The memoirs of the ordinary Tibetan housewife who became the Dalai Lama's mom. Diki Tsering was illiterate, but her niece tape-recorded interviews with her before her death in 1980 and those interviews became this book. I most enjoyed the first half, where Tsering talks about her childhood and early adulthood in Tibet before the Chinese invasion. Life in that time and place was very simple and had a lot of beauty, but a lot of harshness too. Tsering writes about the bad treatment of women in Tibetan society -- a daughter-in-law was basically a slave, and widows were compelled to remarry whether they wanted to or not -- and about how, of her sixteen children, nine of them did not live past infancy. Yet she clearly enjoyed her early life, surrounded by a loving family, and knowing very well her place in the world. Deprived as her existence was, she seems to have enjoyed a sense of security that the modern person's world lacks.

I thought the second half of the book, about the Dalai Lama's rise to power and the family's escape to India, was much weaker. I don't know much about the Dalai Lama's life or the situation in Tibet and I couldn't understand a lot of what was going on. I think if I knew more I would have liked this part better. For this reason I would recommend this as only a supplement to learning about Tibet and the Dalai Lama.

Can you imagine the bragging rights this woman must have had? Other people's sons get good grades in school or are star soccer players; her son was GOD. ( )