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Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: Wiley
Category: EBooks
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  346 reviews
Sales Rank: 3255
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.488951073092
ASIN: B000SARZ3C
Publication Date: February 18, 1998
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Amazon.com Review
Snow White's stepmother looks like a pussycat compared to the monster under which Adeline Yen Mah suffered. The author's memoir of life in mainland China and--after the 1949 revolution--Hong Kong is a gruesome chronicle of nonstop emotional abuse from her wealthy father and his beautiful, cruel second wife. Chinese proverbs scattered throughout the text pithily covey the traditional world view that prompted Adeline's subservience. Had she not escaped to America, where she experienced a fulfilling medical career and a happy marriage, her story would be unbearable; instead, it's grimly fascinating: Falling Leaves is an Asian Mommie Dearest.
Product Description
In this poignant, remarkable memoir, Adeline Yen Mah tells the haunting and beautiful story of her painful childhood. The story of one woman's search for love and acceptance in an oppressive family, "Falling Leaves" was a "New York Times" bestseller.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 341 more reviews...
 Excellent Read! October 6, 2008
This book was amazing! It was so heartbreaking, but it is a great read. I had to read this book for my Sociology class and it definitely gives me a new perspective on family life.
Thanks Adeline Yen Mah!!!!
Wonderful Book July 3, 2008
Although there are hundreds of reviews, I had to review this book because it had such an impact on me. I think this book is wonderful. It is a captivating story. I read it complete in one night, I just could not put it down!
Adeline is a beautiful story teller, with an exceptional eye for detail. Although I loved the book, there was a strange voice that would creep into the story. Almost as if there was a repressed part of herself that could not hide from this book: it is a young Adeline still hoping to be the apple of her father's eye; and for her family to appreciate, love and respect her.
It is a sad story that shocks readers with the inhumanity that families can inflict on one of their own. It is still beautiful and hopeful, even in its most miserable moments.
Highly recommend
A memorable story that haunts you long after reading. May 6, 2008
This book was beautifully written and gripping from the start. The reviewer who complained of Adeline's "whining" tone, is being unfair. I don't see her as whiny, but rather somewhat detached as she recounts the emptiness of her childhood. In fact, I want her to scream and kick and rebell, maybe even whine, yet she does none of that. Whining is even more emotion than I think she allows herself to feel. She endured a childhood with certain material wealth but vastly lacking in emotional wealth.
Adeline takes the emotional abuse because she knows nothing else. Her father is the true villain for caring more about his trophy wife than his own family's happiness. He is oblivious to his children's emotional needs. He disappoints more than the stepmom for choosing to abandon children that he chose to bring into the world. He manipulates and plays them one against the other for his own selfish desires.
After long periods of thinking about this book, I've come to my own understanding of why she managed to salvage a happy life out of such a miserable upbringing. It is the very belief, albeit blatently false, that her family would one day accept her, that makes her continue to push for their love and not give up. Children are frequently unable to find fault with their loved ones. It is that very "innocence" that protected her from worse harm, the knowledge that acceptance would never, ever, be forthcoming.
Falling Leaves- FANTASTIC read! April 21, 2008
The heartbreaking story of an unwanted, abused, neglected child who never ceases to try and earn her family's affections. If you have ever experienced these feelings,no matter what your race, you will LOVE this book. It moved me to tears and I could not put it down once I started reading it.
 Would you like some cheese.... March 30, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
...with that whine? Self serving, whiney, horrible. I just don't get it. No comparison to anything by Frank McCort, Amy Tan or anyone like them.
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