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Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven
They were young, brilliant, and bold. They set out to conquer the world. But the world had other plans for them.
Bestselling author Susan Jane Gilman's new memoir is a hilarious and harrowing journey, a modern heart of darkness filled with Communist operatives, backpackers, and pancakes.
In 1986, fresh out of college, Gilman and her friend Claire yearned to do something daring and original that did not involve getting a job. Inspired by a place mat at the International House of Pancakes, they decided to embark on an ambitious trip around the globe, starting in the People's Republic of China. At that point, China had been open to independent travelers for roughly ten minutes.
Armed only with the collected works of Nietzsche, an astrological love guide, and an arsenal of bravado, the two friends plunged into the dusty streets of Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, they quickly found themselves in over their heads. As they ventured off the map deep into Chinese territory, they were stripped of everything familiar and forced to confront their limitations amid culture shock and government surveillance. What began as a journey full of humor, eroticism, and enlightenment grew increasingly sinister-becoming a real-life international thriller that transformed them forever.
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven is a flat-out page-turner, an astonishing true story of hubris and redemption told with Gilman's trademark compassion, lyricism, and wit.
Bestselling author Susan Jane Gilman's new memoir is a hilarious and harrowing journey, a modern heart of darkness filled with Communist operatives, backpackers, and pancakes.
In 1986, fresh out of college, Gilman and her friend Claire yearned to do something daring and original that did not involve getting a job. Inspired by a place mat at the International House of Pancakes, they decided to embark on an ambitious trip around the globe, starting in the People's Republic of China. At that point, China had been open to independent travelers for roughly ten minutes.
Armed only with the collected works of Nietzsche, an astrological love guide, and an arsenal of bravado, the two friends plunged into the dusty streets of Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, they quickly found themselves in over their heads. As they ventured off the map deep into Chinese territory, they were stripped of everything familiar and forced to confront their limitations amid culture shock and government surveillance. What began as a journey full of humor, eroticism, and enlightenment grew increasingly sinister-becoming a real-life international thriller that transformed them forever.
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven is a flat-out page-turner, an astonishing true story of hubris and redemption told with Gilman's trademark compassion, lyricism, and wit.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2009
About the author
Susan Jane Gilman
10 books387 followersSusan Jane Gilman’s new novel, “Donna Has Left the Building” will be published in June 2019. She is also the bestselling author of three nonfiction books “Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress,” “Undress me in the Temple of Heaven,” and “Kiss My Tiara," as well as the novel, "The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street." She's provided commentary for National Public Radio. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan, and has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Ms. magazine, among others. Her fiction and essays have received several literary awards.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,132 reviews
September 28, 2018
About a week ago, Paul read me an article sharing general statistics about American traveling differences between generations.
It seems today the majority of Baby Boomers tend to take 1 or 2 long vacations a year - ( anywhere between 2 to 6 week’s on average).
Generation X’ers tend to vacation more often throughout the year - flying all over the world - but shorter stay-aways.
Very few of any generation are taking off for a year - or two - to tour the world today.
That was actually more common in the 70’s and 80’s than today. I guess I was just a ‘statistic’ myself. I spent two years outside the U.S traveling wild in the early 70’s ....
So, for ‘some mindless reason’.......I picked Susan Jane Gilman’s non-fiction book “Undress Me in The Temple of Heaven” to listen to through the library OVERDRIVE.
GUILTY: I’ve owned the hardcopy book for about 5 years.
It took ‘seeing’ the availability of this book on my iPhone to tempt me to read it. All I had to do was press my finger. Magic.... Susan’s voice was mine to listen to for three weeks - at no charge.
I expected some horrific & hilarious adventures - and lots of self-realization. I expected to relate to hardships from being in third world countries - young - single -white -western -females. DANGER ALERTS!
I ‘didn’t’ expect the prose to be as intelligent, and ‘mature-in-sophistication’, as it was. It was LOVELY to my ears hearing Susan read very detailed descriptions both of the setting and of characters.
The year was 1986......tourism in China wasn’t a popular holiday destination by any means - let alone low budget backpack trips for two Ivy League graduates who were ‘acquaintances’.
Actually .... I may have just given a ‘small’ spoiler away: *acquaintances*.....but I’ll say no more about that other than THAT *WORD* DIDN’T register with me when I was reading most of this book. The RED FLAG WENT OFF MORE THAN HALF WAY PAST READING/LISTENING to it.
‘
I enjoyed Susan’s *writing* very much! She’s a bright woman - an excellent skillful - interesting descriptive writer ....both emotionally and intellectually.
I also liked her ‘voice’ .......( easy-peasey to be with) > ok, so I made up that word: “peasey”.... sue me! lol
The other thing that I respected and appreciated....Susan didn’t write this book soon after returning home. There are many years removed from her youthful naive days from when she wrote this book — allowing her perspective to carry a greater substantial weight of truth & wisdom. Too soon after her return she might have been an emotional basket-case still processing post- travel- cultural shock. I know it took me ‘years’ to process my return home.
There is a very sad story in here that I never expected to read ( here I am again - a magnet to the sadness)..... but once again this book is a cautionary tale to our young daughters who have a travel bug. This is a very different book than “A House In The Sky”, by Amanda Lindhout & Sara Corbett.....
Yet BOTH BOOKS contain realities for potential travel- the - world bug with no experience.
Favorite smells on the streets in dusty Shanghai : urine, Jasmine, pork, mildew, Sandalwood, and gasoline. ( smells all blended together). Yuck!
A FUNNY LINE.....( haha...not really).....but I laughed.....
When speaking of China in 1986......
“Sometimes, it seems like this entire country is run by the New York department of vehicles”.
4 solid stars. I could almost give it a full 5 stars.... This was a great listening companion. I talked ‘back’ to my Audiobook a few times when I wanted to kill the girls for choices they made....yet.....I was pulling for them - with all my heart.
I believe most readers would.
It seems today the majority of Baby Boomers tend to take 1 or 2 long vacations a year - ( anywhere between 2 to 6 week’s on average).
Generation X’ers tend to vacation more often throughout the year - flying all over the world - but shorter stay-aways.
Very few of any generation are taking off for a year - or two - to tour the world today.
That was actually more common in the 70’s and 80’s than today. I guess I was just a ‘statistic’ myself. I spent two years outside the U.S traveling wild in the early 70’s ....
So, for ‘some mindless reason’.......I picked Susan Jane Gilman’s non-fiction book “Undress Me in The Temple of Heaven” to listen to through the library OVERDRIVE.
GUILTY: I’ve owned the hardcopy book for about 5 years.
It took ‘seeing’ the availability of this book on my iPhone to tempt me to read it. All I had to do was press my finger. Magic.... Susan’s voice was mine to listen to for three weeks - at no charge.
I expected some horrific & hilarious adventures - and lots of self-realization. I expected to relate to hardships from being in third world countries - young - single -white -western -females. DANGER ALERTS!
I ‘didn’t’ expect the prose to be as intelligent, and ‘mature-in-sophistication’, as it was. It was LOVELY to my ears hearing Susan read very detailed descriptions both of the setting and of characters.
The year was 1986......tourism in China wasn’t a popular holiday destination by any means - let alone low budget backpack trips for two Ivy League graduates who were ‘acquaintances’.
Actually .... I may have just given a ‘small’ spoiler away: *acquaintances*.....but I’ll say no more about that other than THAT *WORD* DIDN’T register with me when I was reading most of this book. The RED FLAG WENT OFF MORE THAN HALF WAY PAST READING/LISTENING to it.
‘
I enjoyed Susan’s *writing* very much! She’s a bright woman - an excellent skillful - interesting descriptive writer ....both emotionally and intellectually.
I also liked her ‘voice’ .......( easy-peasey to be with) > ok, so I made up that word: “peasey”.... sue me! lol
The other thing that I respected and appreciated....Susan didn’t write this book soon after returning home. There are many years removed from her youthful naive days from when she wrote this book — allowing her perspective to carry a greater substantial weight of truth & wisdom. Too soon after her return she might have been an emotional basket-case still processing post- travel- cultural shock. I know it took me ‘years’ to process my return home.
There is a very sad story in here that I never expected to read ( here I am again - a magnet to the sadness)..... but once again this book is a cautionary tale to our young daughters who have a travel bug. This is a very different book than “A House In The Sky”, by Amanda Lindhout & Sara Corbett.....
