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

Yen Mah, Adeline

ISBN 10: 0140265988 / ISBN 13: 9780140265989

Published by Penguin UK, 1998

About this Item

Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / Describes the average WORN book or dust jacket that has all the pages present.

Seller Inventory # M00140265988-G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter
• Publisher: Penguin UK
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140265988
• ISBN 13: 9780140265989
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

The story of an unwanted Chinese daughter growing up during the Communist Revolution, blamed for her mother's death, ignored by her millionaire father and unwanted by her Eurasian step mother. A story of greed, hatred and jealousy; a domestic dramais played against the extraordinary political events in China and Hong Kong. Written with the emotional force of a novel but with a vividness drawn from a personal and political background. "Falling Leaves" has become a surprise bestseller all over the world.

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.