The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter - Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots

My late paternal great-aunt, 1/4 unknown European and 3/4 Chinese was the only grand-family that my father counted on financially since the sudden death of his father at age of 8 in 1945. She was mean and tended to verbally abuse her own family and even step-family who later supported her at old age. She expected everyone to look up to her and to always say good morning, great-aunt every day from us. I grew up fearing her in my home when she came to visit us from San Francisco to Hong Kong almost every summer. Luckily she never abused physically anyone in my knowledge. One day when I was 8, I was trying to get to know her and decided to amuse with her, but she got mad and shouted at me saying that I disrespected her. I cried and felt mad silently and finally got brave for the very first time by showing a little angry attitude towards her!

When I read Falling Leaves book, I was really surprised that Niang went ahead and abused her own toddler daughter physically so badly. She's like expecting every family member to be robotic to her. She's been creating violence in the innocent, sweet home. That's how her own son Franklin grew up to be monstrous as the adult Susan described. Niang certainly was not a good influence in the home and I'm so glad that my great-aunt never had any children. Otherwise she probably would do such things to her own children like Niang did to her own! Yen's Falling Leaves book is a truly great book for Chinese History with more specific details. I bought this book because I wanted to know why my great-aunt acted that way towards her own family. After reading the book, I finally got some ideas of what happened to my mysterious great-aunt's past!

This book was very interesting and a easy read. I love the fact that the author conveyed historic events. I would say that she could have went into to more details about her life with her second husband. How did the latter events affect her marriage and family? I would love to read about what has happened since the death of the stepmother. Good Book!

While I enjoyed the book. It seemed rather repetitious. I couldn't help wondering why the main character endured such abuse from her family for so long after she became an adult. I personally do not like reading about abusive families; however, this was a book club selection. It is worth reading to learn more about Chinese family dynamics.

With the history of world wars and the moving across the world, Adelines life has tragic ups and downs that make me appreciate my life even more. The abuse to the mental breakdowns she goes on and defines what she wants her life to be

such a heartbreaking story, I cried many times when i read some chapters and couldn't continue. However; in some chapters i couldn't stop and want to read more... sad story but luckily Adeline, her brothers and sisters are all successful. I love you Adeline,

Thought the writing was good. Writer definitely talented. Many details about how awful her life was--- some did not connect-- just getting the info in there it seems. The story started to bore me about 1/2 through. Maybe I am too critical, but sometimes I want to read about what someone does with "their past".

Sad story with a happy ending. It is always interesting to see how other cultures are different and yet the same in many ways. Hopefully the Chinese culture has a new respect for daughters and step-daughters.

I enjoyed the beginning of this book. It presented a slice of history about which I was uninformed, wrapped in the personal true story of a little girl persecuted by her family. By the end of the book, though, I felt the author was more determined to make her case against her stepmother than to write a compelling story. The book did not hold my interest to the end, although I did finish it. I wanted to celebrate the triumph of the author over her painful start in life. Instead, I read an endless list of family misdeeds. Victimization of a helpless child is tragic. Wallowing in it as an adult is annoying.

After reading this and seeing how many other books Dr. Yen Mah has written which have some variation on "Chinese Daughter" stuck in the title like a Nike Swoosh, I wonder if this is how she introduces herself to new people. "Hi, I'm Adeline the abused Chinese kid, how are you?" The obvious attempt to capitalize on tragedy at the expense of family members put a bad taste in my mouth from the start. Yes, it was a horrible childhood, but I've heard of worse, and the self-pity is only barely restrained in the prose.

However, it isn't *badly* written, and provides a good layman's view of Chinese child-rearing, culture, and, in small doses, a half-decent historical context.

This was an amazing and very emotional book. Having read Chinese Cinderella first, I felt as though I had some idea. However, Falling Leaves is truly heart wrenching. I highly recommend reading both books as they share different details in regards to different events. The only drawback for me, since it reminds me so much of sitting with my grandmother having her tell me stories, it did seem to jump around a bit. Other than that, it is an amazing piece of literature.

Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter is a sympathetic look at the life of a 5th child and second daughter of a wealthy man in China before and during the communist take-over. Add in a wicked stepmother and the already burdensome child becomes the target of scorn and abuse for most of her life. However, calling her an "unwanted Chinese daughter" turns out to be a bit of a misnomer. After all, most unwanted daughters in China have been literally discarded to die in the streets, wallow in orphanages, or eek out livings as prostitutes. While a second daughter in a Chinese family may not be seen as a blessing, she was at least fed, clothed, sheltered, and even sent to University in England to study medicine. While her parents are shown to be pretty horrible people, her life could have been much worse.

The strength of this novel, though, is her placement of the events of her life in the context of history. Her life in China takes place before the communist take-over, when Shanghai was divided into various mini-cities occupied by British, French, American, and other "concessions". Most of her family flees to Hong Kong when Mao comes to power, but some stay behind. Some of her dates are skewed and her math doesn't always add up (she goes to England at 17, stays 11 years, but says she is only 26 when she returns to Hong Kong), but almost any Chinese life during this turbulent time is fascinating.

I would give this book a 2 out of 5. Her childhood is pathetic and sympathetic in the extreme. Poor little Adeline = angel. Evil stepmother Niang = the devil. There is little complexity or reason for the actions of either party. But in the eyes of a child, the world usually is black-and-white, and that is the view point this book is written from. However, when placed in historical context, the simplistic story is set in a vibrant and dynamic world and becomes almost a character of its own.

"Falling Leaves" is a heartbreaking, revealing story of a family in emotional breakdown mode. The father, having lost his first wife to the writer in childbirth, marries again, but this time to a fearful controlling young woman, with whom he has two more children. The original six children become second class citizens as a result, and the stepmother, truly of the evil variety, takes over, calling all the shots. In her desire to be in control, like a dictator, she begins to turn her stepchildren against each other by gossip and innuendo. Even as they become successful in life and migrate to other countries from China, she still is very much a presence and thorn in their sides. Adeline, the author and youngest daughter of the six children, spends her life yearning for acceptance and approval, two things she never ultimately receives.

Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter is a sympathetic look at the life of a 5th child and second daughter of a wealthy man in China before and during the communist take-over. Add in a wicked stepmother and the already burdensome child becomes the target of scorn and abuse for most of her life. However, calling her an "unwanted Chinese daughter" turns out to be a bit of a misnomer. After all, most unwanted daughters in China have been literally discarded to die in the streets, wallow in orphanages, or eek out livings as prostitutes. While a second daughter in a Chinese family may not be seen as a blessing, she was at least fed, clothed, sheltered, and even sent to University in England to study medicine. While her parents are shown to be pretty horrible people, her life could have been much worse.

The strength of this novel, though, is her placement of the events of her life in the context of history. Her life in China takes place before the communist take-over, when Shanghai was divided into various mini-cities occupied by British, French, American, and other "concessions". Most of her family flees to Hong Kong when Mao comes to power, but some stay behind. Some of her dates are skewed and her math doesn't always add up (she goes to England at 17, stays 11 years, but says she is only 26 when she returns to Hong Kong), but almost any Chinese life during this turbulent time is fascinating.

I would give this book a 2 out of 5. Her childhood is pathetic and sympathetic in the extreme. Poor little Adeline = angel. Evil stepmother Niang = the devil. There is little complexity or reason for the actions of either party. But in the eyes of a child, the world usually is black-and-white, and that is the view point this book is written from. However, when placed in historical context, the simplistic story is set in a vibrant and dynamic world and becomes almost a character of its own.

"Falling Leaves" is a heartbreaking, revealing story of a family in emotional breakdown mode. The father, having lost his first wife to the writer in childbirth, marries again, but this time to a fearful controlling young woman, with whom he has two more children. The original six children become second class citizens as a result, and the stepmother, truly of the evil variety, takes over, calling all the shots. In her desire to be in control, like a dictator, she begins to turn her stepchildren against each other by gossip and innuendo. Even as they become successful in life and migrate to other countries from China, she still is very much a presence and thorn in their sides. Adeline, the author and youngest daughter of the six children, spends her life yearning for acceptance and approval, two things she never ultimately receives.