Yet BOTH BOOKS contain realities for potential travel- the - world bug with no experience.
Favorite smells on the streets in dusty Shanghai : urine, Jasmine, pork, mildew, Sandalwood, and gasoline. ( smells all blended together). Yuck!
A FUNNY LINE.....( haha...not really).....but I laughed.....
When speaking of China in 1986......
“Sometimes, it seems like this entire country is run by the New York department of vehicles”.
4 solid stars. I could almost give it a full 5 stars.... This was a great listening companion. I talked ‘back’ to my Audiobook a few times when I wanted to kill the girls for choices they made....yet.....I was pulling for them - with all my heart.
I believe most readers would.
January 20, 2023
I almost did not read this book due to it's chick lit title. Yet, the title is beautiful.I imagined these two young Women traveling around the world and ending up in bed with various men. I was not far off. Well, I thought, what would you have done at that age? Who knows? Times have changed.So I left the Judgment go.
The writer is excellent in her descriptions, et cetera. Her trip was not that exciting. But it was honest. I don't think very many vacations can be that all exciting unless they are true adventures. Still, I felt that I was experiencing china in the 1980s. I wish now that I had gone with my Chinese friend to china when she asked me to go with her.
The book picked up when Susan's friend had a nervous breakdown in china, became paranoid schizophrenic. That was when I begin having concern for her friend and for what they were going to do to get her home. I had had a friend in college who became paranoid schizophrenic, And I had to end our friendship. At least I knew what was happening with my friend, Susan was not sure. This made it harder for Susan to make the right decisions, but she finally did.
The writer is excellent in her descriptions, et cetera. Her trip was not that exciting. But it was honest. I don't think very many vacations can be that all exciting unless they are true adventures. Still, I felt that I was experiencing china in the 1980s. I wish now that I had gone with my Chinese friend to china when she asked me to go with her.
The book picked up when Susan's friend had a nervous breakdown in china, became paranoid schizophrenic. That was when I begin having concern for her friend and for what they were going to do to get her home. I had had a friend in college who became paranoid schizophrenic, And I had to end our friendship. At least I knew what was happening with my friend, Susan was not sure. This made it harder for Susan to make the right decisions, but she finally did.
July 25, 2013
I'm not sure -- maybe it's me, but I found this book surprisingly fascinating and powerful.
This memoir describes Susan's adventures with her college friend Claire in the mid-1980s, as the two impulsively decide to backpack around the world. Naive and woefully unprepared, they start out in the People's Republic of China which had only recently been opened to foreign travelers. Susan, anticipating a lighthearted journey, finds herself overwhelmed by the stress of being in a foreign country where little English is spoken and the rules are radically different and unpredictable. Determined to actually experience foreign culture and to avoid cushioning themselves in a Westernized bubble, Susan and Clair find themselves in roach-infested cold-water dormitories struggling with the hassles of obtaining food, transportation, and medical care as needed. The time period is quite relevant -- in the 1980s there were no cell phones or internet to facilitate contact with family, get necessary information, or smooth over difficulties. To make matters much worse, Claire's behavior becomes increasingly bizarre and unmanageable.
There are good moments, too, though. Susan writes just as engagingly and vividly about some of the highs of her experience and the people she meets. Susan and Claire's chosen traveling style comes at a high price but can also be rewarding. And without overdoing the introspection as many memoirists do, Susan does give the reader some food for thought about the Western romanticizing of poverty and foreign lifestyles, and the unwittingly ironic, condescending and patronizing concept of presuming that you can actually absorb a country's culture simply by engaging in reverse snobbery when it comes to choosing your accommodations, food sources, travel modes, etc.
I actually found myself gripped by this narrative. Susan succeeded in making me feel both the highs and lows of what it might be like to be on your own in a foreign country, anticipating sharing responsibilities and joys with a fellow traveler only to slowly discover that she's probably having a nervous breakdown. I don't know whether I can recommend it to everyone, but the story certainly spoke to me even though I've never had, and probably never will have, similar adventures.
This memoir describes Susan's adventures with her college friend Claire in the mid-1980s, as the two impulsively decide to backpack around the world. Naive and woefully unprepared, they start out in the People's Republic of China which had only recently been opened to foreign travelers. Susan, anticipating a lighthearted journey, finds herself overwhelmed by the stress of being in a foreign country where little English is spoken and the rules are radically different and unpredictable. Determined to actually experience foreign culture and to avoid cushioning themselves in a Westernized bubble, Susan and Clair find themselves in roach-infested cold-water dormitories struggling with the hassles of obtaining food, transportation, and medical care as needed. The time period is quite relevant -- in the 1980s there were no cell phones or internet to facilitate contact with family, get necessary information, or smooth over difficulties. To make matters much worse, Claire's behavior becomes increasingly bizarre and unmanageable.
There are good moments, too, though. Susan writes just as engagingly and vividly about some of the highs of her experience and the people she meets. Susan and Claire's chosen traveling style comes at a high price but can also be rewarding. And without overdoing the introspection as many memoirists do, Susan does give the reader some food for thought about the Western romanticizing of poverty and foreign lifestyles, and the unwittingly ironic, condescending and patronizing concept of presuming that you can actually absorb a country's culture simply by engaging in reverse snobbery when it comes to choosing your accommodations, food sources, travel modes, etc.
I actually found myself gripped by this narrative. Susan succeeded in making me feel both the highs and lows of what it might be like to be on your own in a foreign country, anticipating sharing responsibilities and joys with a fellow traveler only to slowly discover that she's probably having a nervous breakdown. I don't know whether I can recommend it to everyone, but the story certainly spoke to me even though I've never had, and probably never will have, similar adventures.
June 24, 2009
Early in Susan Jane Gilman’s memoir of her ill-fated 1986 trip to China, standing in a filthy Shanghai toilet, Gilman declares to her traveling companion, “We are two young, brilliant Ivy League graduates. If we can’t use a public bathroom in the People’s Republic of China, who the hell can?” Sadly, this episode is all too typical of Gilman’s experiences in China.
To be fair, Gilman recounts her story through the eyes of herself as a young, naive college graduate. But I’ve certainly met more perceptive and sympathetic twenty-year-olds. I groaned at the younger Gilman’s cultural observations of life in China, the limits of her worldview defined, apparently, by the boundaries of New York City—all this from an aspiring young writer and an honors graduate of Brown University. (And Gilman is positively eager to discuss her education and ascension from an upbringing she unselfconsciously describes as 'underprivileged'.)
I picked up this book after reading some positive reviews—there’s a glowing blurb from Alexandra Fuller on the back cover—but I can only assume that the reviewers were reading an entirely different book. In the introduction, Gilman attests to the authenticity of her story, but what follows is an endless series of thin, clichéd characterizations and petty melodramas, saccharine denouements. And, thoughtfully, Gilman provides all of her non-American characters with ridiculous accents. Germans include “yah” in every sentence, Australians “oi”, and the Chinese never seem to get those R’s or L’s right.
Gilman wrote this book over twenty years after the events it portrays, but is this really the best she could come up with? Is it possible to travel 8000 miles around the world and experience nothing much more unique or authentic than could be had from an armchair perusal of Lonely Planet’s guide to China? What a shame.
To be fair, Gilman recounts her story through the eyes of herself as a young, naive college graduate. But I’ve certainly met more perceptive and sympathetic twenty-year-olds. I groaned at the younger Gilman’s cultural observations of life in China, the limits of her worldview defined, apparently, by the boundaries of New York City—all this from an aspiring young writer and an honors graduate of Brown University. (And Gilman is positively eager to discuss her education and ascension from an upbringing she unselfconsciously describes as 'underprivileged'.)
I picked up this book after reading some positive reviews—there’s a glowing blurb from Alexandra Fuller on the back cover—but I can only assume that the reviewers were reading an entirely different book. In the introduction, Gilman attests to the authenticity of her story, but what follows is an endless series of thin, clichéd characterizations and petty melodramas, saccharine denouements. And, thoughtfully, Gilman provides all of her non-American characters with ridiculous accents. Germans include “yah” in every sentence, Australians “oi”, and the Chinese never seem to get those R’s or L’s right.
