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Summary: Adeline emerged healthy and sane against all odds.
Review: As a survivor of childhood abuse and family dysfunction, I was drawn to this book. I strongly identify with its author, who lucidly chronicled her painful and appalling childhood, as well as her anguished attempts to unite her family. Adeline was deeply and inexplicably wronged by those who should have been her strongest supporters; I came away from this book shaking my head at the human capacity for cruelty, but also admiring Adeline's strength and ability to survive. It is comforting to know that she triumphed over such a destructive environment and that she finally found the love and support she sought and surely deserved. I highly recommend this book, and I commend Adeline for her writing ability, insight, perserverance, and strength.
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Summary: Great setting for a memoir
Review: I love to read books and memoirs are my favorite. China and the time period that this story takes place in are a powerful setting. I didn't consider the author whiny or spoiled, but needing some insight into the family dynamics. That a great many women can be cruel to their own children, let alone other people's children, would be a idea worth delving in a memoir of this sort. I hope to find in these stories how people overcome adversity. The author glosses over her current history, but this is common in most of the books I have read recently. Where are the editors that are to help the author tighten up the story line. China is so interesting to me, that I forgave the author, that she barely saw that her father was to blamed. I sincerely hope that Adeline has found her chance of having a happy family in her current status. I can recommend the book and will mail my sister my copy.
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Summary: a superb story of the lives of 5 chinese, abused children
Review: this is just not the the memoir of Mah, a girl who triumphed above the most painful abuses of her chinese stepmother and passive, yet, also abusive father---it is the tale of how Mah's four other brothers, aunt, Grandfather and grandfather led their entire growing life always under the dictatorship of destructive parents---no one seems to escape the abuse really---couldn't put book down----5 stars!
Rating: 
Summary: Too shallow and one-sided.
Review: I saw the book for the first time at London's Heathrow airport during a layover. It's a good thing I did not purchase it right then and there. Although I finished the book in about three days, I found it less in depth that I expected. I am a Chinese daughter and I understand some of the things the author went through. What I cannot understand is how and why she kept going back for more abuse. Perhaps I was too sheltered and I am too naive, but I cannot believe Niang and her father could both be so evil and the author so victimized for such a long time. And the victimization extended to her professor boyfriend, her sister Lydia, her brothers, the Communists, the convent nuns, Jackie the dog, and everyone else it seems. I found it very difficult to sympathize with the author given that her father did send her to England which turned out to be a watershed event for her. It would be very interesting to know what Niang had to say about all this. If money affected Niang, I believe it also affected the author.
Rating: 
Summary: good effort but no merit.
Review: Being chinese myself growing up in China, Hongkong and the US, I can understand some of the troubles Ms Mah went through. But her story is neither particularly touching nor interesting. There are millions and millions Chinese women out there who suffered more than her and would be dying to have the opportunities she was given. The whole book is basically a reader's digest version of what happened to her over the past 50 years in her own view. There is no details to events and no analysis of other people's action. Nonetheless, it's nice to see such book because it brings out the inners feelings of millions of chinese female readers. The 2 stars is solely for its effort, not its merit
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Summary: Really poignant but also...
Review: I finished Adeline Yen Mah's novel in only two days and then read it once again. I affected me deeply the first time I read it and I considered it a great novel but the second time I thought that Mah was quite biased about her life and I, to put it honestly, do not think that she was treated so unfairly among her other siblings. When she explains how she got the chance to go to England by coming first in a competition, she doesn't sound convincing and her remarks sound like a total make-up, I believe her father would have sent her to England even if she didn't achieve such a success. Mah seems to overstate too much about her stepmother and wants the reader that she was the only one who went through so many difficulties. The question is, was life only so hard on Adeline? How about her brothers and sisters?
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Summary: Wonderfully touching and emotional
Review: While I love to read memoirs, I do tend to find them hit or miss. This one was definitely a hit. Mah's story is heartwrenching and she is able to tell it in an effective, touching voice.
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Summary: Lame, contrived, empty
Review: I was SO disappointed by this book. I found it to be completely void of any context and reflection. Had I not been reading it with a book club (none of whom liked it either), I would have stopped after the first couple of chapters. I am surprised that she rarely reflected on her mother's death as a huge turning point in her life. Then in just three pages we learn that she gets married, has sex for the first time, and gives birth to her first child, and she and her son are physically abused. These very important facts are told in a flippant way with no perspective. I also don't understand why she didn't help out her Aunt Baba more. I came away not caring about her or her family. Sure her life was hard, but as a piece of literature, this book was weak.
Rating:
Summary: Touching...
Review: This boook was fascinating, poignant, and truly touching. Her continued search for love and acceptance is understandable, and I think there was no chance for her to have total happiness and freedom while Niang was alive. It was only after her death that she was able to reconcile her past and move on. I would, however, be very interested in hearing Niang's take on the whole situation, what she perceived as the betrayals and wrong-doings of all the children. This is an eexcellent book and I would recommend it to anyone.
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Summary: Harrowing . . . gripping . . . enlightening.
Review: Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah is one of the most harrowing books I've read to date. A book that must be read by all, but especially by parents. Though many books have been written about the human ability and capacity for cruelty, Falling Leaves sears through one's soul with its accurate depiction of parental cruelty. Despite the fact that most of the inhumanity in the novel is both verbal, mental, and emotional, it is this kind of maltreatment that leaves the most permanent marks on the soul and human psyche. Predominated by manipulation, deception, and treachery, this autobiography also reveals the importance and strength of love and devotion, hard work and ambition as epitomized by Adeline's Grand Aunt and Aunt Ba Ba. Rich with Chinese history, Falling Leaves traces the detached machine-like behavior of warring armies and subhuman parents. Jeanne Prosperi (also known as Niang) is the domestic version of barbarity and political machinations, i.e., the symbol of evil and discord. The book is gripping, enlightening, and terrifying, yet Adeline Yen Mah's hankering after Niang's acceptance and her inability to see through the deceptions of her siblings remain a big disappointment for me. An overly forgiving nature has no place in a world that is becoming more and more inhuman. On the other hand, Adeline's subdued inner strength, determination, and resourcefulness are highly admirable.
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