Book Review: Falling Leaves
Falling Leaves is Adeline Yen Mah’s first novel and her autobiography. The book follows Adeline’s family from 1910s Shanghai all the way to California in the 1990s. Adeline goes through much hardship, partially due to events taking place around her—the Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Takeover, etc—but also due to the emotional abuse from her step-mother and siblings, as well as her father’s neglect and rejection.
The story is especially interesting in tandem with Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, which I’ve just finished reading, as the time periods of the books overlap quite a bit. Both stories also talk about the experiences of Chinese viewing the Communist Takeover from outside of China. While Adeline’s family is from China, at a young age, most of her family leaves China for Hongkong. Adeline herself later goes to London for college, then returns to Hongkong, and finally immigrates to America. Adeline’s story, in comparison to Shanghai Girls, deals less with the clashing of cultures and more with the amount of change that China as a country went through during the 20th century.
However, what really drew me in as a reader was learning about Adeline’s strength and capacity for compassion despite all that she went through. Many parts of the story left me feeling extremely frustrated with how her family treated her, and yet Adeline takes what life has dealt her, leaving me ever in awe of her ability to push forward.
My rating? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Resources:
Follow us on Instagram @boundless.voices for more book reviews and recommendations!