Gilman wrote this book over twenty years after the events it portrays, but is this really the best she could come up with? Is it possible to travel 8000 miles around the world and experience nothing much more unique or authentic than could be had from an armchair perusal of Lonely Planet’s guide to China? What a shame.
January 12, 2022
I am exhausted after reading this memoir of the author's grand adventure after college. A couple of blurbs states that it is "riveting" and a "page-turner", but I didn't feel any of that until the last 100 pages. This was a 2.5 star read that I rounded up for the interesting parts. Some of it is pretty unbelievable. I am willing to take the author's word that it is all true.
Suze and her traveling companion Claire, decide to "backpack" around the world after they graduated from college in 1986. They are naive and very ill-prepared for this venture except that Claire comes from a wealthy family & has plenty of money. I have known many people who in the 70's & 80's, took a break by backpacking outside their own country. They did a lot of planning and for the most part had the experience of a lifetime! That is not this story.
They fly to Hong Kong as a jumping off spot to head to mainland China. I lived in Asia (1979-81) before mainland China was open to visitors, so I was really interested to read about their experiences.
Let's just say, they took a lot of risks but were incredibly lucky at certain points along the way to meet up with people who helped them out. It didn't take long into the trip to understand why rule #1 of traveling with a companion is to know them well & that you are a good fit and on the same page for your goals with the trip. Claire was a nightmare...and the author actually states she had to disguise her somewhat and use a false name in the writing of the book! Even without the worst of it, these two were not a good fit, although at the end and in retrospect, the author thanks "Claire" for getting her out of her comfort zone and was the spark that led her to the wonderful life she has led to date.
Suze and her traveling companion Claire, decide to "backpack" around the world after they graduated from college in 1986. They are naive and very ill-prepared for this venture except that Claire comes from a wealthy family & has plenty of money. I have known many people who in the 70's & 80's, took a break by backpacking outside their own country. They did a lot of planning and for the most part had the experience of a lifetime! That is not this story.
They fly to Hong Kong as a jumping off spot to head to mainland China. I lived in Asia (1979-81) before mainland China was open to visitors, so I was really interested to read about their experiences.
Let's just say, they took a lot of risks but were incredibly lucky at certain points along the way to meet up with people who helped them out. It didn't take long into the trip to understand why rule #1 of traveling with a companion is to know them well & that you are a good fit and on the same page for your goals with the trip. Claire was a nightmare...and the author actually states she had to disguise her somewhat and use a false name in the writing of the book! Even without the worst of it, these two were not a good fit, although at the end and in retrospect, the author thanks "Claire" for getting her out of her comfort zone and was the spark that led her to the wonderful life she has led to date.
September 1, 2009
I wanted to like this book-I really did-I love travel stories and memoirs. However part way through the book I found myself almost despising the author. I have never run across such a narcissistic, selfish and self-absorbed author before. What ever made her write this story is incomprehensible. Susie as she is known in the book, gets the idea to hop around the globe off of a placemat at IHOP. Young, inexperienced and looking for adventure armed with The Lonely Planet she heads off to Hong Kong and then into China with her friend Claire. Susie does not hesitate to take advantage and use anyone who will make her trip easier. Given she had never travelled before she is rather shocked at what the world is about. That is why you are traveling. Her partner, either has a mental breakdown or starts to suffer from mental illness along the way. Susie is too self absorbed to realize this and chocks it up to Claire being jealous she has hooked up.
The amazing part is that after delivering her friend back to the US she returns to Asia, yet you do not hear one word about the rest of the trip-just a lot of whining about China, foreigners and how hard China was. She really should have stayed home. Travelers like her are why foreigners are not to keen on visitors.
I have been to every continent and spent 3 weeks in China years ago. Aside from the fact that there is lots of rice served it is not as bad as she made it seem. It was my first Asian country out of 4 that I have been to. And yes I have had the experience of waking up to a snake in my bed and rats in the rafters. If I wanted my own bed then I should have stayed home.
The amazing part is that after delivering her friend back to the US she returns to Asia, yet you do not hear one word about the rest of the trip-just a lot of whining about China, foreigners and how hard China was. She really should have stayed home. Travelers like her are why foreigners are not to keen on visitors.
I have been to every continent and spent 3 weeks in China years ago. Aside from the fact that there is lots of rice served it is not as bad as she made it seem. It was my first Asian country out of 4 that I have been to. And yes I have had the experience of waking up to a snake in my bed and rats in the rafters. If I wanted my own bed then I should have stayed home.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2011
A page-turner! Two girls, fresh out of the Ivy League (which the author feels the need to remind you of constantly) decide to take a year and circumnavigate the globe, starting in China. In 1986, China was only just open to tourists, and only in certain areas. While the girls want to do everything in "legit" fashion, to do it the way the locals do, they quickly realize that they are in over their heads.
While I spent most of the story feeling a bit irritated towards these naive girls, it was definitely an exciting story, one I couldn't put down until it was finished.
While I spent most of the story feeling a bit irritated towards these naive girls, it was definitely an exciting story, one I couldn't put down until it was finished.
September 19, 2009
Not judging the book by its title, which might lead you to believe it is quite a sexy book (it’s not), I really just expected this to be another backpacker’s account of her jaunt through Asia. As someone who, like many others, has “done the jaunt” herself, I found a lot to relate to so, excuse me as I write this review from a very personal viewpoint.
The book is set in China in the mid-eighties, a couple of years before my own first, brief encounter with mainland China. Susan Gilman and her not-very-well-known friend, Claire Van Houten hatched a plan on the back of a paper placemat while out late one night of conquering the world on a trans-planetary trip. They decided to start in China and the descriptions Gilman writes of encounters with bureaucracy, once grand but now falling apart ships and other transport barely held together with spot welding, hotel and travel agent staff who tow the party line as far as only presenting what was allowed to be presented…and no more, not to mention other backpackers, is spot on. Anyone who travelled to China in the late 1980s right up to the mid-late 1990s will relate to this book on some level and probably really enjoy it for the nostalgia factor.
Places too, ring true from freakishly tiny and sparse, swimming pool tile-lined guesthouse rooms in Chunking Mansions, a backpacker icon that is still existing in that ‘state’ as far as I know. If you haven’t been there or read the book yet, I don’t want to give anything more away as her expectations versus reality play-by-play about the place is brilliant. And this is just the first part of the journey.
Yangshuo is another centre of the backpacking world in China and, in those days, was one of the few places foreigners could go and decompress from all the experiences had during travel in China. To have been struggling, quite out of your depth, with renegade bus drivers, unknown animal parts served up in soup, and language barriers for weeks on end then, finally coming upon the then little village of Yangshuo with its rows of cafés serving Western-style food from English, French, and German menus just seemed like a godsend. I really liked how Gilman placed their visit to Yangshuo in the story as sort of the beginning of the end as that is exactly how the place feels to many who’ve travelled there. You get a sense of having slogged your way round in relative hardship and this is the intrepid backpackers’ reward…banana pancakes all around!
Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t just the reminiscing factor that I enjoyed about the book. There is also the storyline of what it is like being with someone you barely know, 24/7, for weeks on end. In this case, the increasingly bizarre relations between Gilman and her friend Claire whilst travelling in a country with a high difficulty rating, as far as backpacking goes, make for an interesting thread that runs throughout.
Call me non-imaginative, but I do like books that go back and tie up lose ends. Gilman does this in her Afterwards chapter really well. For readers who haven’t travelled to China, you could easily get a sense that what the book describes is how it still is to travel around the vast country. In some places it really is still like that, but China has been hurtling towards a developed travel infrastructure at an alarming pace. Even 10 years after the book was set, it was sad to my Western nostalgic sensibilities to already see beautiful old temples crumbling or being replaced by white tiled square boxes of buildings. In fact, the first time I went to Shen Zhen on the mainland near Hong Kong in 1989, it was a small village with dirt roads. I remember an old man pulling his cart full of pigs past me. The next time I went there in 1998, it was full of gleaming white sky scrapers. I actually had to check my journal to see that I was indeed thinking of the right place. I was. In 9 years the place had become unrecognisable. Gilman’s modern description of the places her and Claire had been to really expresses the changes that have taken place. Changes that would have to be seen to be believed otherwise.
