Monday, October 15, 2018

Finding Gobi

Book:Finding Gobi
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : Good Quotes : References

Basic Information:
 
Author: Dion Leonard
Edition: eBook on OverDrive from the Fresno County Public Library
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0008227950 (978-0008227951)
ASIN: B01N5FAUIJ
Start Date: October 12, 2018
Read Date: October 15, 2018
239 pages
Genre: Biography
Language Warning: None
Rated Overall: 3 out of 5


Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
Dion Leonard is a ultra-distance runner. He was running in a six day, long distance race, when a small dog started to run with him-through two marathon distance days. Dion Leonard becomes attached to the dog and names him Gobi, for the place they were running-the Gobi Desert. But to get Gobi out of China, he has to go through several steps, some to leave China and some to enter the United Kingdom.

This forces Leonard to leave Gobi behind for at least thirty days in the care of one of the support staff of the long distance run. Leonard starts a fundraiser to help fund getting Gobi to the UK. But in the meantime, Gobi goes missing-through either normal doggie escape tactics or more nefarious reasons.

This forces Leonard to go back to China to help find Gobi. Now comes the waiting to get an exit visa and the paperwork to enter the UK. Leonard is thinking that everybody is trying to kidnap Gobi, so he become very protective (paranoid?) and stays with Gobi almost constantly and is suspicious of anything strange that happens.

He finally waits the proper time and all the tests for the various diseases come out negative. Leonard is allowed to take Gobi into the UK and they live happily ever after.



Cast of Characters:
  • Dion Leonard-author, long distance runner, owner of Gobi, Australian
  • Gobi-dog
  • Lucja-wife, from Belgium
  • Kiki Chen-pet advocate in China. Principle person for finding a way to get Gobi out of China
  • Chris Barden-minor character, but organizer of search party for Gobi
  • Lu Xin-head of search party in Urumqi
  • Jiuyen (lil)-medical doctor student who though quiet was able to confront those who were obstructing the search
  • Ma family-found Gobi
  • Jonathan Brown-Daily Mirror reported who first made the story famous
  • Richard Henson-long distance runner, bunkmate, helped right Dion’s mind while searching
  • Tommy Chen-world class long distance runner


Expectations:
Recommendation: OSHER Book Group
When: Fall 2018
Date Became Aware of Book: May 2018
How come do I want to read this book: Because of book group
What do I think I will get out of it? Unknown, but low expectations


Thoughts:
The race which Leonard depicts is called the Gobi March. The next Gobi March, as of this writing, is July 28, 2019. The course roughly follows the footsteps of the Great Genghis Khan with the race ending Karakorum, the 13th and 14th century capital of Genghis Khan’s Empire, in the vast steppe. (From the 4Deserts site.)


Prologue
He ends the prologue by saying that finding Gobi was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life… But being found by her--that was one of the best things. Interesting way to put things. Sometimes our lives are changed not by what we do, but by things which happen to us. How we react to these changes is what defines us as a person.

He says that because of Gobi, he has felt fear and despair. This happens when you love something. When you think you can lose it, you go through these things. It is with the things you do not care about which causes you to continue on without changing course.


Chapter 1
Leonard defines what an ultra-marathon race is. Multi-day with around 25 miles or more a day-sometimes twice that amount in a day, in a grueling environment. People pay big money to do this.

Why would someone want to run this kind of a race? The reward is to finish it.

Leonard talks about the self-talk he does. He runs it to reach the top of his competition. If he runs, he wants to at least place. After not accomplishing his goals last time, he is thinking about stopping these runs. So to him, if he cannot place, he does not want to run. Does not seem like he is running just to run, but more running to beat everyone else. Definitely not a passive person. He has a plan to either come in good here and continue on doing good in a couple more races to reach the pinnacle of races, the Marathon des Sables.

He has only been running three years. But during that time he had to take off eight months because of an injury. He feels this is time wasted (chp 2). He was 37 years old when he started running competitively (chp3). Which puts him about 40 at the time of this story.

This kind of running is more of a mental exercise than physical bruising. Even though it is physically trying. When my wife did the JMT several years ago, I told her the first week is physically demanding. But after that, it is her mind which will matter much more. I envision this kind of running, this kind of effort is similar, but very much more intense.


