--- product_id: 52174494 title: "The Little Communist Who Never Smiled" price: "$22.85" currency: USD in_stock: false reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.ec/products/52174494-the-little-communist-who-never-smiled store_origin: EC region: Ecuador --- # The Little Communist Who Never Smiled **Price:** $22.85 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Little Communist Who Never Smiled - **How much does it cost?** $22.85 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ec](https://www.desertcart.ec/products/52174494-the-little-communist-who-never-smiled) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description An award-winning novel powerfully re-imagines a childhood in the spotlight of history, politics, and destiny. Montreal 1976. A fourteen-year-old girl steps out onto the floor of the Montreal Forum and into history. Twenty seconds on uneven bars is all it takes for Nadia Comaneci, the slight, unsmiling child from Communist Romania, to etch herself into the collective memory. The electronic scoreboard, astonishing spectators with what has happened, shows 1.0. The judges have awarded an unprecedented perfect ten, the first in Olympic gymnastics, though the scoreboard is unable to register anything higher than 9.9. In The Little Communist Who Never Smiled , Lola Lafon tells the story of Comaneci's journey from growing up in rural Romania to her eventual defection to the United States in 1989. Adored by young girls in the west and appropriated as a political emblem by the Ceausescu regime, Comaneci's life was scrutinized wherever she went. Lafon's fictionalized account shows how a single athletic event mesmerizes the world and reverberates across nations. Review: A superb novel about gymnastics and the Cold War - This is a terrific and superbly plotted novel about the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci. Comaneci was one of the finest gymnasts the world has seen: she was the first to gain a perfect score (her parallel bars routine is still breathtaking), and was at the forefront of a generation of talented Romanian (and later, through the defection of her coach, American) gymnasts that loosened the stranglehold Soviet gymnasts had at the time. Lafon's novel is fascinating about the grueling regime that gymnasts went through at such young ages, and about the struggles Comaneci faced when her body grew (as of course it would) and the extraordinarily unfair criticisms she faced. It's also a superb portrait of the Cold War world, and how it intersected at global sporting events. The telling is made even more compelling by a sort of subplot which involves the narrator speaking to a fictionalised version of Comaneci herself about how she is writing her life. It's wonderfully imaginative, and is a terrific read. Review: Nasty - Personally I find this a rather nasty little book. It's written as the relationship between a journalist with Romanian roots and the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci but careful reading of the small print tells you the apparent relationship is invented. As the author has nothing good to say about Comaneci, or her athletic training in Romania, or anything apart from herself, and as it's written in a very realistic style, I think there is a significant risk of what in 2017-8 would be called fake news. But what is, or is not, is impenetrable. Best avoided. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | 3,252,365 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 4,508 in Sports Fiction (Books) 6,608 in Political Fiction (Books) 7,467 in Biographical & Autofiction | | Customer Reviews | 3.7 out of 5 stars 44 Reviews | ## Images ![The Little Communist Who Never Smiled - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71zLBAbsRCL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A superb novel about gymnastics and the Cold War *by D***R on 7 December 2016* This is a terrific and superbly plotted novel about the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci. Comaneci was one of the finest gymnasts the world has seen: she was the first to gain a perfect score (her parallel bars routine is still breathtaking), and was at the forefront of a generation of talented Romanian (and later, through the defection of her coach, American) gymnasts that loosened the stranglehold Soviet gymnasts had at the time. Lafon's novel is fascinating about the grueling regime that gymnasts went through at such young ages, and about the struggles Comaneci faced when her body grew (as of course it would) and the extraordinarily unfair criticisms she faced. It's also a superb portrait of the Cold War world, and how it intersected at global sporting events. The telling is made even more compelling by a sort of subplot which involves the narrator speaking to a fictionalised version of Comaneci herself about how she is writing her life. It's wonderfully imaginative, and is a terrific read. ### ⭐ Nasty *by R***S on 28 January 2018* Personally I find this a rather nasty little book. It's written as the relationship between a journalist with Romanian roots and the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci but careful reading of the small print tells you the apparent relationship is invented. As the author has nothing good to say about Comaneci, or her athletic training in Romania, or anything apart from herself, and as it's written in a very realistic style, I think there is a significant risk of what in 2017-8 would be called fake news. But what is, or is not, is impenetrable. Best avoided. ### ⭐ Stilted *by B***Y on 19 May 2018* Maybe because it's a translation but I found the writing jarring and stilted. The content starts out interesting enough and then quite frankly I just found it boring. Don't bother. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.ec/products/52174494-the-little-communist-who-never-smiled](https://www.desertcart.ec/products/52174494-the-little-communist-who-never-smiled) --- *Product available on Desertcart Ecuador* *Store origin: EC* *Last updated: 2026-07-03*