In short, although I had low expectations of the book, I was pleasantly surprised. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in travelling independently in China. And I would strongly recommend this to those who have already participated in the backpacking rituals associated with travel in China. You will be reliving much of that experience!
The book is set in China in the mid-eighties, a couple of years before my own first, brief encounter with mainland China. Susan Gilman and her not-very-well-known friend, Claire Van Houten hatched a plan on the back of a paper placemat while out late one night of conquering the world on a trans-planetary trip. They decided to start in China and the descriptions Gilman writes of encounters with bureaucracy, once grand but now falling apart ships and other transport barely held together with spot welding, hotel and travel agent staff who tow the party line as far as only presenting what was allowed to be presented…and no more, not to mention other backpackers, is spot on. Anyone who travelled to China in the late 1980s right up to the mid-late 1990s will relate to this book on some level and probably really enjoy it for the nostalgia factor.
Places too, ring true from freakishly tiny and sparse, swimming pool tile-lined guesthouse rooms in Chunking Mansions, a backpacker icon that is still existing in that ‘state’ as far as I know. If you haven’t been there or read the book yet, I don’t want to give anything more away as her expectations versus reality play-by-play about the place is brilliant. And this is just the first part of the journey.
Yangshuo is another centre of the backpacking world in China and, in those days, was one of the few places foreigners could go and decompress from all the experiences had during travel in China. To have been struggling, quite out of your depth, with renegade bus drivers, unknown animal parts served up in soup, and language barriers for weeks on end then, finally coming upon the then little village of Yangshuo with its rows of cafés serving Western-style food from English, French, and German menus just seemed like a godsend. I really liked how Gilman placed their visit to Yangshuo in the story as sort of the beginning of the end as that is exactly how the place feels to many who’ve travelled there. You get a sense of having slogged your way round in relative hardship and this is the intrepid backpackers’ reward…banana pancakes all around!
Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t just the reminiscing factor that I enjoyed about the book. There is also the storyline of what it is like being with someone you barely know, 24/7, for weeks on end. In this case, the increasingly bizarre relations between Gilman and her friend Claire whilst travelling in a country with a high difficulty rating, as far as backpacking goes, make for an interesting thread that runs throughout.
Call me non-imaginative, but I do like books that go back and tie up lose ends. Gilman does this in her Afterwards chapter really well. For readers who haven’t travelled to China, you could easily get a sense that what the book describes is how it still is to travel around the vast country. In some places it really is still like that, but China has been hurtling towards a developed travel infrastructure at an alarming pace. Even 10 years after the book was set, it was sad to my Western nostalgic sensibilities to already see beautiful old temples crumbling or being replaced by white tiled square boxes of buildings. In fact, the first time I went to Shen Zhen on the mainland near Hong Kong in 1989, it was a small village with dirt roads. I remember an old man pulling his cart full of pigs past me. The next time I went there in 1998, it was full of gleaming white sky scrapers. I actually had to check my journal to see that I was indeed thinking of the right place. I was. In 9 years the place had become unrecognisable. Gilman’s modern description of the places her and Claire had been to really expresses the changes that have taken place. Changes that would have to be seen to be believed otherwise.
In short, although I had low expectations of the book, I was pleasantly surprised. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in travelling independently in China. And I would strongly recommend this to those who have already participated in the backpacking rituals associated with travel in China. You will be reliving much of that experience!
January 2, 2021
In my experience, spontaneous is rarely the best modus operandi to ensure travel satisfaction. . . .especially not if you don't specifically prepare for the specific destination in which you want to be spontaneous. And double-especially when the place to which one is traveling is a place that is morally and ethically opposed to Spontaneity! The author and her friend launched that adventure 20 years before the book was written, and it has taken all those years to move the author to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). That says something right there. . . .when a reporter/writer needs a lot of distance in time and space, a reader can be sure there are parts of the story that won't ever land on the page.
That said, and their whiny-ness notwithstanding, I enjoyed this tale. I didn't expect to, but I did. It confirmed some of my deeply felt suspicions (the set of bones that have carted me around all these years will not find their way to China in this lifetime), and that the guy from It's A Wonderful Life had it right: "Youth is wasted on the young!" I must admit to comparing my 20-year-old self with Susan and Claire, and a look in the mirror showed I was sporting a rather smug mug. . . .
If the book had gone on much longer it would have lost some of its shine for me, but as for the epilogue, or interview that was included at the end, that was REQUIRED for me to be as satisfied with the reading experience - I really needed some of those loose ends tied up as was done in that last part. And it just leaves you wondering about Claire. Hoping she is as settled and happy as Susan appears to be.
That said, and their whiny-ness notwithstanding, I enjoyed this tale. I didn't expect to, but I did. It confirmed some of my deeply felt suspicions (the set of bones that have carted me around all these years will not find their way to China in this lifetime), and that the guy from It's A Wonderful Life had it right: "Youth is wasted on the young!" I must admit to comparing my 20-year-old self with Susan and Claire, and a look in the mirror showed I was sporting a rather smug mug. . . .
If the book had gone on much longer it would have lost some of its shine for me, but as for the epilogue, or interview that was included at the end, that was REQUIRED for me to be as satisfied with the reading experience - I really needed some of those loose ends tied up as was done in that last part. And it just leaves you wondering about Claire. Hoping she is as settled and happy as Susan appears to be.
February 7, 2017
One of the reasons I love book clubs is because they push you to read outside your comfort zone, discovering books you never knew existed. Susan Jane Gilman’s “Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven” is such book for me. The true account of Gilman, an accomplished journalist, who set off to tour the world with one of her college classmates, this story is a WILD ride. Namely because the two start their journey in 1986 in China, landing in a country whose borders had been open for “all of ten minutes”. What happens to them leaves you on the edge of your seat (and turning the pages!) but for anyone who’s traveled—especially abroad—this book is full of plenty of reminders of the graces that come with stepping outside your comfort zone and developing camaraderie with fellow travelers you meet along the way.
A few favorite lines:
“No one ever tells you this,” I said despairingly, waving at the turquoise tiled walls, the bare, hissing light fixture. “All those travel magazines. People with their vacation photos. They just make it look so easy.”
I suppose, travel is a bit like the Internet—there’s a protective anonymity to it. Cast into a situation with people you never have to see again and shielded from repercussions, you turn brazenly candid.
Lee was thirty-six. If we’d met in the States, we’d have had absolutely no reason to sit together and probably nothing to say. But here? We had the special camaraderie of the displaced, of sad people with suitcases.
A few favorite lines:
“No one ever tells you this,” I said despairingly, waving at the turquoise tiled walls, the bare, hissing light fixture. “All those travel magazines. People with their vacation photos. They just make it look so easy.”
I suppose, travel is a bit like the Internet—there’s a protective anonymity to it. Cast into a situation with people you never have to see again and shielded from repercussions, you turn brazenly candid.
Lee was thirty-six. If we’d met in the States, we’d have had absolutely no reason to sit together and probably nothing to say. But here? We had the special camaraderie of the displaced, of sad people with suitcases.
July 27, 2017
This was goooood. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, and it kept building and building. At the beginning the author writes, 'this is what happened, God knows I could never have made this up'. I thought, well, just how crazy is this story? Let me say this: it lived up. I usually check books out of the lib, but I actually shelled out the cash for this one. I'm glad I did, b/c I know I'll end up reading it again. I plan on forcing it on my poor over-worked friend the next time I see her because I know she'll love it. Jenny, find the time, you must!
March 24, 2020
Truthfully, I chose this travel memoir solely on the title alone. It sounded provacative and just too tantalizing to pass on by. The tale of two recent American college graduates setting out to explore Asia in 1986 was intriguing. I expected lessons in culture shock, identity and friendship all entwined with some humor. But there's also a much deeper story going on in these pages and by the end I felt quite a bit sadness for all that Susan and "Claire" go through during their months in China. I certainly did not see exactly what was going to happen but oh my this is definitely a most memorable book of 2020 nominee.
Earlier today, l had assigned a 3 star rating but tonight I can't deny that this is one of those books that leaves me a little raw and shattered. I suspect I will think about this one for a long, long time.
Goodreads review published 23/03/20
Earlier today, l had assigned a 3 star rating but tonight I can't deny that this is one of those books that leaves me a little raw and shattered. I suspect I will think about this one for a long, long time.
