Falling leaves

The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter In order to explain the first scene in this memoir, Adeline Yen Mah has filled the opening chapters with lusty images of an emerging nation amid burgeoning commercial & international life at the end of an empire & the start of a revolution. Falling leaves, with its endearing cover photo, touching chapter titles & sprinkling of Chinese language characters, is about her family in the French Concession of Shanghai; about …

…When Adeline copes with the death of her father, then her stepmother's cruel will, letters of persecution, sibling reunions and predictable betrayals, I get the distinct impression her reactions are beyond her control. It was heartbreaking to watch this respected physician, wife & parent, relegated to the youngest member of her family, bending over backwards, to help, appease and cajole her siblings out of their sourness. And then President Nixon opens up China to Western visitors.