Bingo Chart Reading Challenge: Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

I have just written a glowing review of this book as I thoroughly enjoyed it. But as I went to check out the website and possibly make a donation, I found that this book and its subject, Greg Mortenson, has been the subject of controversy involving lies and misappropriation of charity funds. 

I read 2 or 3 articles and the main points can be found in this one by Jon Krakauer. 

I read this book as part of my bingo reading challenge for the year, i.e. reading a non-fiction book. I have read other non-fiction books this year, but I haven’t really had too much to say about them or otherwise they have been part of other reading lists/challenges. 

This book chronicles the work of Greg Mortenson, an American who almost accidentally starts a charity to build schools in Pakistan’s rural parts. 

As it turns out the starting point of this tale of bravery and hard work is a complete lie. The book begins with Mortenson, weak and tired, stumbling down the mountainside after a failed attempt to climb K2. Lost, he stumbles upon the village of Korphe and the people there take him in and nurse him back to health. Mortenson claims he visited the village of Korphe for days, when in reality he was there a few hours. The promise to build a school for the poor village was only made years after this first visit. 

A number of the stories painting Mortenson as a hero are also untrue apparently. He claims to have been kidnapped and held against his will for about a week, when really he was the honored guest of the tribe in question. It also appears that he spent charity funds on private things and in general played fast and loose with the truth about the work he was doing. 

I was SO disappointed when I found out about this controversy. As I said I really enjoyed this book and wrote a raving review talking about the good work Mortenson was doing in Pakistan and later in Afghanistan, educating girls, bringing clean water to remote villages and generally doing good. And while I am sure that he has done some good, all of it is now tainted in my view by these findings. 

I wonder why Mortenson felt the need to “bulk up” his story with the emotional stay in Korphe and the dramatic kidnapping. As the story is told in the book it certainly is compelling, but I wonder if it would not have been equally compelling if it had just been the truth. When reading I did sometimes wonder at his luck meeting just the right people to help him, but I put it down to the workings of a tribal community I am not familiar with, and while he sometimes lucked out, he also met with a number of obstacles. Now I wonder if any of those obstacles and the strokes of amazing good luck, like meeting the newly reinstated king of Afghanistan, were true. 

I had originally given this book 4 stars out of 5 as I was thoroughly impressed with the writing and the story, but now I am thinking it is more of a 1 star book for me. The writing itself, as a “technical” trait of the book, is still great, but the entire story is tainted, and I feel sad about that. I was really happy to see someone working to overcome prejudice between religions and nationalities and work to ensure everyone has the chance to get an education. And I am sure some of this work happened and is still going on, but the reality is that it drowns in the controversy, and that is sad.