Gordon Schwerzmann’s STONER TO SEEKER: 1970s Asian Hippie Trail tells the stories of the author’s exploration of India, part of his travels in Asia after having served in the Korean War. He discusses everything—the history of every area he visits, the religions he encounters, the conversations he has with the wide range of people he meets, and even the magnificent architecture and substantial natural beauty he encounters. He is frequently open-minded and thoughtful, but can be a bit simplistic at times. (For example, he blithely offers “communism” as a solution to India’s poverty, but without any discussion of how to implement it in such a widely diverse and complicated nation.) This is a nearly-600-page book, but there are very few parts of it that are tedious (mainly the sex scenes, but those are quite skippable), and it is separated into numerous standalone chapters so that the book can be picked up anywhere, read for a bit, and put down instead of tackled all at once.
Schwerzmann’s writing is rich in beautiful descriptions of the landscape, the people, and the architecture, as in his account of a truck ride to Nepal: “We dipped into rice-terraced valleys, the sides of the road lush with banana and papaya trees: the sky above was the darkest Dresden blue and there was not a cloud to be seen. We looked back, and in the hazy distance were the flat, dusty plains of India: we were leaving the hot, sun-scorched purgatory for the Heaven of the Vale of the Gods.” His inquiries in and discussions of religion are mostly open-minded and respectful, though his flippant sense of humor, while frequently entertaining, sometimes goes a bit too far. This is particularly the case in his interpretation of the Ramayana “as a woman would write it” from Sita’s point of view—painting Her as greedy, materialistic, and willing to trade sex for luxuries—which is downright insulting both to women and to the Goddess. He does much better when he pictures a Hindu princess about to be married off to a Muslim ruler and asking Lord Shiva for strength to do her duty, knowing she is about to sacrifice everything she loves (down to her own religious practices) but offering herself up with dignity and grace because she knows the marriage is essential for the peace and well-being of her people.
He’s also a little too inclined to take on the Western romantic view of “saving the poor downtrodden Indian,” especially the Indian woman. At one point he meets a young girl buying sweet cakes, who looks at him with what he interprets as a pleading, haunting expression; and he imagines her as a child bride doomed to a life of hardship—begging him, the noble Western man, to rescue her—with absolutely no knowledge of her actual circumstances or intentions whatsoever.
All in all, though, this is a fascinating read: a journey through one (several, really) of the most richly diverse and beautiful civilizations on Earth from the viewpoint of a thoughtful, lively, and curious young man.
Full of colorful historical and religious information, Gordon Schwerzmann’s STONER TO SEEKER: 1970s Asian Hippie Trail is mostly an engaging and entertaining read about a young man looking for a new view of the world.
~Catherine Langrehr for IndieReader