was unforgettable, I was also in the middle of someone else’s daily routine, someone captured by the ordinariness of his everyday life.”Luckily Kincaid has managed to put those similar feelings into far more eloquent prose as she travels Nepal with botanists collecting seeds.And there are many moments like these in her travelogue, Among Flowers, some pretty little gems that made me reminisce of that time not so long ago when I took was in Nepal. A time when I was younger and more carefree and more willing to put up with nights in a tent and bathing from a pail of water.However, Kincaid’s voice is at times a bit whiny and the book reads quite like a diary, very personal, pretty honest, and has some mundane details – so it might put some readers off. But I could understand – even that 20-year-old me, so used to outdoorsy stuff, was just completely overwhelmed by Nepal, its beauty, its people, and its lack of plumbing.Among Flowers is a short enjoyable read and it left me wanting to learn more about the Maoists and the tumultuous history of Nepal (which reminds me – a few days after we returned from Nepal, the royal massacre took place). The book is part of the National Geographic Directions series, which includes books by writers like Oliver Sacks and Francine Prose, definitely worth checking out!
This is the only book I've read by Kincaid so I have no way of comparing the style here to other works. This is rather an odd book in a way; part travel book, part nature quest in a search for plants, part personal crisis of identity at times during the trek in Nepal. Parts of the story are mesmerizing. Some of the description, especially of the nights, are glorious, but so much of the writing is full of repetition, not accidental or in error but obviously stylistic. I found this to be annoying much of the time. Occasionally it added to Kincaid's emotional intensity, perhaps her purpose, but seemed overdone.I am not a gardener, but I do enjoy walking my neighborhood and taking photos of others plants and trees. I may not be the target reader. I'm definitely not a person who would trek into the Himalayas. While parts of this book were a bit lost on me, and I did wonder at times why Kincaid went through this ordeal, she provided glimpses of her reasons enough for me to be glad I read of her experience.A couple of examples of her writing that I particularly enjoyed and that helped me understand her purpose. "We had been walking for six days now and there had been nothing substantial to collect. Nothing for me anyway. I would have done this, even if I had not been interested in the garden. Just to see the earth crumpling itself upward, just to experience the physical world as an unending series of verticals going up and then going down---with everything horizontal, or even diagonal, being only a way of making this essentially vertical world a little simpler---made me quiet." (pp 76-77)And a second excerpt: "Leaving the pass was like leaving a great book, which had yielded every kind of satisfaction that is to be found in a great book, except that with such a book you can immediately begin on page one again and create the feeling of not having read it before, even though the reality is you have read it before." (p 138)I would recommend this only for gardeners and trekkers though I didn't dislike it. 2.5 to 3
What do You think about Among Flowers: A Walk In The Himalaya (2007)?
Part memoir, part travel journal we are taken deep into the mountains for Nepal by three friends of the author who are botanists. She was very brave to go at all and when she gets there we know that for sure. At the end of this remarkable account I too felt glad for her. That she had faced her many fears and had much to look back on with pride and satisfaction.This is for anyone who likes to travel. Or would like to travel to unknown places that hold a measure of intrigue. This is for anyone who loves gardening and finding a new speciman to try. This is for anyone who loves home and family.
—Helen
The author was asked by a publishing house where she'd like to go, and write about it. Avid Vermont gardener that she is, she opted for seed collecting in Nepal. A seed collecting gardener friend from the Washington peninsula goes with her.I really enjoyed this book as a travelogue, personal journey and finding out about plant life in Nepal. Although her narrative is sometimes too involved with personal minutiae, it's a small complaint and also reflects her honesty about the difficulties (and joys) of the journey for her, despite training for months beforehand. If you want to know what it's really like to be a tourist on the trek in Nepal, this will give an idea.
—Diane C.
Published by National Geographic this is a part travel journal and memoir of the author's trip to Nepal and more specifically to the Himalayan mountains. She and three others were on a mission to collect seeds to bring back to their specific geographic areas. Ms. Kincaid lives in Vermont so she was especially interested in seeds that would thrive in that climate. Her wonder of all that she saw and experienced gave this account a realistic impression. The group encountered tropical temperatures, violent thunderstorms, as well as Maoist soldiers. Quite an interesting read!
—Wanda