This is an interesting book about China. However, it really is just another book about a very disfunctional family! I did not feel it was well written which I thought was because she is a doctor. I later read that she is now a writer. Well, she did win that award as a young girl!

This book was incredibly depressing! It was on a recommended reading list from my daughter's high school and I really encourage every parent to skip it. The storyline does not in any way help a young person with their life Outlook. If your child tends toward depression in any way this is the worst possible story to allow them to read. I tried to read along but honestly found the book to be such a horrible experience I quit reading. Her teacher read the story and completely agrees that it should be avoided. I only gave it a star because I had to. If I could have given it 0 Stars I would have.

I only read this book because "someone" in my book club suggested it for our May 2014 selection. I thought it was one of the most depressing stories I have ever read. Of course, I have read depressing stories before, but not as poorly written as Falling Leaves. Dr. Mah could not control of her life as a child, that was in the hands of her crazy stepmother (with the permission and approval of her father), but as an adult and a doctor to boot, she should have "taken control". I hope she has gotten professional help by now. She should stick to the practice of medicine.
I did give it a one star because I did get a bit of a history lesson and learned a little about their culture.
I just wish I didn't have to spend $13.99 for that!

This must have been a painful story for the author to write, to bare the awful truths of her vile and dysfunctional family. The story itself was so hard to read. Ms. Adeline was always looking for love and approval, was a people-pleaser, but even till the end, all her efforts to make her family love and accept her, fell flat. First I thought that Chinese families are this way (vile and vindictive), but then I read about families in other countries and culture who are cruel to their members (great example is Donald Trump). However, Chinese culture about not valuing girls at that time certainly helped to make Adeline's childhood miserable. But even after she left Hong Kong to study in England and work in America, she was looking for love with the wrong type of men. Perhaps her quest to find love and acceptance was a factor in choosing the wrong men. In the end, I'm happy that she found a loving and loyal husband in Bob. I hope that she has finally cut ties with her awful siblings. They followed in their father's and stepmother's footsteps and treated Adeline poorly as well. I hope by now, Ms. Adeline has found peace and unhappiness without having to seek their approval.

Amazing.

I read this in follow-up to Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter and I like to think I am a different person. ... For the better.

Armed with a deeper understanding of Adeline Yen Mah's sense of loneliness and desire for love and acceptance gained from Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter, Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter shares Mah's journey from the circumstances of her family and birth, to her adulthood and eventual grasp of happiness. Mah deftly bridges the gap between Western and Eastern understanding as she was grows-up in the midst of political revolutions, cultural clashes and fierce racism. Her inner strength through her trials leave me in awe and desirous to continue my own journey of learning and understanding of those around me.

I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates learning more about Chinese culture, or anyone looking for a good book. Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter can only touch your heart.

Happy Reading!

I have been lucky enough to have a supportive family and husband who have helped me along the way to do what I want to do with my life. I cannot imagine being in a position like Adeline Yen Mah, who was bullied by her siblings and stepmother, with very few people in her life to help her succeed.

Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah is an International Bestseller, and I can see why.

Falling Leaves is the true story of Adeline, the youngest of five children whose mother died while she was giving birth to Adeline. As the youngest, as a girl, and as the one who "killed" their mother, the siblings and her new stepmother, find her unappealing.

Well, that's an understatement. Her new stepmother, who they call Niang, despises Adeline. She is the only child who will not bow to Niang's wishes as the ruler of the household. Niang is evil in general, a vicious, controlling woman who cares more about riches than about her family, which includes 2 children of her own (one of whom she loves, the other, not so much) and five stepchildren.

I enjoyed Falling Leaves, but I have to say I was a little underwhelmed in the book until the ending. Adeline was unloved by her stepmother, yes, but so were most of the other siblings. Based on the title, I assumed that she was unloved because she was a girl in China, but most of the other kids were unloved as well.

