Book 19 of 52: Mao's Last Dancer

Written as an autobiography by Li Cunxin, this book tells the true story of Li as a young boy living in an impoverished village, who by extraordinary chance is plucked from his family in a remote Chinese village and becomes a world-famous dancer. The road from an 11-year-old peasant boy to ballet star was not an easy one: endless hours of training, injuries, horrible living conditions, a defection to the US, and years without speaking to his family.

During parts of it, I fondly remembered my ballet training. I trained in ballet for 12 years and even went to a performing arts' high school for dance. I loved the descriptions of the stages and studios Li danced in, the ballets he learned, and even recognized many of the names of the dancers he refer to. The training seemed so harsh, with teachers ripping his hamstrings to improve his flexibility. It was also a history lesson for me, learning about life under Chairman Mao in China. It shows you how children were brainwashed as soon as they got into school. They were told that Chairman Mao was their savior. While him and his policies were actually killing millions of people. 

I just loved this book -- maybe because it was about China, or maybe because it was about ballet, or maybe it was because it was a simple inspirational story about overcoming hardship and adversity.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in ballet or the history of China. It was well over 400 pages, but an easy read. I have the DVD on hold at the library and I'm looking forward to seeing the movie in the next couple of weeks.