Goodreads review published 23/03/20
August 16, 2011
I have some conflicted feelings about this book.
To start: the writing is beautiful. Gilman not only gives an account of visiting the other side of the world, she shares the experience of being there in 1986, just after China opened its borders to independent travelers.
After graduation, Gilman and a friend pack malaria pills, water purifiers, picky appetites, and some naivety, and hop on a plane to Hong Kong. The goal? Travel around the world. Stop 1: China. Gilman describes a route that most people would not take, mixing in their experience with local culture and her encounters with the surprisingly large (but also small) backpacking community. It's almost shocking to read about how they travel now, not just post-9/11 - something that Gilman does address briefly - but the decisions they make that I can't imagine choosing (even in my early 20s).
There is also a lot of bat**** crazy in this book.
And the crazy is what kept me reading, because for most of the memoir, I found Gilman's friend - and at times, Gilman herself - aggravating and unlikable.
To Gilman's credit, she's the storyteller, and she doesn't sugarcoat the areas where she behaves badly/questionably/etc. And when I think about it, I might not have continued reading without that element of realness (or, if I felt I was getting a very sanitized account). I really want to write this review without spoilers, so I won't go into more detail. But that aggravation did at least keep me reading, if only from the desire to see if/how the women changed.
So at the end of the day... fantastic writing style, pretty imagery, and a unique story/setting... but difficult to read because at times, Gilman and her friend just make me want to walk away.
To start: the writing is beautiful. Gilman not only gives an account of visiting the other side of the world, she shares the experience of being there in 1986, just after China opened its borders to independent travelers.
After graduation, Gilman and a friend pack malaria pills, water purifiers, picky appetites, and some naivety, and hop on a plane to Hong Kong. The goal? Travel around the world. Stop 1: China. Gilman describes a route that most people would not take, mixing in their experience with local culture and her encounters with the surprisingly large (but also small) backpacking community. It's almost shocking to read about how they travel now, not just post-9/11 - something that Gilman does address briefly - but the decisions they make that I can't imagine choosing (even in my early 20s).
There is also a lot of bat**** crazy in this book.
And the crazy is what kept me reading, because for most of the memoir, I found Gilman's friend - and at times, Gilman herself - aggravating and unlikable.
To Gilman's credit, she's the storyteller, and she doesn't sugarcoat the areas where she behaves badly/questionably/etc. And when I think about it, I might not have continued reading without that element of realness (or, if I felt I was getting a very sanitized account). I really want to write this review without spoilers, so I won't go into more detail. But that aggravation did at least keep me reading, if only from the desire to see if/how the women changed.
So at the end of the day... fantastic writing style, pretty imagery, and a unique story/setting... but difficult to read because at times, Gilman and her friend just make me want to walk away.
August 19, 2009
This book was hard to put down! I loved it. It is a memoir about two of my favorite topics...mental health, and travel to China.
The author travels to China in the 1980s after college with a friend who basically has a schizophrenic break while they are there. Travel at that time in China was unusual and difficult (it is not portrayed in a very positive light, to be honest, but I found it very interesting to compare to my own observations from traveling there in 2007). But the interpersonal and psychiatric issues that emerged were even more challenging. The author has a really engaging style of writing as well. Witty!
The author travels to China in the 1980s after college with a friend who basically has a schizophrenic break while they are there. Travel at that time in China was unusual and difficult (it is not portrayed in a very positive light, to be honest, but I found it very interesting to compare to my own observations from traveling there in 2007). But the interpersonal and psychiatric issues that emerged were even more challenging. The author has a really engaging style of writing as well. Witty!
September 1, 2009
Aside from reading books, one of my favorite things to do is travel. I could spend most of my time jumping on planes and border hopping, and I would be perfectly content with that. To be honest, I would absolutely love to take a few months and just travel around, go and see the world, and do everything I haven’t had the chance to yet do.
Susie Jane Gilman does just that, and in 1986, when most borders were closed to the U.S. during the Cold War. Information was scarce and travel was truly an adventure, without the same luxuries we’re exposed to today.
Susie and her friend Claire, freshly minted graduates of Brown University, decide to embark on a world-wide tour, starting with the People’s Republic of China. As the book unfolds, it becomes clear just how little Claire and Susie really do know each other: Claire is a tall blonde from New England with a family that sails and has money. Susie is a Jewish girl from Manhattan who works hard for her money and is used to noise, verbosity, and tall buildings. However, when they both disembark the plane in Hong Kong, they realize they are both strangers in a strange land. While Susie struggles to adapt to a culture that is both welcoming and alienating, Claire becomes more and more unhinged.
When the trip moves almost overnight from seeing the Great Wall of China for Susie’s 22nd birthday to Claire’s emergency trip to a rural Chinese hospital, it is then that the reader begins to suspect something darker happening, guised in the form of physical illness. As Gilman writes about trying to take care of a friend who hears voices and is convinced she is being followed, the reader’s sympathy is engaged by the details she provides about her own struggles to adapt. One almost wants to shout at Claire to stop doing whatever she’s doing and let Susie enjoy herself. It is only until later that it becomes remarkably clear how mentally ill Claire has become.
One admirable effort on Gilman’s part is her accommodation to try to understand Claire’s point of view. Whenever Gilman writes about her anger with Claire’s mood swings, she pauses to consider what Claire might have been thinking at the same time. There is a sense of witsfulness there, almost guilt, as though Gilman wishes she could have done something that would have made it all better. By the end of the story, it’s clear there is nothing anyone could have done, but one still feel Gilman’s sense of regret. Yet she still somehow manages to incorporate a sense of confusion, frustration, and anger with Claire and with China throughout the book, subtly reminding the reader of how great the language and cultural barriers were in 1986.
Ironically, though I was anticipating a book that would detail all of Claire and Susie’s excellent adventures, it wasn’t until Claire began acting out that I really became absorbed with Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven. Juxtaposed with the culture shock both girls experience, it is hard to distinguish how much of it is stems from Claire’s frustration with the lack of access she was used to as a privileged upper class white female and how much was her descent into illness. The scene that stands out and will continue to stand out for me is when Claire disappears in China for a day and completely breaks down.
When it is finally revealed what Claire had done and where she had gone, Gilman writes with so much passion and empathy and confusion and concern that it is impossible for all those feelings to not transfer to the reader as well. I felt as though I was in the valley with Claire, watching her wade into the river, less and less coherent and more and more paranoid, and my senses were completely engaged. I wanted to know what was going to happen to Claire, if she was purposely trying to kill herself or if she had become so unhinged that she didn’t even know what she was doing anymore. Claire in her own right becomes a compelling character, almost as though she were a work of fiction rather than flesh and blood. Finding out how Susie reacts and what happens to Claire became imperative and I simply could not put the book down.
When I picked up Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven, I anticipated a book that would provide much of the same wit and humor that Gilman’s other books do, Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, and Kiss My Tiara. What I didn’t expect was the note of seriousness her book would take on and how entrancing her writing would be. Granted, there were some moments that aspired to be more literary and failed, but there were so many others that so firmly entrenched me in the fields and mountains of China, that it far outweighed the few overwritten sentences.
I put the book down, feeling as though I too needed to travel to China, to work in the fields along rice workers, and befriend people I would never speak to normally, except having the commonality of being an explorer is what links us. Needless to say, this work of nonfiction more than holds its own in the canon of travel literature. It simultaneously managed to remind me of all the uncertainty of travel while rekindling all the adventure and wonder and magic.
Susie Jane Gilman does just that, and in 1986, when most borders were closed to the U.S. during the Cold War. Information was scarce and travel was truly an adventure, without the same luxuries we’re exposed to today.
Susie and her friend Claire, freshly minted graduates of Brown University, decide to embark on a world-wide tour, starting with the People’s Republic of China. As the book unfolds, it becomes clear just how little Claire and Susie really do know each other: Claire is a tall blonde from New England with a family that sails and has money. Susie is a Jewish girl from Manhattan who works hard for her money and is used to noise, verbosity, and tall buildings. However, when they both disembark the plane in Hong Kong, they realize they are both strangers in a strange land. While Susie struggles to adapt to a culture that is both welcoming and alienating, Claire becomes more and more unhinged.