When I got to the ending of the book, I realized that Adeline was right. She was definitely the most unwanted out of her siblings, which is sad and depressing. But the ending had a high note as well, which of course I can't say since it would be a spoiler!

The book was sad, but not too depressing. Adeline gave a good amount of her family history as well as the history of China and its descent into Communism. She was unwanted, but still cared for. Yes, she was made to walk to and from school long distances, given old-fashioned clothing, and made to be alone and neglected at her boarding school, but she was sent to prestigious boarding schools, given food to eat, etc.

But Adeline is gullible. Sooooooo gullible. Any time that her father, Niang, or another sibling would be nice to her, Adeline would bend over backwards to please them. I felt bad for her in those situations. Unfortunately, she believed too much in the good of her family members that it hurt her a lot in the process, and it hurt me to read about it.

However, this gullibility also makes her a caring, compassionate woman who wants what is best for herself and her family. She has overcome neglect and hardship in her life to become a successful doctor and author.

What is something in life that you have overcome?

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca @ Love at First Book

Very well written book. It helped me as a common American to see what the basic history of the social changes in China were during her childhood. My grandfather spent quite a bit of time in China during and after the war so I know from his letters just how difficult the situation in his eyes. He came from a real depressed rural area of Texas and his time in China made him feel he was a very lucky man despite all he didn't have as a child. I felt the story was heartfelt and heartbreaking, but one that shows the human spirit at it's best and it's worse within a family. I loved the book.

As an avid reader of books involving Chinese culture and the hardships of the Twentieth Century, I have to strongly recommend not reading this book. While the author did suffer hardships growing up in Shanghai, she was much better off that 99% of her fellow countrymen. During the timeframe of her book over 70 million Chinese were murdered, beaten and starved to death by policies of the dysfunctional Government. While this was going on she had plenty of food, was sent to a private school, lived in a multi-story home in an affluent neighborhood (with indoor plumbing, a luxury some Chinese still don't have), and a father who made more money than most people anywhere in the world.

Yes, she did have an evil stepmother, a dysfunctional home life, and strict rules to follow. But, over-all, she was much better off than most others - like the homeless children she would sometimes pass when she was walking to and from school.

I'm very disappointed in this book, but I'm even more disappointed in myself for buying it. There are many better books available that tell more honest tales of the horrors of growing up in China, because they also include heart-warming scenes of people caring for other people. This book has no heart, and therefore no reason to care for the author and her whining.

Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah was written fifteen years ago, but I recently went to our local Friends Of The Library used booksale and thought this looked interesting. And indeed it was. Taking place over the years from bound feet, to Mao's Cultural Revolution and up until the passing over of Hong Kong to Communist China, the historical aspects of this book were interesting. I wish that Ms. Yen Mah would have explained her families cultural ways as well.

Directly out of the pages of Cinderella, this apparently true story of a hated step-child and even more hateful stepmother is appalling for the first half of the book, at which point the endless emotional abuse of this poor child begins to wear thin. The evil stepmother turns her whole family against her, including her own father and favorite brother out of her six siblings. As Ms. Yen Mah becomes an adult, however, her reasons for continuing to take this abuse become cloudy. Page after page, she continues to grovel at her family's feet, only to be kicked to the curb, even while getting her doctorate, becoming wealthy, world traveled and eventually well married.

The puzzle is why does she continue to return for this punishment? Is it a cultural thing? I have heard her behavior excused as the result of being raised in a Confucius based culture, (even though her family was Catholic, and she spent most of her young life in Catholic schools.) If that was the case, I wish she had expounded on it further, in order to enlighten those of us who aren't familiar with a traditional Chinese home of that time (although I find it hard to believe all Chinese families were so horrid!)

Perhaps she had mental illness. If she suffered from an emotional problem as a child, this could have explained why the rest of her family found her so unappealing, as harsh as that may sound. In any case, I wish she would have dug more deeply into everyone's motives in this book. It would have given the story a resolution it desperately needs.

