trilobite's review against another edition
2.0
This memoir of an unwanted Chinese daughter failed to fully gain my sympathy for its author. Adeline Yen Mah was born in 1937 to a wealthy family in Tianjin. Her mother died shortly thereafter and her father married a woman who would become Adeline's wicked stepmother.
When the family moved to Shanghai, Adeline was forced to endure the hideousness of her straight Chinese hair when she longed for a "perm" like the stylish westerns had. She and her brothers were forced to walk nearly three miles to school. And they were deprived of pocket change with which to buy little candies. And sometimes, her siblings were mean to her!
Adeline Yen Mah paints herself as a saint while bitterly recalling every injustice she endured throughout her childhood. Yes, her stepmother was a cruel bitch from hell but Adeline never shares with her readers anything she ever did to a another human being that she regrets. And for this reason it's difficult for this reader to completely trust or sympathize with her account.
What I did appreciate from this book was the author's constant referral to the economic and political changes that were taking place in China from 1937 to 1994. For this reason I might read some of her other books. I feel she has a lot to offer the world through her writing if she could stop obsessing about gaining the love and approval of her flaccid father and her icy stepmother, especially when she measures "love" and "approval" in terms of how much money is given to her in their respective wills.
When the family moved to Shanghai, Adeline was forced to endure the hideousness of her straight Chinese hair when she longed for a "perm" like the stylish westerns had. She and her brothers were forced to walk nearly three miles to school. And they were deprived of pocket change with which to buy little candies. And sometimes, her siblings were mean to her!
Adeline Yen Mah paints herself as a saint while bitterly recalling every injustice she endured throughout her childhood. Yes, her stepmother was a cruel bitch from hell but Adeline never shares with her readers anything she ever did to a another human being that she regrets. And for this reason it's difficult for this reader to completely trust or sympathize with her account.
What I did appreciate from this book was the author's constant referral to the economic and political changes that were taking place in China from 1937 to 1994. For this reason I might read some of her other books. I feel she has a lot to offer the world through her writing if she could stop obsessing about gaining the love and approval of her flaccid father and her icy stepmother, especially when she measures "love" and "approval" in terms of how much money is given to her in their respective wills.
hillarya's review against another edition
1.0
This book was so frustrating. I feel bad for Adeline Yen Mah, but I could not get into the writing style. I've read quite a few great memoirs and this was not one. I was so confused by the skipping around of time periods. There was no flow. Chinese culture is also very frustrating and I really don't enjoy reading about it. I don't recommend this one. Several times I contemplated closing the book and never looking back, but I have only done that one other time in my life, so I trudged on.
booksbecreads's review against another edition
3.0
The beginning of this book was great, short interesting chapters. However as the book went on the writing often became poor (and I'm not one to usually pick on these things) and whinny. I have read many memoirs where there has been hardships and abuse but it usually came accross as a poor me. This may have been intentional at times because towards the back of the book the acknowledgement that many of us struggle for our parents affection and approval even in our adult lives.
My favourite characters were Great Aunt, Aunt Baba and YeYe. I became to see and appreciate Susans strengths as the story evolved. The use of chinese proverbs as the chapter headings and introduced at key times during the book highlighted my interest in the history of these terms.
Having travelled to these parts of China and Hong Kong it was good to be able to visualise the streets, acknowledge the change that seems to have gone full circle over time and the books relevance in history. This is to me what made the book not the details of the story behind it.
My favourite characters were Great Aunt, Aunt Baba and YeYe. I became to see and appreciate Susans strengths as the story evolved. The use of chinese proverbs as the chapter headings and introduced at key times during the book highlighted my interest in the history of these terms.
Having travelled to these parts of China and Hong Kong it was good to be able to visualise the streets, acknowledge the change that seems to have gone full circle over time and the books relevance in history. This is to me what made the book not the details of the story behind it.
shahrun's review against another edition
5.0
This book chronicles the seriously dysfunctional family life of the author. I cannot imagine the strength and courage it took to write and share this book. She tells her story with great dignity, very simply and with no sensationalist waffle. She balances the details and background events nicely. I found it very inspirational how author overcame all obstacles to become a Doctor, Wife and Mother, whilst getting on with her life and the crazy things that kept on happening to her. I don’t know how she could continue to be so nice to her family after all the shit they did to her. I guess she just wanted acceptance, acknowledgement and love. I loved the use of Chinese characters and the chapter names were Chinese sayings. I would have loved to study Chinese calligraphy and character meanings with Ye Ye. The tiny insights from him were fascinating. What a shame there were no photographs or a map of China. I also fell in love with Great Aunt and Aunt Baba. She said made two very interesting statements:
1 - “I often think of life as a deposit of time. We are each allocated so many years, just like a fixed sum in a bank. When twenty-four hours have passed I have spent one more day. I read in the People’s Daily that the average life expectancy for a Chinese woman in seventy-two. I am already seventy-four years old. I spent all my deposits two years ago and am on bonus time. Every day is already a gift. What is there to complain of?”
2 - “the nineteenth century was a British century. The twentieth century is an American century. I predict the twenty-first will be a Chinese century”. I think she right on the money there. I hope I get to visit China one day!
1 - “I often think of life as a deposit of time. We are each allocated so many years, just like a fixed sum in a bank. When twenty-four hours have passed I have spent one more day. I read in the People’s Daily that the average life expectancy for a Chinese woman in seventy-two. I am already seventy-four years old. I spent all my deposits two years ago and am on bonus time. Every day is already a gift. What is there to complain of?”
2 - “the nineteenth century was a British century. The twentieth century is an American century. I predict the twenty-first will be a Chinese century”. I think she right on the money there. I hope I get to visit China one day!
marryallthepeople's review against another edition
3.0
Wow, what a horrible story but fascinating in the grand endeavors of human history.
scarschultz's review against another edition
3.0
At time great, at times tedious. Overall a good book, but I don’t know if I’ll be reaching for it to reread.
hannah_em's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this book. The Cinderella story was appealing, but too self centered. I love learning history through memoirs, but the larger picture was lost on me here.
ashbash_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
2.5
I went into this knowing nothing about it, and it is incredibly sad, and not really for me even though it was written really well