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Summary: A Chinese Snow White
Review: Adeline Yen Mah has become a successful woman. She is an admired physician, yet her youth in mainland China and Hong Kong was a story of abuse at the hands of her wealthy father and his second wife. It is unbelievable what this woman endured as a child. She fortunately escaped to America, and she became highly successful. FALLING LEAVES is truly an inspirational story.
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Summary: There's nothing like family to mess up your life.
Review: This is the biography of Adeline Yen Mah. From an unpromising beginning in life - it only got worse! For most of her life she was abanonded by her father or ignored as the most hated of his second wife's stepchildren.Adeline could never understand this. No explainations were offered and all she wanted was to please her parents and live up to chinese family expectations. All she got was grief and abanonment for her efforts. That Adeline triumphed over this is a minor miracle. However, it wasn't all good news and right to the end of the book, with a few exceptions, like her younger sister Susan, I was very glad that none of her relatives were mine! Malice may gain you money and material wealth as this book shows but it also makes you poverty striken in other ways. It also pays not to be played the fool by these sort of people. This is another sorry story from China -but from a 'wealthy' familiy - but in money only.
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Summary: GREAT READING
Review: From beginning to end this book was extraordinary. As I read all the cruel and malicious characters, I had to stop and think that this was an actual true story. It made me stop and think about how there is so many vindictive people out there in this world of ours. Read it and suppurate.
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Summary: Not Quite a Beach Read, But Nevertheless a Great Memoire.
Review: I really enjoyed Falling Leaves. It was on my nineth grade reading list, so I picked it up from the library. I thought that the beginning was a bit slow and hard to get into, because it starts with a political background of the era that the book takes place in. After the first few chapters, the book's pace started running faster, and I found my self absorbed in the fascinating story. I am glad that I read the book, it left me feeling happy for Adeline, that she conquered her family, in a way.
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Summary: Heartwrenching and heartwarming
Review: A truly saddening memoir by this unwanted chinese girl. A simple book to read and also one that is rather difficult to put down. It is so heartwrenching that it may be a little to believe... and readers may find it a very one-sided argument... BUT a good read nevertheless!
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Summary: A Touching Story that Strikes the Heart
Review: Falling Leaves is a touching story about the human spirit and it's longing to find acceptance, unconditional love, and belonging as the author struggles throughout her life to please her stepmother. Yen Mah shows readers that satisfaction and fullfillment do not come hand in hand with wealth. This book also tells a historical story as Yen Mah successfully intertwines her family's history with the Chinese culture and the historical events that took place as China was being transformed into a Communist country to what it is like in the present day. She is also able to inform readers about life in Hong Kong and the hardships of being an overseas Chinese.
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Summary: Appauling and fascinating
Review: I simply could not put this book down. I think I read it in a day and a half (and this is after reading a couple of other similar books: Wild Swans and Bound Feet & Western Dress). The sad and awful story is beautifully told. It is so appauling how cruel her stepmother and father could be that I felt myself angry and seething through many passages. In the end, the author, a selflessly kind and forgiving woman serves as an emblem to us all. Not only did she survive, but she remained pure--free of bitterness.
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Summary: JUST REMEMBER!!!!
Review: "Nothing is worth more than inner happiness!" I was left unsatisfied at the end of the book BUT realised in the end she had everything in life even the affirmation she so desperatly needed.
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Summary: Thoughts on Falling Leaves
Review: Adeline Yen Mah's heartbreaking autobiograpical tale in Falling Leaves is one that should not be missed. From being blamed by her siblings for her mother's death to being emotionally abused by her stepmother, Adeline's story is too horrible to be true. Writing as if to tell a story, Adeline talks with us not at us as she tells her story. She also includes information about her home towns in China, and keeps her readers current about the history of that time. Many Chinses characters and proverbs also help to infuse the culture. All of the stories about her encounters with her stepmother, such as the comments about her looks and talent, are kind of hard to read. On the other hand, the times that she finally gets to break away from her stepmother's grasp, such as her father's decision to let her go to England to study, or her marriage to her husband, are encouraging and up-lifting. This book has a very valuable message and inside look at child abuse and neglect. I would recomend that anyone read it.
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Summary: sad but true
Review: I found this book to be very interesting. It was slow in the beginning but once I got into it I couldn't put it down. I'm reading this book as a class requirement in my 9th grade English class. I think my teacher picked a very good book, because it teaches everyone a lesson on how their life isn't really as bad as they might think it is. When you read Adeline's story it explains in great detail what her life was like and what she had to go through. It was so sad how she was treated by her parents, she never did anything to deserve the awful treatment she put up with. I think everyone should read this book because it shows how real and horrible life can be for some people.
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