Chapter 2
Leonard describes his childhood, where he grew up believing the man whom his mother married was his Dad. After he died, his Mom rather abruptly tells him this is not true. He noted that the four words, Garry wasn’t your dad ripped his heart out, throwing his life into chaos. He then talks about how he was ostracised in the town he lived. This caused him to become more and more disruptive to his schooling and in his relationship to his mother. But he does not talk about why town turned on him.

Lists what he carries-less than 20 pounds:
  • Food
  • Bedding
  • No change of clothes
  • No mat
  • No book
  • No phone
Leonard is highly regimented, trying to reduce the variations which can affect his race. Eat dinner at 6:30pm so not to waste energy for the next day. Do not waste energy socializing, so he falls asleep before his tent mates come in.


Chapter 3
Leonard has an inferiority complex when it comes to running. He sees other runners and wonders what is he doing there. He makes it through a race because of grit not elegance or love. He does have a paragraph where he nicely describes running as a beautiful thing-finding rhythm between the legs and lungs. Experiencing freedom, peace and the moment. He is not one of those runners who runs for the love of it. He is a competitor, a racer.

He talks about how he is an individual, rather than a team player. He played cricket, but was too upset at his teammates to continue.

I knew that the race was going to be won or lost in my head. … avoid distraction.


Chapter 5
Etiquette-if a runner makes a mistake and goes the wrong way, then you try to get the person back on track. You also wait for them until they return to their place in the race. This does not seem like the ultra competitiveness of our society where a person makes a mistake and they get walked over.

Leonard talks about the effect heat has on him. In his youth, when he fully exerted himself, playing sports, he found that the louder the heart, the quieter the sadness. In his running, he felt that he was no longer running to get away from my past. I was running toward my future. I was running with hope, not sorrow.


Chapter 6
Leonard and Gobi was starting to have a symbiotic relationship. By Gobi’s presence, she would give encouragement to Leonard. Over time, Leonard would feel responsible for Gobi’s needs.


Chapter 9
He tells about how his main competitor got dehydrated and was in a bad way. Leonard faced the decision-to win, but ignore him, or stop and help and not win. What price is worth winning? To Leonard, the potential for someone dying was too steep of a price.

The unknown is always more intimidating than the familiar.

He was also faced with the choice: what does he do with Gobi? He makes a decision which is out of character for him-bring her home with him. Little did he know what the cost would be. I suspect when we know the cost of something, we will decide that the reward is not worth the cost. Is it better to not know the cost in seeking something?


Chapter 11
Interesting to see how a journalist tracked down Leonard and his wife.

Low expectations on fundraising.

I will admit that I was feeling a bit uncharitable when I read the fundraising part. He has to pay thousands of dollars to run in the Gobi March, but he is asking others to fund getting a dog out? The next bit of being uncharitable was thinking why give so much money for one dog when there are many more people who could use the money to go beyond starvation to at least living. Even if you wanted to help dogs, was there no dogs in Scotland worthy of being saved? There is a hint of a Jesus story here. When Jesus is at dinner, a woman comes in and anointed his feet and hair with a costly perfume. The disciples grumble that the perfume could have been sold for big money and given to the poor. Jesus basically says you do not know what you are saying. This is the best use of this gift. So it may be said about this effort-do not grumble when love is around-it is irrational.


Chapter 15
Leonard admits that he had a bad start to life. He is dealing with it. But he is using the tools he learned as a child growing up to deal with pain, doubt, fear. Through his upbringing , he can block out these things, particularly through his running. I wonder if he is really dealing with his problems or ignoring them and hoping they will go away.


Chapter 18
Gobi is lost while they are going through the waiting time needed to get out of China. Leonard goes over to coordinate the search. He finds that his lone attach approach will not work in this case. He has to work as a team. Through this he sees he has to trust.


Chapter 20
Friendship-something when done right has no-strings attached.


Chapter 21
To be trusted … by a living creature is a powerful thing.


Chapter 23
This is the crux of the book-Did Gobi save Leonard? No and Leonard says as much. But he does know that Gobi has changed me. He is dealing with his past demons. By finding Gobi, Leonard no longer needs the long-distance running to work out the past. Through Gobi, I’ve found more of myself. That is the heart of the story.