But, I do give this at least three stars because I found the writing style quick and, dare I say, breezy? I read it in two days, it would be a great vacation book if you aren't the type to be bothered too much by a very dysfunctional family.

Rarely have I felt hot rage on behalf of injustice done to a character in book. Chapter six, pages 67-69, about her elementary school class presidency, got me upset. To evoke such a reaction in me means part of the novel is truly excellent.

The beginning is terrible... first two chapters are exposition about her ancestors, and makes initial story immersion a chore. Telling tales about her famous great aunt who founded a women's bank only makes me, as a reader, wonder why she had no backbone in her own life with such a shining example.

Page 147, I stopped liking the story. The protagonist is now 28 years old with an advanced medical degree, and returns home to Hong Kong having a well-paying and respected assistant professorship with housing (arranged herself) waiting. She sees her father, who never wrote or cared for her during childhood, and he *tells* her to take a crappy internship instead. Doing this will keep her dependent on her family's (non-existent mercy), rather than independent. She obeys.

Now I wanted to read about how this poor mistreated, unwanted girl stood up for herself. Thing is, she didn't. Why? As a westerner I cannot imagine the conditioning she went through, but with years of independence in an English college behind her, where's her ability to think? She's got a medical degree! She isn't stupid! But page 147 showed me she is stupid. She did not take control of her life when it was high time to do so.

Why not? The only thing that fits my own worldview is she was hoping for some of that inheritance by demonstrating obedience. Adeline at that point should already understand her Niang will sabotage her life, if possible. Therefore to minimize the damage, minimize the influence Niang has -- be independent!

Heh, didn't mean to turn this review into a rant. I cared about the protagonist, but she disappointed me with poor choices. Parts of the book were excellent, parts were painful. Late book was unrealistic [if I were making the choices] and came off as whiny. Overall, left me unsatisfied as a reader.

In 1937 Shanghai, Adeline's birth resulted in her mother's death. You may have heard that the Chinese are not real "big" on girl children anyway, and Adeline (Jun-ling) was the fifth child, second daughter.

I found the book fascinating - the look at pre-Communist China, at Grand Aunt who founded the Shanghai Women's Bank in 1924, at the interweaving of Chinese and British culture, at the intimate view of the Communist takeover. The Chinese characters and their literal translations (Yuan Mu Qiu Yu - Climbing a Tree to Seek for Fish) are wonderful. Treated badly by her elegant Eurasian stepmother (shades of Cinderella), emotionally abandoned by her father, Adeline is still determined to succeed, and she does. She received a medical degree in the UK, and later came to America where she became a citizen and an anesthesiologist, still with ties to both mainland China and to Hong Kong.

She is honest about the mistakes she makes; accepting the job her father thinks she should have, instead of the one she wants; marrying a man who turns out the be abusive. It is always easy in hindsight to see what the "right" choice should have been; so hard to escape childhood conditioning and habits of obedience. At times the tone is a bit whiny and self-indulgent. Yet in the end, Adeline does rescue herself, and her siblings are not (all) the monsters one might expect from their upbringing.

This memoir details the life of a Chinese woman who grew up in a wealthy family, but she must deal with intrigue and disappointment from within her own family. Born in the late 1930's, she starts out life with the death of her mother at her birth. Her father remarries to a woman with a Eurasian background (part French) who has her own ambitions and puts her own children to the forefront. Adeline had a challenging childhood, but was supported by her aunt and grandfather. The book also provides some historical context of China at that time. As times grow difficult, the family made several moves, ending up in Hong Kong. Despite her challenges, she moves forward, gaining a career and a move to the United States. Relationships continue to be a challenge for her, but she keeps moving forward despite her disappointments. This was an interesting take on life for a young woman in several cultures.

Shortly after Adeline was born, her mother died of complications associated with giving birth, and so, the little girl was blamed for her death and blamed for many other problems thereafter. Her life became significantly worse when her father remarried to a half-French, half-Chinese woman whose background represented her father's desire to embrace Western values. The family was well off in comparison to typical Chinese families, but Adeline was often verbally abused by her stepmother. She still persevered, eventually went to study abroad, and became a successful doctor.

