A review by booksbecreads
Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter, by Adeline Yen Mah
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.