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Tiger for Breakfast Paperback – Import, January 1, 1990
- Print length282 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherTime Books International
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 1990
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Product details
- ASIN : B000PRXLPO
- Publisher : Time Books International; Later Printing edition (January 1, 1990)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 282 pages
- Item Weight : 1.15 pounds
- Best Sellers Rank: #4,583,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2012Having traveled in Nepal in 1974, We reread this book and ordered a copy to give friends who are traveling there soon. We found it a fascinating account of life there when Nepal opened up to tourist travel. Boris was a character bigger than Yeti.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2024I have his book and read it years ago. But what I remember most is going to his restaurant in 1980, I was on a banking business trip in Nepal for Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company in NY, I was young and alone and went to his restaurant for dinner. As it happens, I was the only diner. Boris, as an old man, greeted me and we chatted for a few minutes. Just a reverie as I'm 73 now. Dinner was good.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2016Great read!
- Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2013Tiger for Breakfast (1990 edition, first published in 1966) is about a man, a dream, a hotel, a city, and a country.
Peissel met the man, Boris Lissanevitch of Kathmandu, in the spring of 1959 when his plans for an anthropological survey of Bhutan were dashed by the commencement of China's incursion into Tibet. Diverted from Bhutan to Nepal, officials suggested Peissel meet the influential Lissanevitch, the owner of The Royal Hotel in Kathmandu - the same Boris of Han Suyin's novel The Mountain is Young (1958), one of the first novels I read from my mother's library when I was 10 years old. The Royal Hotel, at the time, and now the Yak and Yeti Hotel, was "not so much a hotel as a décor for Boris's sense of elegance" when no road led to Kathmandu and vehicles were carried on men's backs "not in parts, but fully assembled and in one piece." It was the first hotel for foreigners as Nepal was opening up to tourists in 1950, especially mountain climbers.
Peissel's book is the history of The Royal Hotel, one half of General Bahadur Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana's palace, managed by Boris since 1954 after his interest as founder and manager of the 300 Club in Calcutta, India, waned and fell apart. The Royal is a hotel visited by kings, queens, princes, princesses, Sir Edmund Hillary - after his ascent of Mt. Everest - famous dancers and entertainers, King Mahendra of Nepal, and even Queen Elizabeth II of England.
Boris, at age 55, was a handsome man, a previous ballet dancer. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, he was also a restless man, an adventurer, and an entrepreneur. He was the number two attraction in Nepal, after Mt. Everest.
The novel is primarily about Boris and his dream hotel, but it is also about the isolated Valley of Kathmandu in Nepal - and the Himalayas and their climbers, the jungles and their elephants and tigers, and everything in between.
Peisel writes evocatively of Kathmandu, its streets and artisans - the expert woodcarvers and architects that made Kathmandu "one vast work of art." He writes vividly of Boris's grand dreams and schemes and the efforts in which he brings them about, for himself and others, in an era when difficulties were immense but the impossible didn't stop anyone from trying.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2015I found this book at the airport in Kathmandu. What a great read. Mr. Peissel does an outstanding job of bringing to life a personality of someone who lived an amazing life. Those days are gone now, but we will be forever be indebted to Mr. Peissel for writing Boris's story and keeping his memory alive. I have not read such a book since William Warren's book about Jim Thompson in Thailand.
Top reviews from other countries
- Ed GunkelReviewed in Canada on July 18, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars ... finally found Tiger for breafast and it did not disappoint.
I finally found Tiger for breafast and it did not disappoint.
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Bernard NépalReviewed in France on December 3, 2015
4.0 out of 5 stars Sympa
Le récit de la vie et des différentes vies d'une personne dans les années de 1920 à 1960 du côté de l'Inde et du Népal avec les Maharajas et le roi du Népal , on s'y croirait revenu