When the trip moves almost overnight from seeing the Great Wall of China for Susie’s 22nd birthday to Claire’s emergency trip to a rural Chinese hospital, it is then that the reader begins to suspect something darker happening, guised in the form of physical illness. As Gilman writes about trying to take care of a friend who hears voices and is convinced she is being followed, the reader’s sympathy is engaged by the details she provides about her own struggles to adapt. One almost wants to shout at Claire to stop doing whatever she’s doing and let Susie enjoy herself. It is only until later that it becomes remarkably clear how mentally ill Claire has become.
One admirable effort on Gilman’s part is her accommodation to try to understand Claire’s point of view. Whenever Gilman writes about her anger with Claire’s mood swings, she pauses to consider what Claire might have been thinking at the same time. There is a sense of witsfulness there, almost guilt, as though Gilman wishes she could have done something that would have made it all better. By the end of the story, it’s clear there is nothing anyone could have done, but one still feel Gilman’s sense of regret. Yet she still somehow manages to incorporate a sense of confusion, frustration, and anger with Claire and with China throughout the book, subtly reminding the reader of how great the language and cultural barriers were in 1986.
Ironically, though I was anticipating a book that would detail all of Claire and Susie’s excellent adventures, it wasn’t until Claire began acting out that I really became absorbed with Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven. Juxtaposed with the culture shock both girls experience, it is hard to distinguish how much of it is stems from Claire’s frustration with the lack of access she was used to as a privileged upper class white female and how much was her descent into illness. The scene that stands out and will continue to stand out for me is when Claire disappears in China for a day and completely breaks down.
When it is finally revealed what Claire had done and where she had gone, Gilman writes with so much passion and empathy and confusion and concern that it is impossible for all those feelings to not transfer to the reader as well. I felt as though I was in the valley with Claire, watching her wade into the river, less and less coherent and more and more paranoid, and my senses were completely engaged. I wanted to know what was going to happen to Claire, if she was purposely trying to kill herself or if she had become so unhinged that she didn’t even know what she was doing anymore. Claire in her own right becomes a compelling character, almost as though she were a work of fiction rather than flesh and blood. Finding out how Susie reacts and what happens to Claire became imperative and I simply could not put the book down.
When I picked up Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven, I anticipated a book that would provide much of the same wit and humor that Gilman’s other books do, Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, and Kiss My Tiara. What I didn’t expect was the note of seriousness her book would take on and how entrancing her writing would be. Granted, there were some moments that aspired to be more literary and failed, but there were so many others that so firmly entrenched me in the fields and mountains of China, that it far outweighed the few overwritten sentences.
I put the book down, feeling as though I too needed to travel to China, to work in the fields along rice workers, and befriend people I would never speak to normally, except having the commonality of being an explorer is what links us. Needless to say, this work of nonfiction more than holds its own in the canon of travel literature. It simultaneously managed to remind me of all the uncertainty of travel while rekindling all the adventure and wonder and magic.
November 12, 2017
I was surprised how much I liked this book. The cover and title suggest something that's not really up my alley, but this really is a case where you can't judge a book by its cover. The protagonist (the author, as this is autobiographical) is a young woman just our of an ivy league college. She and a casual friend decide to backpack around the world before settling down. Their first stop is China shortly after it was opened to Westerners. Before long the author's companion begins acting strangely, disappearing to do secret work and claiming to be followed by enemy agents.
Having spent some time in Bolivia and Japan when I was the age the author was in the story, I can attest to the fact that a complete change in language, food, sanitary facilities, and company can do strange things to a person's head. Once you've operated that far outside your comfort zone, you will never see your comfort zone quite the same way ever again. The author captures this unique kind of stress brilliantly. The book is funny, captivating, and quietly insightful.
Having spent some time in Bolivia and Japan when I was the age the author was in the story, I can attest to the fact that a complete change in language, food, sanitary facilities, and company can do strange things to a person's head. Once you've operated that far outside your comfort zone, you will never see your comfort zone quite the same way ever again. The author captures this unique kind of stress brilliantly. The book is funny, captivating, and quietly insightful.
December 2, 2022
A very interesting book, travelling in the 80's was very different.
March 5, 2016
Might I suggest an alternate title: Ugly American? The behavior on display here exemplifies every stereotype foreigners have about US citizens traveling abroad: they're rude, selfish, pushy, judgmental, and lazy. They take without giving and constantly complain about every inconvenience while possessing little empathy for the people around them. Everything is dirty, the food is disgusting, the people are blanks that move around without purpose. It did not take long for Susan to establish herself as a loathsome, narcissistic fool wallowing in the obvious irony that an ivy-league graduate actually knows nothing at all. The narrative makes these abrupt stops to go into these passages of fine description, but it's of the wrong things like the weather or an attractive Australian young man. The writing is promising for a 20-year-old, but the release date suggests this was written much later in her life. Is this who you are, Susan? Did you write this when you were in your early 20s and sit on it until your 40s? Did you think at any point in there you might want to update it, revise it, do some research into the time period or the culture?
I've been to China. I say this not to correct her, but because I want to make it clear I went into this wanting to see a familiar place through new eyes, and I spent it with a spoiled child who'd rather sit in her hotel room than explore the richness around her. I've discovered that the hotel I reserved was a dive, panicked in my room when I realized what I had gotten myself into, lay in bed after eating the wrong thing, but it doesn't automatically make for a good story. There are ridiculous number of travel blogs on the internet these days, a number of them quite good. If you're going to publish a book that essentially does the same thing, I would expect it would do something different. That it's set a few decades ago, I suppose, is something, but there's almost nothing to indicate that events are happening in 1986 as opposed to the last few years. Knowing it was written by someone with publications to her name and a couple of decades of experience, I'm just bewildered. I put this book down having learned nothing about China or her trip other than she didn't have fun and it was way beyond her as a traveler.
Nonfiction is a great tool not to tell an anecdotal experience, but to share the growth that came out of a moment. It's not 22-year-old Susan who should be telling this story, but a grown woman who looks back on her younger years and shows us how it changed her as a person. The perspective here seems only minutes after it happened by someone who still doesn't know what any of it means.
Not to mention, it's just boring. At one point she remarks to her friend while surrounded by a curious Chinese crowd: "Boy...I wish I found us nearly as fascinating as they do." Me, too.
I've been to China. I say this not to correct her, but because I want to make it clear I went into this wanting to see a familiar place through new eyes, and I spent it with a spoiled child who'd rather sit in her hotel room than explore the richness around her. I've discovered that the hotel I reserved was a dive, panicked in my room when I realized what I had gotten myself into, lay in bed after eating the wrong thing, but it doesn't automatically make for a good story. There are ridiculous number of travel blogs on the internet these days, a number of them quite good. If you're going to publish a book that essentially does the same thing, I would expect it would do something different. That it's set a few decades ago, I suppose, is something, but there's almost nothing to indicate that events are happening in 1986 as opposed to the last few years. Knowing it was written by someone with publications to her name and a couple of decades of experience, I'm just bewildered. I put this book down having learned nothing about China or her trip other than she didn't have fun and it was way beyond her as a traveler.
Nonfiction is a great tool not to tell an anecdotal experience, but to share the growth that came out of a moment. It's not 22-year-old Susan who should be telling this story, but a grown woman who looks back on her younger years and shows us how it changed her as a person. The perspective here seems only minutes after it happened by someone who still doesn't know what any of it means.
Not to mention, it's just boring. At one point she remarks to her friend while surrounded by a curious Chinese crowd: "Boy...I wish I found us nearly as fascinating as they do." Me, too.
December 25, 2017
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven is a cautionary tale of how not all backpacking trips end up as something you want to tell all your friends about when you get back home. Taking place in the mid 1980's on the cusp of mainland China opening up to independent travel, Gilman writes of the naivety of youth as she and one of her friends from University head out on a one-year trip round the world. However, things quickly begin to unravel as they experience a culture shock well beyond anything of their imaginings.
Written from notes Gilman took during her travels, Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven tells a story of two straight-A students fresh out of college/university who set off to conquer the world as "travellers, not pampered little tourists". Their enthralling journey they took place in a time when Lonely Planet was an unknown travel guidebook company, no regular commercial flights existed for independent travellers to China and communism was still rampant but mostly contained behind the iron curtain.
