Adeline Yen Mah

What a moving, eye-opening memoir. Born in 1937 in China, Adeline suffered greatly. While her family was wealthy, neither their money nor their affection was shared with her. She is betrayed time after time, even into adulthood, but she somehow remains optimistic.

Her family troubles are set against China's changing political landscape over the years. The understated prose spells out some particular horrors. Pay attention as you read. It's a warning to the rest of the world that the same show more could happen in any country, including America.

I picked up a paperback copy for $1.00 at a local library sale. A dollar well spent! It helped me understand (a tiny bit) about the culture in China, then and now. More importantly, it reminded me once more that many people in our world are neglected, unwanted. It's up to us to show kindness to everyone; we never know what someone is going through.

From what I'm seeing online, Adeline Yen Mah and her husband have become philanthropists who established the Falling Leaves Foundation, which strives toward building a stronger relationship between the East and West as well as promoting medical advances.

I'm not sure how anyone endures what she did and my guess is that it still haunts her. Adeline Yen Mah, I'm rooting for you. show less

Warning: This review has spoilers.

Falling Leaves is the autobiography of Adeline Yen Mah, born in 1937 in Tianjin, China. She was the fifth child. Her mother contracted puerperal fever and died weeks after her birth. Several years later her father re-married and with his new wife had 2 children. The new step-mother influenced her father so that this daughter was ignored, mentally abused, and sent away to substandard schools.

Some of the stories are heart-rending; a beloved pet set on the show more ground to test the training of a dog and injured, no gifts when all brothers and sisters got gifts, throwing away of all gifts given by friends, no money for trams for school unless she begged and humbled herself.

Adeline bore this unhappily but couldn’t do anything about it until she entered a play-writing competition. She won, and her father and step-mother allowed her to go to England to study to become a doctor. This she did, earning several degrees. She married, had a child, divorced, re-married, and had a second child. All the while she was building a successful career.

In the meantime she always anguished over family’s rejection of her, her step-mother’s influence and control over her father. Two sisters were disowned. At the reading of her father’s will, her step-mother’s influence was so strong that she told the children there was no money and not to read the rest of the will – and they obeyed.

When her step-mother died she and her husband went back to China. One of her brothers told her she was cut out of the will. Adeline didn’t care about the money so much as family unity. They found her father’s original will, suppressed by her step-mother, which had divided his money equally among his children and his wife. This inclusion and proof of his love for her helped her finally gain peace in her life-long quest for acceptance and love.

I loved this book. It was well written. I loved that each chapter title was in English and Chinese. When there is a Chinese word or concept, the symbol is included with the Chinese translation. Example: Shanghai’s two symbols are followed by the word Shanghai and then (city by the sea), a literal translation of the symbols. I found this to be very helpful in understanding more about Chinese culture. The book was captivating and immediately got me involved. It was also heartbreaking, and frustrating. Adeline’s almost pathological quest to be accepted by her family might have been understandable if that family wasn’t so dysfunctional, manipulative, and controlling. I hope the comfort and peace she found offset the very real cruelty and mental abuse she experienced. show less

A Thousand Pieces of Gold is a unique memoir that highlights various Chinese proverbs and uses the history of China to show how the proverb came into use; Adeline Yen Mah adds a personal touch to this by showing how that proverb relates to every day life by relating it to her own personal experience. I feel like this book is everything at once. It is informative and poignant and so beautifully crafted.

I am in awe of Yen Mah’s ability to weave together such different stories into something show more seamless and absolutely riveting. This is a unique way to tell a story, and I was riveted from cover to cover. Even though I’d read her earlier memoir, Chinese Cinderella, I found that viewing her story through the lenses of the different proverbs she chooses to highlight put those stories in a new light. This has made me think that I need to read all of her works because of her abilities as a writer.

If you have any interest in Chinese history, proverbs, or Adeline Yen Mah’s story, you will love this book I highly recommend it.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. show less

Meh! I must admit that I don't read much autobiography, though I am interested in history, and I found this a bit of a slog to read. No doubt, that in her eyes at least, Adeline didn't have the best of childhoods. Wanting to be loved and accepted by her family is understandable and trying to live up to cultural expectations in a time of turbulent political and social changes isn't the easiest thing.

Adeline and most of her family left China for Hong Kong and the bits of this book that I found show more most interesting were the historical elements away from Adeline's own life. I also liked Aunt Baba - who remained in China. I managed to finish the book and enjoyed some of the history but, for me, her personal story comes across as whiny and Adeline Yen Mah's style of writing didn't really work for me. show less