What do readers think of Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli? Write your own review.

Lisa Napoli, on her own quest to find contentment and satisfaction with her life, travels to Bhutan to aid the national radio station. Her observations and insights on this delightful small Himalayan kingdom make interesting reading. For me, it was a trip down memory lane to remember a wonderful vacation I had there some years ago. I recommend this for all arm chair travelers who wish to know more about other parts of the world or prospective visitors.

After reading “Radio Shangri-La” by Lisa Napoli, one thing I can say is “I wish I could visit Bhutan!” But sadly I’m afraid that as Bhutan opens up to the world, it will cease to be the same unspoiled country that Napoli discovered.

As I read about Napoli’s adventures, I felt as though I were traveling with her, getting acquainted with her Bhutanese friends -- Ngawang, Pema, Pink and the others – and sharing their lives. Although I haven’t lived in another country, I traveled throughout the world for many years in my job for a non-profit organization. Reading this book brought back lovely memories of my experiences and the people who changed me by giving me a different perspective on my life and values.

However, partly because Napoli kept us at arms length, only teasing us about her problems and experience instead of bringing us into the heart and soul of her changed self and partly because I was more interested in Bhutan and its people, I didn’t enjoy Napoli’s personal musings as much as I did her descriptions of this beautiful country, these delightfully open-hearted people and their lives. All in all, though, it was an enthralling book.

I enjoy reading books that teach some kind of spiritual lesson, so I was eager to read this book to find out what the author learned by working at a radio station in a Buddhist nation. While I believe the epiphanies she arrived at were profound and relevant to my life, they didn't take up much of the book. Radio Shangri-la reads more like a travel memoir offering sights, sounds and a rich atmosphere of a place the reader will never experience in real life. I enjoyed it more for this reason.

Being a life long traveler, I began this book with great expectations looking forward to a tale of an American working in exotic Bhutan, a place I've never visited. Immediately encountering wordy sentences without smooth flow, I struggled through the mildly interesting plot. The characters showed potential but, often, were not fully defined. Interesting facts about Bhutan and the Buddhist monks held some interest but the lack of smooth writing hindered smooth reading.

This is an interesting and very readable book. I expected more on Bhutan's country, beliefs and day-to-day living. However, it is more biographical than historical.
What did she learn? I t seemed to me that she got more out of her "three good things" class in LA than from her visits to Bhutan. However, she did love the peace, easy-going and content lifestyle of the Bhutanese. I would too considering our frantic lives.
I would like to have had some pictures of the beautiful landscape and life in Bhutan.
I do recommend this book for pleasure reading.

I was very excited about reading this book since I have loved other travel adventure books in the past. However, I found Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli a bit uneven. The first two days in Bhutan are read well and interesting, but then it lost my interest. Too many pages discussing going back and forth and not enough meat or heart regarding Bhutan.

Like many memoirists these days, when Lisa Napoli experienced a mid-life crisis, she jumped at an opportunity to travel to a remote part of the world – in this case, Bhutan. My favorite parts of the book were her nuggets of information about this tiny Himalayan country: why the Bhutanese paint phalluses on their buildings, the extreme spiciness of the food, why the University of Texas at El Paso designs all their buildings in the Bhutanese style (minus the phalluses, I assume) and the country’s serious pursuit of Gross National Happiness instead of a Gross Domestic Product. As she says, Bhutan was "an ancient, once-secluded kingdom now transitioning at warp speed". A few years ago TV was finally allowed in the country and it has brought images of the US –via Baywatch and Sex and the City. Will young Bhutanese's Gross National Happiness change?

I was interested in this book because I lead an International Book Discussion at the library where I work and we had just read another book about Bhutan. This was a fun and enjoyable read about current events in Bhutan, and I will recommend it to others in our group who want an update about this country, and any other armchair travelers.

Perhaps I bring a bias. I have been to Bhutan in the past year and eagerly awaited the depiction of the warm serenity that engulfs the region. Instead, I found a breezy novel with little insight that might appeal to those looking for an entertaining "find yourself' book.I was hoping to hear much more about what she actually did at the radio station and the difficulties she encountered,but again, I found her text to be insubstantial. She talks about various love relationships gone wrong,but brings you to a climax and then drops the stick, never further elucidating what happened. All in all, one might find it a good beach read, but I left it feeling disappointed and wanting more.