From its opening quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche and another from the 913-page astrology guide Gilman lugs around, Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven begins as a stock standard backpacking travelogue. Gilman does a great job of initially detailing the day to day realities of travelling through China in a non-curated fashion. The open latrines and crowds of people staring at their every move. The blisters and bronchial infections from pollution and spitting. The lack of drinking water and inability to find anything to please the Western palate.
As their journey progresses, however, Gilman is forced to deal with her travelling companion's increasing erratic and unstable behaviour. As the book masterfully builds suspense, we are taken along a frightening journey, thankful only that it something that we, hopefully, will never have to endure.
Gilman's excellent writing of their ill-fated journey quickly draws you in, and by book end leaves your emotions feeling like they've been tossed about like a good chow mein in the wok of life. As the book hurtles towards its final, unknown destination, it will be sure to have you reading into the middle of the night to see just how everything pans out. Full Review Here
Written from notes Gilman took during her travels, Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven tells a story of two straight-A students fresh out of college/university who set off to conquer the world as "travellers, not pampered little tourists". Their enthralling journey they took place in a time when Lonely Planet was an unknown travel guidebook company, no regular commercial flights existed for independent travellers to China and communism was still rampant but mostly contained behind the iron curtain.
From its opening quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche and another from the 913-page astrology guide Gilman lugs around, Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven begins as a stock standard backpacking travelogue. Gilman does a great job of initially detailing the day to day realities of travelling through China in a non-curated fashion. The open latrines and crowds of people staring at their every move. The blisters and bronchial infections from pollution and spitting. The lack of drinking water and inability to find anything to please the Western palate.
As their journey progresses, however, Gilman is forced to deal with her travelling companion's increasing erratic and unstable behaviour. As the book masterfully builds suspense, we are taken along a frightening journey, thankful only that it something that we, hopefully, will never have to endure.
Gilman's excellent writing of their ill-fated journey quickly draws you in, and by book end leaves your emotions feeling like they've been tossed about like a good chow mein in the wok of life. As the book hurtles towards its final, unknown destination, it will be sure to have you reading into the middle of the night to see just how everything pans out. Full Review Here
October 8, 2012
So good reading people, I have a confession to make: I TOTALLY judge books by their covers! That said the cover of this book does not do it justice at all-- I´ve had this book for over a year and never thought to read it. How did it get in my possession you ask?
Surely you understand, I have this thing, it´s called an obsession--but not any kind of obsession, it´s an obsession with books, especially the free kind. If unchecked I´d collect books like your g-ma´s pristine, unused, plastic covered, formal living room furniture collects dust. Over a year ago, a lady who used to work as a book reviewer just dumped a ton of books in the apt bldg laundry room (the common area for all reusable things no longer desired). I took roughly half of that ton to my apt. Some were good additions, some not so much; this one was left unread.
I quickly grabbed this book outof my storage unit in hopes of having something to read on the plane or during down time while in Brazil, and I´m really glad I did.
The main charaters aren´t always likeable, in fact they aren´t for most of the book, but what was important for me is reading this made me feel something. I was invested enough in the characters and their journey around the world that I could be angry or thoroughly annoyed by their actions, attitudes...or inaction.
They are, like many in the past 2 generations, entitled, adventurous and woefully unaware of their privilege (despite thinking the opposite.) I aplaud the author for her reflexiveness and ability to critique her own behavior (in hindsight of course) while recognizing she has the license to present herself however she pleases. This book was a pleasant surprise because not only did I find that I identified with it in many ways, the boldness,free-spiritedness, the occasional fear, the sense of adventure and wanting to take the road less traveled, the wanderlust in these two recent( by recent i mean 1986) college grads who graduated without having secured employment.
If nothing else it causes me to remember my own travel adventures, how much being on my own has allowed me to grow, and reminded me of all the places I wanted to see before life got real and bills needed to be paid.
Surely you understand, I have this thing, it´s called an obsession--but not any kind of obsession, it´s an obsession with books, especially the free kind. If unchecked I´d collect books like your g-ma´s pristine, unused, plastic covered, formal living room furniture collects dust. Over a year ago, a lady who used to work as a book reviewer just dumped a ton of books in the apt bldg laundry room (the common area for all reusable things no longer desired). I took roughly half of that ton to my apt. Some were good additions, some not so much; this one was left unread.
I quickly grabbed this book outof my storage unit in hopes of having something to read on the plane or during down time while in Brazil, and I´m really glad I did.
The main charaters aren´t always likeable, in fact they aren´t for most of the book, but what was important for me is reading this made me feel something. I was invested enough in the characters and their journey around the world that I could be angry or thoroughly annoyed by their actions, attitudes...or inaction.
They are, like many in the past 2 generations, entitled, adventurous and woefully unaware of their privilege (despite thinking the opposite.) I aplaud the author for her reflexiveness and ability to critique her own behavior (in hindsight of course) while recognizing she has the license to present herself however she pleases. This book was a pleasant surprise because not only did I find that I identified with it in many ways, the boldness,free-spiritedness, the occasional fear, the sense of adventure and wanting to take the road less traveled, the wanderlust in these two recent( by recent i mean 1986) college grads who graduated without having secured employment.
If nothing else it causes me to remember my own travel adventures, how much being on my own has allowed me to grow, and reminded me of all the places I wanted to see before life got real and bills needed to be paid.
December 9, 2010
It was an honest book, and easy to read, periodically interesting or amusing. But I have to say, I truly disliked both of them throughout, which made the reading experience a bit uncomfortable. Notwithstanding Susie's disarming self-deprecation, and her occasional insights, the degree of their ignorance and arrogance was just horrifying. I understand that she recognized it even then, and certainly in retrospect; it was not for nothing that she included her recollection of the black man ranting about how only the white man would create the field of anthropology, in order to study the “interesting” habits of “less-advanced” races and nationalities. But, the reading experience was an ambivalent one. It is true that I, too, left America entirely ignorant about the places I went to, and (like Blanch Dubois, insanely) relied on the kindness of strangers. The difference is, I wasn't setting out as an intrepid traveler; I was just a depressed lost soul. That doesn't excuse my willful ignorance. It just makes me (the young me) sort of pathetic.
February 9, 2010
Now this is what a travel memoir should be- funny, poignant, and ultimately redemptive. Gilman's account of her travels through China are beautifully drawn. From her initial crisis of homesickness through her desperation to find something familiar in an alien environment, Gilman is painfully truthful and so her story resonates. Though today's mature reader will immediately see the warning signs in Claire's behavior, Gilman's narative voice is strong enough to carry the reader along, to make you view the story through her younger, infinitely more naive eyes. This book captures a snapshot of a China that no longer exists, and gently mocks a mindset that equates "true adventure" with sometimes life-threatening hardship. This trip had an enormous effect on Gilman, on her life and world view, and she shares those revelations with an admirable honesty and modesty. Truly a wonderful travel memoir- a must read 5 star adventure!
April 11, 2015
Oh my. I thought this was going to be funny. It's not very funny. It's very well written, but not funny. What do you do when you're in China & your traveling companion starts manifesting the symptoms of either schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder? You freak out. Having been through something like this before (though not in China, thank god), I cringed through the whole thing. It's a testament to Gilman's writing that I wanted to finish this.
April 2, 2014
Susan Gilman notes in the introduction to her memoir Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven that the events she writes about are too strange not to be true. Heed that as a warning.
Undress Me begins as a safe travel memoir, chronicling Susie and her college friend Claire's travels to a newly opened China in the 80s. They've just graduated from Brown, don't know what to do with their lives, and decide in an IHOP to travel the globe. Susie is a tough girl from NYC; Claire, her pampered friend from Connecticut, insists on telling the Chinese her father is 'an important businessman in America.' The descriptions of Hong Kong and China in the 80s are fascinating; Susie and Claire's trip to a rural village that has never seen an American enthralling.
As the book progresses, however, this memoir turns into a recounting of the two girls' states of mind more than describing their travels. Claire becomes increasingly paranoid, sick, and strange. From about the middle of the novel on, Claire steals the show as the central focus of the book. While her story is interesting, I was still kind of yearning for the simple travel memoir I set out to read.
