The Unbearable Dreamworld of Champa the Driver product reviews

I was really looking forward to reading this as I have travelled through Tibet and China and thought it would perhaps give me some interesting insight into how Tibet and China have changed over the years.

Sadly this book was lacking in any depth and although there were a few moments of cultural interest for the most part this was a very difficult to read story of Champa's obsession with his genitals and with having sex even if it was against his partners will. The story lacked any clear direction aside from Champa giving up what was clearly a very good life with Plum his boss in Lhasa who he chauffeured to chase after her daughter having spoken all of a few sentences to her to chase her to Beijing where he wanted to start a new life.

Told in the first person I certainly felt no connection with Champa's character. I am not sure if much of the authors intent was lost in translation or if there really was a lack of structure and depth in the original story. There were moments when I thought the story would get good such as when the cars crash on a deserted stretch of highway or there was discussion about immolation by Tibetans but for the most part I had to force myself to read this novel and I did not enjoy a minute of it.

I am not sure if this is really how life is for a Tibetan but Champa certainly seemed to have a level of naivety regarding abandoning his whole life for a random encounter with his bosses daughter without any understanding of the consequences. The story jumped around so much that it didn't seem at all real though I imagine the issues were such as animal rights activists saving dogs, people being held and abused in detention without legal recourse, self immolation etc.

I can't really recommend this and it won't be finding a home on my book shelf.