Review: Mao's Last Dancer

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, it took me four months but I did finally finish this book!

WARNING: This review may contain minor broad spoilers. (Details will be spoiler-tagged)

It's not that it was bad, or boring, or anything like that ... it's more that it was hard for me to relate to. I generally hate reading about poverty on all occasions (which is why I stay away from war stories) so the early days of his life were just a real struggle to get through. I hate the thought of people having to live in such conditions.

The thing about memoirs is that they tend to be motivational stories about someone fighting to overcome immense obstacles and come out on top. And while you can't deny the author lived a really tough life in parts, he also had a lot of luck and mere chance on his side as well, which takes away a little of the triumph of his story.

The first half of the book is a real drag, but it does emphasise how important his family is to him. There were a lot of anecdotes, and their living situation is really drilled in - it totally sucked. I understand its necessary inclusion but it doesn't make for fun reading, and it's half the reason it took me so long to get through this book.

Then he's just randomly selected to go and study dance, and he gets all these injuries all the time and it made me cringe so often. Throughout the entire story he gets so many injuries and EVERY. DAMN. TIME. he just dances on. He talks about how excruciating the pain was, but it was easier for him than giving up. I just felt so sickened by that. The level of strength that takes is ridiculous and admirable, but at the same time it seems so foolish to carry on the way he did. If this was a fictional novel, it would just seem so unrealistic! I was so bothered by how much he placed honour and work ethic above his own health.

The story is very much about communist China and the effect it had on his life. I'm not big on politics so a lot of it was confusing and hard to comprehend for me because I've been fortunate enough to have been born with white skin and live in a Western country where I have the freedom to essentially do as I please. In this story, it's when (view spoiler)[Mao dies and Cunxin goes to America (hide spoiler)] that finally I began to comprehend the gaping chasm between his way of life and mine. That's when the story really got interesting for me.

I think you really need the comparisons to understand the true trials of his life. While reading, there was a lot of stuff that I disagreed with and felt uncomfortable about, but on reflection and actually pausing to consider the nature of his upbringing, I began to understand his choices a little more.

(view spoiler)[His marriage to Elizabeth, for example, I saw as incredibly selfish. He knows it will potentially destroy his mentor's future, he knows it may mean never being able to see his family again, or even them being hurt because of his actions, but he goes ahead and does it anyway. He marries her because he loves her, and because he wants to stay in America. I was so bothered by how selfish that was. But when you begin to factor in that he felt his own success meant his family's success, it does colour the situation a little better. There's so much about his situation at that time that I couldn't possibly comprehend. But towards the end of the story, when he re-visits his family for the first time, you begin to understand it all a little better. (hide spoiler)]

I think part of why this book took me so long to get through is that his personality is just so different from mine, and so it was really hard to relate to and therefore appreciate his decisions. There really is also such an element of luck to his story - he just happens to meet the right people, who have powerful friends who can pull the strings that need to be pulled. His story is so incredibly rare, and I don't think anyone can read this book and feel that the same could happen to them. It's definitely full of inspiring moments, but so much of his being able to live his dream depended on chance.

I like memoirs that show me people who overcame the odds with their own strength, resilience and determination. He certainly has all of those qualities, but his success as a dancer by itself wasn't enough. To me, the moral of the story is that it doesn't matter how much hard work or talent you have if you don't know the right people. As far as morals go, that's not exactly inspiring.

So , in summary, I can't say I enjoyed reading this book but I am glad that I did. There is a lot of stuff in it that is hard to relate to, and it's not exactly an inspiring story that motivates you to go out there and chase your own dreams, but at the same time it was really fascinating to read about a life so far removed from my own, and try to understand the cultural differences, and a little about how one's upbringing can make such a drastic impact.

Li Cunxin is an inspiring man, and I'm glad he chose to share his story.

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