Painted Oxen by Thomas Lloyd Qualls: book review

Painted Oxen (2019) is set in Tibet and India.

Two men, one old and one young, embark on separate pilgrimages. The old man is a Tibetan monk searching for a sacred hidden valley to bring him enlightenment. The young man is an American backpacker in India searching for a guru or romantic love, whatever comes first. The painted oxen belong to a mysterious red-haired woman who appears in both men’s dreams.

Similar to Homer’s book Odysseus, there are four winds, four elements and four seasons. There are dream stories and the divination of tarot cards that connect the two men together.

The old man is an adventurer and the young man is a traveler: the trick is to learn something about yourself: to gain more than knowledge – to gain wisdom. They both take on guides at some point in their journeys (people, voices, dreams, nature, and the elements). The old man is a philosopher and the young man is an idealist: ‘the trick is to learn what is real.’ They are both dreamers. They both ask themselves, ‘what is the lesson here?’ They both are on the bridge of transformation.

What happens if and when they find the thing they’re looking for? What happens when your heart is as light as a feather? This book is an easy-to-read, spiritual travelogue, with more than a message or two for those who want to cross the bridge. It takes readers to another realm: one of curiosity and one of courage.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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