A STORY OF KARMA
Finding Love and Truth in the Lost Valley of the Himalaya.
By Michael Schauch
Rocky Mountain Books
#a storyofkarma,#NetGalley,#MichaelSchauch
Canadians Michael and his wife Chantal love the outdoors and mountaineering is their passion.
In 2011, a friend who had been to Nepal was showing them some photographs of his visit. Michael spotted a pyramid-shaped mountain, deep in the Himalayas mountains in one of the photographs. The lost valley of Nar Phu, as his friend described it, is unknown in the most isolated far north corner of Himalaya, bordering Tibet. A remote hidden valley, an ancient mountain culture, a place closed off to outsiders. This captivated Michael. He became obsessed to climb that peak. That became his goal. The mountain had called him. He did not know the name of it.
So in 2012, he made up a team of like-minded people consisting of a photographer, a painter, and a musician, who would trek with him and Chantal to Nepal. The expedition to observe, learn, and document ancient Himalayan mountain people.
The area they traveled to was the most remote and inhospitable desert of ice and rock in the most far-flung part of Nepal. The lost village of Phu, “an unworldly place from a forgotten era”
Due to bad weather, they had to abandon their expedition.
On their way back to Kathmandu, they decided to rest in a village. There at a visit to a village school, they meet up with a little girl, named Karma. It was love at first sight. They wanted to adopt her and take her to Canada to educate her and give her a better life. Michael and Chantal interacted with the family. All concerned were interested in educating the child. And so begins the story of Karma.
Will Michael and Chantal take them to Canada?
They had observed that the mountain dwellers had learned to live with only the barest of necessities, but they were as rich in spirit. They lived in harmony with nature. They took pride in their rituals. They were hardy and resilient. Michael thought that what will happen to all this once the villagers are exposed to increased tourism, globalization, consumerism, the internet, cell phones, television, and movies. Will their culture disappear? Will Karma lose this culture once she is in Canada?
Michael and Chantal had to do what was best for Karma. A very thought-provoking book. Eventually, they do the right thing.
Beautifully written travel and adventure memoir. Heartwarming. Enjoyed the read.
I give this book a 5-star rating.

A Story of Karma starts out as a typical adventure memoir in the style of Bill Bryson or Cheryl Strayed, but quickly evolves from a journey to oneself to a lifetime of global community, spiritual growth and finding family in far flung places.

Since the craziness that is (was) 2020 has prevented travel for most, this book will fill the voyage void in the reader. Set in Nepal, the culture shown is vastly different and very refreshing.

I thought this book was very enlightening. You come to understand the author’s journey as they go off on an expedition in search of the great challenging mountains and end up getting some new perspective. I also really enjoyed how much they went into the different cultures within Nepal and explained how they interpreted things while over there and how they were perceived by others.

I’m a travel junkie so hearing about all the cool places to be seen in this world makes me want to get off my butt and get out there. I can just imagine how those kids reacted to new people in their village. I have been to Nicaragua and when I was there, we put on these little camps for the kids and their eyes just lit up and their smiles were huge because they were experiencing something they normally never would have had the opportunity to do.

It’s really refreshing to see how the smallest things to us could be a huge deal for someone in a third world country and it really puts our lives into perspective which is definitely a point I think the author was hoping to get across.

I think it is beautiful what Michael and Chantal ended up doing and that it was a life-changing moment for them. I can’t really get into specifics without giving the book away. All I can say is to read it and follow along with Michael as he discovers something that would change his life.

Wow! I really enjoyed this one! I have always been fascinated with this region of the world. This heartwarming story painted such a vivid picture!

I wasn’t a fan of this book. Perhaps it is cultural differences between myself being British and the author being Canadian but I felt the book was far more about Mike and his experiences and expectations than it was about Karma’s. The talk of vibrations and other sensations I also found a bit ‘woo’ but the natives of the West Coast of North America can be a bit woo at times. It felt to me slightly self congratulatory, describing walking into Karma’s village with her father, a man he’d met no more than a handful of times as ‘returning home as family’ was fairly shocking to me and I doubt it was a reciprocal thing. The epilogue didn’t surprise me, though the reasoning of needing to complete year 10 in Nepal felt flimsy. When creating the letter with three options for the parents, why hadn’t it occurred to them then that Karma wasn’t far off that age?
I will give the book 2 stars and that is for the beautiful and rich descriptions of Nepal and its people. I’ve read a great deal of mountaineer memoirs and he definitely has the edge over any of them when it comes to describing the landscape.

Michael Schauch’s account begins as many travel journals do, with his call to go abroad to pursue his passion, in this case mountain climbing. His early desire to be a writer is evident in his detailed descriptions of the physical and emotional landscapes through which he passes. The people of the mountain villages in Nepal soon overshadow the desire to simply climb another mountain, and the heart of the tale begins as Schauch and his wife, Chantel, are captivated by a young girl named Karma and her drive to learn.

The story then becomes one of their sponsorship of the education of Karma and her younger sister both in Nepal and in Canada. The end has not yet been written, but one can only anticipate the next steps in the journey and potentially a sequel publication. While there is certainly a level of human interest in A Story of Karma, it seems to suffer from being a bit too insular. It is meaningful to Schauch and to this Nepalese village, but a reader is really left with more questions than connection at the end of the day. Is there a call here to action? Is Schauch simply sharing his experience and actions with the world because he can? I am not sure. While he makes sure to stress a commitment to honoring the heritage and home culture for the girls, there is always a concern for cultural appropriation in stories such as this one. At the end of the day, it is an interesting read, written well enough, but not much more. Despite the title, it seems to be more of the author‘s story than Karma’s.

Thank you to Michael Schauch, Rocky Mountain Books, and NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Story of Karma: Finding Love and Truth in the Lost Valley of the Himalaya

A truly beautiful and inspiring story.
Loved the travel and adventure aspects to this book, beautiful description of trekking in the mountains and of the people they met on their journey. Written in a style that draws the reader in and makes them want to join the party, especially with the wonderful musician. I can only imagine the joy he brought to the people they met and I felt it was reciprocated by the locals.
The second half of the book follows the journey of first one, then two girls (sisters) lives and how a chance meeting leads to a magical relationship between families, across continents and spanning worlds. The trust shown by the family in the two strangers who arrive and make huge promises is heart warming and following the progression makes for an inspirational read.
I was gripped by the book throughout and simply couldn’t put it down. It was a joy to read and I hope there will be another book to continue the story as the girls grow up. There is little doubt that they will make an enormous success of whatever they choose to do, given their drive, determination and acceptance of life’s challenges and possibilities.