Gilman's language is precise and lovely, and as long as you approach this novel as what it is - a tale of two friends more than a tale of travels in China - I think it could be a highly satisfying and intriguing read.
Undress Me begins as a safe travel memoir, chronicling Susie and her college friend Claire's travels to a newly opened China in the 80s. They've just graduated from Brown, don't know what to do with their lives, and decide in an IHOP to travel the globe. Susie is a tough girl from NYC; Claire, her pampered friend from Connecticut, insists on telling the Chinese her father is 'an important businessman in America.' The descriptions of Hong Kong and China in the 80s are fascinating; Susie and Claire's trip to a rural village that has never seen an American enthralling.
As the book progresses, however, this memoir turns into a recounting of the two girls' states of mind more than describing their travels. Claire becomes increasingly paranoid, sick, and strange. From about the middle of the novel on, Claire steals the show as the central focus of the book. While her story is interesting, I was still kind of yearning for the simple travel memoir I set out to read.
Gilman's language is precise and lovely, and as long as you approach this novel as what it is - a tale of two friends more than a tale of travels in China - I think it could be a highly satisfying and intriguing read.
November 23, 2014
The story of two easy-to-dislike American girls who decide to travel the world, starting in China. I mean really easy to dislike. Hitting all the standard dis-likable cliches - one is trust fund rich, but also from a rich family and constantly has to tell everyone her father is a very important businessman, has lived a life of servants and holiday houses, and is tall, blonde and sporty too. Both are ivy league college students, twenty years old. The author however has worked hard, saving her money, but constantly falls back on her French speaking, and falls in love with every male she meets.
Both of them lacked the confidence to travel China, particularly the China of 1986, which was a lot more restricted than today. Roll out cliches - bad toilets, small hotel rooms, cold showers, etc etc.
Without the assistance of other travellers, and a few particularly helpful English speaking locals they would hardly have made it past Shanghai, if they had found a way to leave Hong Kong alone.
If you are interested in cringe travel stories, this book delivers.
There is not a whole lot else to say about this book without spoilers, as the actual story starts to unroll pretty soon after arrival.
Both of them lacked the confidence to travel China, particularly the China of 1986, which was a lot more restricted than today. Roll out cliches - bad toilets, small hotel rooms, cold showers, etc etc.
Without the assistance of other travellers, and a few particularly helpful English speaking locals they would hardly have made it past Shanghai, if they had found a way to leave Hong Kong alone.
If you are interested in cringe travel stories, this book delivers.
There is not a whole lot else to say about this book without spoilers, as the actual story starts to unroll pretty soon after arrival.
May 9, 2012
The whole time I was reading this book, I kept thinking it was leading into something really dramatic! But as I finished each chapter I was disappointed. After the final chapter I was like what the %&*$@ !!!! This book was so not worth my time!
February 23, 2018
I love memoirs and this one was great! It was a shocking story about traveling through the People’s Republic of China during the 80s and how unprepared these two girls were for what was ahead.
June 9, 2019
V zásadě zklamání. Zpočátku vypadal příběh dvou amerických vysokoškolaček, které se v roce 1986 naprosto naslepo, nepřipravené a bez jakýchkoli kontaktů rozhodnou započít svou cestu po světě v Číně, docela slibně. Děvčata zažívala kulturní šok a všímala si věcí, které mě zajímaly. Byla jsem zvědavá, kam až se dostanou a co všechno uvidí, takže si dovedete představit mé zklamání, když se z jejich objevné cesty vyklubala spíš cesta kolem Claiřiny hlavy zakončená zoufalým úprkem. Ne, autorka mi neimponovala, její souputnice rovněž ne. Dvě hvězdičky za zajímavý kousek Číny a za upřímnost - popsat se jako dokonalá nána chce odvahu.
May 19, 2009
Hey, let's be Odysseus. Let's be Byron. Let's be Don Quixote, Huck Finn, and Jack Kerouac all rolled into one—except with lip gloss."
In 1986 before home computers and email were commonplace, before even first graders had cell phones stuffed into their backpacks, two smart but naive Ivy League graduates planned a trip around the world, their itinerary inspired by the “Pancakes of Many Nations” paper placemat at the local IHOP. Susan Jane Gilman and “Claire van Houten,” more acquaintances than good friends, would start their adventure in Hong Kong, and from there travel on to China, India, Bali, and Thailand. They would be gone for a one year, right about the time when Susie's student loans came due.
But like most pampered Americans who have never traveled outside of their comfort zones, Susie and Claire find themselves immersed in a culture of strange food and unreliable transportation, where a phone call home might take two hours to patch through, and the lack of hot showers, clean sheets, and private toilets have them second-guessing those hasty, hangover-induced vacation plans.
When Claire begins hearing voices and thinks they’re being shadowed by middle eastern terrorists because her father is a “very important business man,” Susie slowly realizes that Claire is not acting the prima donna but slowly losing touch with reality, and so begins the logistical nightmare of getting her back home.
By chance Susie meets a woman named Sandy in the hotel lobby. Sandy, a proud Canadian who took a hiatus from her nursing career to teach English to the natives, takes on the job of the girls' “fixer,” reminding me of Mr. Wolf in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction—“That’s thirty minutes away. I’ll be there in ten.” With Sandy’s aid and just enough Valium to sedate Claire until they are stateside, Susie just might get out of the country with her own sanity intact.
Though the girls come off as Ugly Americans at times, Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven is a page-turner of a satisfying tale, even for those like me who just think they don't like travelogues.
In 1986 before home computers and email were commonplace, before even first graders had cell phones stuffed into their backpacks, two smart but naive Ivy League graduates planned a trip around the world, their itinerary inspired by the “Pancakes of Many Nations” paper placemat at the local IHOP. Susan Jane Gilman and “Claire van Houten,” more acquaintances than good friends, would start their adventure in Hong Kong, and from there travel on to China, India, Bali, and Thailand. They would be gone for a one year, right about the time when Susie's student loans came due.
But like most pampered Americans who have never traveled outside of their comfort zones, Susie and Claire find themselves immersed in a culture of strange food and unreliable transportation, where a phone call home might take two hours to patch through, and the lack of hot showers, clean sheets, and private toilets have them second-guessing those hasty, hangover-induced vacation plans.
When Claire begins hearing voices and thinks they’re being shadowed by middle eastern terrorists because her father is a “very important business man,” Susie slowly realizes that Claire is not acting the prima donna but slowly losing touch with reality, and so begins the logistical nightmare of getting her back home.
By chance Susie meets a woman named Sandy in the hotel lobby. Sandy, a proud Canadian who took a hiatus from her nursing career to teach English to the natives, takes on the job of the girls' “fixer,” reminding me of Mr. Wolf in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction—“That’s thirty minutes away. I’ll be there in ten.” With Sandy’s aid and just enough Valium to sedate Claire until they are stateside, Susie just might get out of the country with her own sanity intact.
Though the girls come off as Ugly Americans at times, Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven is a page-turner of a satisfying tale, even for those like me who just think they don't like travelogues.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 22, 2009
I like books with strong women characters or those who pretend to be strong and have taken a chance in the unknown. Since I did a 3 mnth backpacking trip to Europe and eastern parts in early 1970's, I have always liked to read about other folks who set out with the notion that it will be easy:) This book opened a whole new venture into a country I never went to, China, which I suspected for years is complicated, scary and somewhere way behind the rest of the world. It takes place in the 1980's when two female classmates graduate from Brown U. They are from very different backgrounds but decide to take off on a whirl wind backpacking trip for a year. They start in newly "opened" Communist China. Susan jane Gilman has a wonderful sense of humor and the laughs are on every page in spite of the harsh and sometimes bizzare things they encounter. Life becomes a struggle to find a clean room, good shower, food that can be swallowed and basic toilet conditions. The list of characters they meet along the way are fun and endearing and everyone has known at least one of them. Some may say they are stereotypes but I enjoyed them nonetheless. Anyone who has backpacked during the post college years with the romantic notions will appreciate this story. It is not a novel!!! A true gritty and sometimes frightening adventure all the more complicated by the strange behavior of her traveling companion who has a meltdown. A great summer read and page turner. While critical of Chinese Communist bureaucracy, which we all witnessed during last year's Olympics, she does appreciate the warmth and kindness of the Chinese people.
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