Journey of a Thousand Miles
by Lang Lang with David Ritz
Hachette, HK$245
His music may be inspired but his story is less so. A victim of 'show, don't tell', Journey of a Thousand Miles has a perfunctory air that recalls a student playing the notes to a piece of music but not listening to whether they soar or plop. Take this introduction: 'Music opened up the world to me, a boy ... who has no actual home, only the homes of my heart: China, my beloved motherland; Europe, the land of my musical heroes; and the United States, the land that transformed me and led me to adulthood.' Cloying and soulless, the book was written with David Ritz, who perhaps didn't recognise the challenge of telling the story of a classical musician (his other biographies include those of B.B. King and Aretha Franklin). A central figure in Lang's life and career, his father is depicted as a tyrant given to tantrums: he once threw his son's toys out of a window because the prodigy had been wasting time talking to his mother about moving to Beijing to further his music training. Even without his father's influence, Lang evinces a competitive spirit that bodes well for someone striving for fame. However, readers won't come away from the book thinking they know him.