Rating: 
Summary: NO LOYALTY IN THIS FAMILY
Review: It is hard not to be empathetic to Adeline Yen Mah's plight as an unwanted Chinese daughter. Adeline's mother dies giving birth to her and thus begins her tormented life in which she is tagged as "bad luck" and consequently "unwanted". Her father, who is extremely proficient in business matters, lacks a true backbone where his children are concerned. Upon the death of his wife, he marries again to the beautiful Eurasian Jeanne Prosperi, whom the children are told to call Niang, a Chinese term for mother. Joseph and Jeanne have two children of their own who are the "chosen" ones while Adeline and her siblings become the "stepchildren". This book chronicles her life in China as well as her trip to America where she studies to become a doctor. While the story is sad, my feeling throughout was that it could be much worse. Her father is ruled by the despicable Niang yet manages to send some of his children abroad for their education, paying for it in its entirety. Besides the problems Adeline encountered with her stepmother, the problems she faced with her own siblings could be deemed even worse. Since Niang was afraid that they would all eventually unite against her, she made sure they were never loyal to each other as well. I think this is the part of the story that I found the most hurtful. Her siblings were her blood yet, as hard as she tried, she couldn't even make them happy or want her. A truly sad tale....
Rating: 
Summary: Disregard any negative reviews....
Review: i read some of the previous reviews, and i don't understand why some people think the author complains too much. yes, adeline did grow up in a prestigeous household, and her parents did pay for her education, but she did not receive the basic love she needed from the people who she called her parents-the father and stepmother. yes, she was loved by her aunt and grandparents, but her parents (especially the stepmother) had all the power in the household and the stepmother inflicted mental and physical cruelty upon her stepchildren and her youngest daughter, susan. that is something which scars someone's self-worth, and that emotional scar will be with that individual for a long time. i certainly did not regard adeline as a whiny, self-centered moneygrubber. she was telling the story to lift the weight off her shoulders (as in therapy) and she saw the wills of her parents as the final hope for her parents' approval of her, since she (like susan) had been disregarded and excluded by her immediate family all her life. while it was sad (in her case) that she never won the approval of her cruel stepmother, she should know that her stepmother was never worth the time. kudos to adeline and susan for overcoming childhood abuse and carrying the stigma of being the lowly youngest daughters and becoming better people than their parents and siblings will ever be.
Rating:
Summary: READ AND LEARN
Review: I read alot of these reviews and they miss the mark. When it came to the two wills its not so much the money. It's as if your parents are putting a price on how much your worth in their eyes. To any child this is devastating and painful. She felt better seeing her fathers will. As she should. She also felt crushed by the selfish and thoughtless behavior of her siblings. This book brings back the feelings I have felt many times throughout my life. She said it just right. The issues here are not money but family partiality and the pain that comes with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor, whiny little rich girl
Review: There is no question that Mah's stepmother was a cold, selfish woman and that her father chose to place his loyalty with her rather than with his children from his first wife, and that this caused her pain during her childhood. But Mah comes across as ultimately unsympathetic as she whines about hunger in the midst of multi-course Chinese banquets every night (the only "decent" meal of the day) and her meager allowance during the time her parents paid for medical school. Mah complains that one brother picked on her and one sister was her parents' favorite; these are hardly tribulations worthy of a best-seller. Moreover, while her parents may not have loved her, as she says, it is apparent that she had the love and support of her grandmother, grandfather, aunt, and at least one of her brothers. And one wonders how much of the blame that she attributes to the fact that her mother died while giving birth to her really came not from her father and stepmother, but rather from within; she cites no evidence that anyone blamed her other than herself. Mah's parents accused her of arrogance and ingratitude -- based on this account, it seems that she may have been at least partially responsible for her own problems.
Rating:
Summary: falling leaves like falling tears
Review: This memoir was difficult to read & equally difficult toput down. The last born child of first marriage, this child of Chinabefore the Revolution, grows into girlhood under the callous & withering attentions of her father's beautiful & modern second wife. Her early years has her guarded by her beloved grandfather & aunt until the beautiful step mother sends her away to boarding school where she learns to survive, in ways I too had to learn when I too went away to boarding school. Without a trace of "poor me" in her narrative, this observant & intelligent woman, wife, mother & physician recalls the years that tested her mettle & brought her to America. In the end, she does get to return to the land of her birth, to listen once again to her beloved aunt & come to her own resolution. A powerful & wonderful reminiscence of the past 50 years as seen from Chinese eyes...
Rating:
Summary: Read with a different perspective and it's worthwhile
Review: Several chapters into this I wondered what the point was. I was tired of the unloved child viewpoint, sad as it was, so I switched to thinking of the novel as an historical perspective. In that, it is very worthwhile. I have read little of that period of Chinese history from the perspective of one living through it. The political dynamics of the time were interesting and the effects on lives, heartbreaking. The stepmonster was indeed evil, and the rest of the family did little to redeem themselves. I feel badly for Adelaide and can only hope she has fully moved beyond that pain with the writing of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: You can read and read and read over and over again!
Review: I cried, I hated, and I was hurt as I read Falling Leaves.The book touched me in a way that I would never had thought any author could do.Growing up as a Chinese daughter with a family that hated one another due to the back stabbing of a stepmother. I could feel the pain.Not knowing what were going to happen day after day can be a stressful, but when you are a young child that is left alone with no one to reach out for is more stress and depressing. I'm not a person that loves to read but due to the fact this book was an assignment, I totally fell in love with it in just one sentence. If you like touching, sad, and different experience lifestyle. Falling Leaves fits into all of the above. I highly recommend Falling Leaves to adults, young adults and even to any one that just hate to read. This is a book that would leave a soft spot in your heart to remember.
Rating:
Summary: Her version of "Mommy Dearest"
Review: This book involved a sympathetic female character, and a chorus of evil manipulative relatives which I felt was a cross between Cinderella and Mommy Dearest. It is an entertaining book and you do end up feeling for the girl, but it is a story we have heard before in different packaging.
Rating:
Summary: Good start, quick ending
Review: I had high hopes for this book, giving that it had quite a riveting start. It went on well, and I couldn't put the book down too. However, towards the ending, I found that everything seemed to wrap up too quickly for my taste. The beginning had taken up a lot of time, with plenty of descriptions, left me wanting more and asking.."is THAT all? " towards the end. Believe me, after the good parts in the beginning, I was ready to fling the book accross the room after i read the so-called "ending". To say the least, I was very dissapointed with it. Falling leaves had a chance to be one of my favourite books, but now, i just wish that I hadn't wasted time reading it!
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I wasn't able to put this book down. Very interesting and touching. Worth reading. :)
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