As the story goes through this woman's life, it also gives you a picture of civilian life in mainland China and Hong Kong. I've studied modern Chinese history through textbooks and lectures, but never before have I gotten to read about Chinese social history through so many decades and eras: from Japanese invasion to the Cultural Revolution to the return of Hong Kong to China and beyond.

The only down side to this book, if anything, is that we're just hearing Adeline's side of the story. She could be really biased, and there might be other reasons she's not mentioning why her stepmother was cruel to her. I also think this book lacked an adequate conclusion. Adeline was oppressed throughout childhood and still turned out to be successful--so what can she say about that to connect it to everyone else?

Falling Leaves begins on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Northern China. Adeline is the youngest of five children. Her mother becomes ill shortly after giving birth to her and dies. The household includes the paternal grandparents and the father's sister, Aunt Ba. Yeye, the grandfather, is a very wealthy business man. His son, Adeline's father, manages to hide Yeye's assets from the invading Japanese. Father then marries a Eurasian teenager named, Jeanne, and together they have a son, Franklin, and a daughter, Susan. Father eventually surrenders all willpower to Jeanne. Life becomes hell for the five siblings from the first marriage, especially Adeline. She is bullied viciously by her older siblings and her father and stepmother really couldn't care less. Adeline does find an ally in her Aunt Ba and her grandfather, but they are powerless to mitigate the abuse.

After a period of separation due to the war toddler Susan doesn't recognize her mother. Jeanne takes it as a personal slight and begins beating her. Adeline tries to rescue her younger half sister and incurs the wrath of Jeanne. This incident sets the tone for the story Jeanne barely speaks to her daughter Susan from that day on and they never reconcile. Adeline becomes the permanent scapegoat and Franklin is treated like royalty.

The father is spineless throughout but, apparently stands up to Jeanne, one time, by sending Adeline to medical school in England along with her brother. Father is the one who insists that she become a doctor. Even though Adeline makes better grades than her brother Father gives him more spending money "because he is a boy." In med school there is only one other women in the class and they face a resentful male student body that plays malicious pranks on them.

What I found most unfortunate is that after graduating med school, she chooses to return to Father and Jeanne in Hong Kong (they fled the Communist takeover). She allows Jeanne to dictate her adult life and continue to treat her like crap. She decides to escape to America. Her millionaire parents refuse to lend her the money for a plane ticket, but she finds a way. Unfortunately, her mental baggage also accompanies her across the Pacific. She marries a sociopath who mooches off of and abuses her. She spends the next several decades trying, unsuccessfully, to win the love and approval from her father and stepmother that they denied to her in childhood. Unfortunately, her siblings also remain treacherous to the end.

When she returns to China after the Cultural Revolution she finds her beloved Aunt Ba a broken woman living in a hovel. I wondered during the period after Dr. Yen-Mah's divorce, when she had childcare issues, why she didn't try to rescue her Aunt Ba. Maybe she did and I missed that part. Her energy always seemed to be focused on the past and gaining the respect of her father and stepmother and somehow validating her self-worth through inheriting. (I don't think it was so much about money since anesthesiologists in the US make can make $500,000 a year.) She also has very little to say about her relationship with her own children.

Unfortunately, it never occurs to Adeline, a medical professional, to get help for this festering anger and unrealistic fantasy of reconciliation that is precluding present and future happiness. Adeline certainly suffered a lot of childhood cruelty, but she had the love and support of her Aunt Ba and her Yeye, she got to go to medical school, became an anesthesiologist in the US, had an abusive 1st marriage, but a happy 2nd one, has two sons and a granddaughter (and is now a bestselling author with the proverbial last word). I didn't get the impression that she really had any appreciation for the blessings that came into her life or a realization of just how much worse things could have turned out. That in and of itself would have been a major milestone and it would have been an inspiration to readers struggling with similar issues.