Chapter 24
One of the insights which Leonard comes away with is that there is more, much more, to people as a group than both the surface and there reputation. He says that I saw in people only what I expected to see. He notes that the people of China that once they let you into their hearts and homes, they’re incredibly generous and unfailingly kind. I suspect this is true of most people. For the most part we all want to be viewed as generous, we are intimidated by the deceit we have faced before. The question is how can we get beyond that. The key I think is to see not people as a mass, but a person as an individual. To understand and see beyond the expectations.

When we say yes to something, in Leonard’s case to Gobi, life becomes different. The question is what do we say yes to? Also by saying yes, often we are saying No to something else. While there is a need to be careful with our Yes’ and No’s, there is a case for love being something which is without reservation.


Evaluation:
This is a feel good story about a dog finding a man who would run with him. The twist to the story is that the man is an ultra-marathon runner and this is taking place in China, the Gobi desert in particular. The man is an Australian living in Scotland with a Belgium wife. His tale talks about how the dog finds the man, the man’s adventures in getting the dog out of China, and how the man comes to understand himself better.

This is a fast, easy, pick me up read, with a predictable happy ending. We all need these at times. But there are a some insights which one can learn about their world and about themselves. So just enjoy the read.

 
Notes from my book group:


Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
  • Why the title of Finding Gobi?
    • What does it mean?
  • Does this story work as a feel good story?
    • Is there a deeper meaning?
  • Had you heard about ultra-marathons before this book? Did it sound appealing to you? What kind of a person runs this kind of race? What are the requirements to run this kind of a race?
  • Leonard talks about his running being in his head and that part of his effort is to avoid distractions. (chp 3). What are the benefits of this approach? The draw back?
  • In chapter 5, Leonard describes the etiquette of what happens when a person makes a mistake and runs the wrong way. Is this taking etiquette too far? How would that play out in our American culture?
    • Later on another runner keeps on running and avoids a hard part of the race. Leonard talks to the organizers about this. Was leonard a tattle tell? Or trying to keep the race fair? How does the other runner take it?
  • Also in chapter 5, he says that I was no longer running to get away from my past. I was running toward my future. I was running with hope, not sorrow. Can you outrun your past? What happens when he no longer can run? How will he deal with his past?
  • What prize is worth another person dying? Leonard was faced with the quandry to win and ignore another competitor or not win and help. (As a note, 11 people died building the Golden Gate bridge-should it not have been built?)
  • Leonard decides to take Gobi back to Scotland without knowing what the obstacles would be. As it turns out there is a great deal of obstacles in achieving this objective. Would Leonard have made this decision if he knew what the obstacles were? How did Leonard grow as a person as he overcome these obstacles?
  • When Leonard finds out how much money it will take to get Gobi out of China, he opens a social funding site. How do we judge what is important enough to give money too? Why is giving money to save a single dog more important than giving money to save human lives? Or even many dogs?
  • Leonard notes that the people of China that once they let you into their hearts and homes, they’re incredibly generous and unfailingly kind. How can we get beyond what we see and into the heart of people?
  • Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
  • Characters:
    • Which character did you identify with?
    • Which one did you dislike?
  • Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
  • In what context was religion talked about in this book?
  • Why do you think the author wrote this book?
  • What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
  • What “take aways” did you have from this book?
  • What central ideas does the author present?
    • Are they personal, sociological, global, political, economic, spiritual?
    • What implications for you, our nation or the world do these idea’s have?
  • Describe the culture talked about in the book.
    • How is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
    • What economic or political situations are described?
    • Does the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the arts, religious beliefs, language or food?
  • How did this book affect your view of the world?
    • What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
  • Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
    • What was memorable?

Good Quotes:
    • First Line: The camera crew finished up last night.
    • Last Line: Let’s all go for a run
    • The unknown is always more intimidating than the familiar. Chp 9
    • To be trusted … by a living creature is a powerful thing. Chp 21
    • I saw in people only what I expected to see. Chp 24

      References:
          Posted by at
          Labels: , , , ,
          Location: Gobi Desert

          No comments:

          Post a Comment

          Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)