The novel Lost Horizon was written by James Hilton in 1933. It was perceived very well by the critics and became a fairly popular 20th century novel. The plot is built using the method of framing: the frame story takes place in modern times in Europe, and the inner story – in 1933, in Tibet. The author uses the first-person narration in the frame story. It helps the reader to join the story at once and deeply. Also, the tone of this part is neutral and it helps not to get stuck at this framing: the reader understands that he’ll not find here the main plot and events.
The inner story, actually the main one, is written as the third-person narration. But though this narration is told not by Conway himself, but the author depicts his feelings, thoughts and emotions so vividly and deeply, that it seems that he is the narrator there.
The author reviews many crucial topics in this novel, and almost all of them concern a man’s true values in his life, their rethinking and weighing. Hilton shows completely different characters, different mentalities and views on life. And these differences depend not just on the nationalities and places of living: Conway and Mellinson are both Europeans, but the first one is balanced, he’s completely satisfied with living in Shangri-La, without bustle of Europe, but having wisdom of books, Lamas and beauty of nature; as for the second one, he is restless, he doesn’t even notice true harmony of the valley.
Not less important topic concerns Time and his meaning in a man’s life. Hilton shows his point of view on the essence of this concept: while people always want to catch up and even outrun time, the people of Shangri-La (and, probably, they’re those, who embody ideal features) live “hand in hand” with time - everything goes as it should, it’s not in their power to accelerate or slow down it.
As the story progresses, the reader seems to get into a fairytale: there is a small perfect world somewhere inside of our big and gray one. This fairytale doesn’t have any direct rules “How to live and be a good person?”, but the reader shows some hints connected with this theme everywhere and in everybody in the story.