As for the claims of cultural misunderstandings my response is that her slightly younger half-sister, Susan, appears to have been able to walk away and move on with her life. The book opens with the reading of the will and Adeline points out that "Susan of course wasn't there". So, Jeanne also disinherited her only living biological child. (Franklin, the favorite and spoiled brat, died in childhood of typhus. Otherwise he, no doubt, would have inherited everything.) The difference seems to be that Adeline had an expectation and Susan didn't. Apparently Susan saw the futility of keeping up a relationship with Jeanne and chose not to become embroiled in the family intrigue. (Adeline's abusive older sister, Lydia, ingratiated herself to Jeanne by making up a lot of bad stories about Adeline.) In other words Susan was the only sibling who refused to allow a loathsome irrational woman, who unfortunately was also her biological mother, to wield power over her adult life.

I found this book while browsing the library and borrowed it. I thought it would be good reading material for my daily subway rides since the book wasn't too long at all.

I had a quiet evening, so I started reading. Page by page I turned and when I finished the book it was 1am in the morning. It was definitely a page turner. The reader is kept on their toes to find out what comes next.

I was truly touch by Adeline's story and there were a couple of tear-jerking scenes. This book reminds me a lot of the 1st Harry Potter book somehow. Both tell the story of a rejected child living with sinister relatives.

Adeline's story is different from many other books in that she was a rejected child from a rich family that could have given her everything. Many memoiors tell of a very poor childhood, so I really liked that this was different. She was pretty much poor in a rich family.

I was full of rage when I found out Lydia was backstabbing her & how her brothers are still jerks as adults. Inheritance issues always bring out the nastiest in people. Ultra-rich families do not usually fare well & are usually the subject of drama serial TV in Hong Kong.

Lydia can just shove it...she is just about as dragonlady as Niang for what she did.

Edgar...gosh I wonder if he made a good doctor at all.

James...he's such a timid turtle & it got annoying to see him still like that as a grown adult.

Susan...she married into an ultra-rich family and didn't even care for the inheritance. I was happy for her as she was able to let go of her family.

Adeline...I wish she would stop being the nice person all the time. It was so unfair to her to be taken advantage of even as an adult (Lydia two-timing her while Adeline was willing to help Lydia's song, putting up with 1st abusive husband, still scared of Niang as an adult).

I really wish she had the courage to cut her family off and carve her own happiness with her own family (husband and 2 sons and future grandchildren). I really hope that Adeline is able to/or has already done so. I hope she is having a much happier life right now :)

There have been many memoirs written that detail the Chinese way of life before, during, and after Mao's Cultural Revolution. But it amazes me that each book has something different to offer the reader. Falling Leaves has excellent history of China - specifically Shanghai and Hong Kong - from the 1930's to the 1990's. What distinguishes Falling Leaves from other memoirs of the period, such as Wild Swans, is that the author was not part of the People's Army or the Red Guard. Rather, she was the poor stepchild to the wicked stepmother who married her widowed father - her millionaire father whose new wife was Eurasian: half French and half Chinese.

Adeline tried hard to please her parents, to no avail. She was basically dumped in a boarding school. No one came to visit her, and the teachers thought she was an orphan. Yet she was very bright, and fiercely driven. This combination of brains and hard work enabled her to make a life for herself. Yet, she kept making poor choices because of her low self-esteem. She stays for many years in an abusive marriage, explaining away black eyes to co-workers. And this is a PHYSICIAN, not a high-school dropout with no other options. This is the terrifying part of the memoir - the lesson all of us can learn of the dangers of trying to please others - even family - who really don't care about you, and betraying yourself, as she says she did.

The book has many Chinese proverbs, in pinyin and in characters. The only thing missing is the tones, so you unfortunately do not know how to correctly pronounce the phrases. Nevertheless, anyone interested in studying Mandarin will find this language inclusion helpful.

After the success of this book, Yen Mah gave up medicine and now writes full-time. She has a website that is very interesting. Many have signed her guestbook over the past five years, saying how Falling Leaves, and it's children's version, "Chinese Cinderella," has touched their hearts and lives.

