Scan barcode
A review by trilobite
Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah
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.