This was the first book I read by a Mongolian author, for both the Read Across Asia and the Read the World challenges. Child narrator will leave you with some questions about the culture, but I loved that kid and was with him all the way. Autobiographical fiction about the shifting of traditional Tuvan culture under 20th century pressure to assimilate. ( )

A fictionalised account of the author's childhood in 1950s Mongolia, The Blue Sky is at its best when Galsan Tschinag is both showing us the rich texture of nomadic daily life and how much the child narrator doesn't understand about what's going on around him. As a Soviet satellite, mid-20th-century Mongolia underwent a process of livestock collectivisation and political purges, and passing references to "kulaks" clues in the reader to what the narrator's parents are so worried about. The pacing is slow, but occasionally feels too deliberately so, and the ending smacks too much of "Book 1 of 3." Still, the writing is often beautifully evocative, and the build up to the ending works very well. ( )

Galsan Tschinag is a Mongolian author, actually part of the Tuvan people who live there. This book is a memoir of his childhood and focuses on his relationship with his grandmother and his dog. As his loses these relationships, it also seems that some of the Tuvan people's way of life is also changing and being lost. More and more, outside forces begin to change life for these people.

I liked this, but didn't love it as much as Lisa (labfs39). I like stretching my worldview by reading books like this, but at the same time I often find them hard to connect with. That was the case here. Not having any background in the region or culture, I think I missed some of the significance of the changes that were happening and also was a little lacking in a framework for the cultural knowledge that would have added to my enjoyment.

I still would encourage people to seek this book out, but it wasn't a favorite for me. ( )

Dshurukawaa is a young Tuvan shepherd boy growing up in the Altai mountains of Mongolia. Life is hard, but he has a loving family and a loyal dog. His adopted Grandmother is his favorite person in the world, and she dotes on him. When his brother and sister go off to boarding school, Dshurukawaa takes on more responsibilities for the lambs and bonds even more with Aryslan, his dog.

I loved this story, based on the author's childhood as a Tuvan nomad. The descriptions of life in the ail, or settlement of his extended family's yurts, were fascinating, and the story is told with warmth. The author uses dialect for certain objects and concepts, and there is a helpful glossary at the end (which I wish I had known about sooner). I also enjoyed the translator's introduction where she discusses how she took on this project and her trip to Mongolia to stay with Galsang. I do wish there had been a map in the edition of the book that I read. It's the first in a trilogy of autobiographical novels, and I have already ordered the next one. ( )

The Blue Sky is narrated by a young boy, the youngest of three children in a family of nomadic herders. They are Tuvans, indigenous people living in the High Altai mountains in the far north-west of Mongolia, sharing the land with the Kazakhs. Their way of life is dying as the Soviet system takes over. The two older children are removed to a boarding school in the city, and that will be the fate of this little boy too, but for now he's helping his family and managing his own herd of sheep with the help of his devoted dog Aryslan. The most important person in his life is his grandmother, an old woman cheated and left almost destitute by her own family and taken in by the boy's. ( )