I purchased this book over 15 years ago (pre the store). I just finished reading this book for the third time. Each time, I've found this book riveting about how a young child suffered in the hands of wealthy parents. The book also gave me some understanding of the the history of China at the time. I've just discovered the author has other books which are now on my list to order.

Having an interest in the sad fate of thousands of Chinese girls, I have been wanting to read "Falling Leaves" for some time. As its subtitle suggests, it is the tale of an unwanted daughter - the youngest of five children, whose mother died two weeks after she was born. She lived with this stigma of causing her mother's death and being mistreated by her family for her entire life. At times what Adeline Yen Mah endured is unbelievable.

Yen Mah begins her memoirs after the death of her father, relating the devastating news from her cruel stepmother, that there was nothing for the children in their father's will; he had died penniless and left them nothing. She then goes back in time, interweaving family stories with her own lifeline. After her mother's death, her father remarried a shrewd woman, who regarded her stepchildren as less than her biological children. She plays her stepchildren against one another and keeps a stranglehold over her husband and his relatives. Everyone is inferior to her, even if it goes against Chinese tradition.

While the other children of the family fail, Adeline succeeds in school but cannot gain the recognition and love from her own parents that some of her siblings have gained. She eventually gains permission to study medicine in England, and finally finds independence and love in America. Yet at the center of her aching heart is the hope that her family will be united and that she will be loved. Her entire life has been spent in the anticipation that her father will applaud her efforts and demonstrate his love for her.

Yen Mah's memoir is elegantly written and astonishingly painful. She naturally weaves in bits of Chinese history and how it affected her family throughout their lives. She has incredible recall into her tormented childhood that will leave readers shaking their heads in disbelief. I could go into a long litany of the abuses she endured throughout her childhood, but they are more poignant when read through Yen Mah's words, tempered with adult wisdom and childish longing. In the end, we hope that Yen Mah receives her wish for recognition and love. "Falling Leaves" is a powerful testament to the importance of the love we all need in our lives.

Having just finished this book hours ago, I could not wait to get online and 5-star recommend it to anyone out there in the wide world of the store. What a fascinating book. One of the best memoirs I have ever read.
In November of 1937, Adeline was born in Tianjin China. She was the fifth child (one sister, three brothers) of the wealthy businessman Joseph Yen. Two weeks after Adeline's birth, her mother died, and her Aunt Baba was put in charge of the household. Joseph soon remarried, and with this new "Cruella de Ville"-type stepmother came the lifelong soul surgery of the entire family. Her name was Niang. Her tyranny knew no bounds, but it seemed to focus upon Adeline, and from her earliest years, the child incurred the senseless vindictive wrath of Niang.
Horrible injustices and restrictions were placed upon Adeline. As you read the story you will be amazed that she survived at all. Niang and Joseph had two children of their own, who were shamelessly favored. The rest of the family were treated as servants, in comparison. Adeline is sent to lonely seclusion in a far-off Catholic boarding school, and during very important formative years, all family contact is severed. We watch as Adeline's father is forced to go along with Niang's ridiculous rules and regulations, and she succeeds in dividing the loyalties of everyone in the family.
The story is heartwrenching. It's as though Adeline undergoes a lifelong soul surgery, repeatedly awakening from the anesthetic, only to collapse from the realized pain of reality. Many others have commented that this is a book with no happy ending. Certainly in the usual sense, there is no happy ending. For Adeline what was wrong never ever gets fully fixed, it only gets more and more broken. But the redeeming quality of the story is the remarkable absence of bitterness or revenge that we see in Adeline at the end of it all. She is the embodiment of forgiveness, generosity and love. At the same time we see the extent of damage that a self-centered, greedy, manipulative, venomous, vindictive person can inflict upon others. Throughout the story are a host of characters who fall somewhere down the middle, not exactly evil, but swayed by evil. Falling Leaves causes the reader to fully examine which type of person they themselves most resemble.