Tuesday 27 July 2010

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah


Quote from the back cover of the book:

A Chinese proverb says, “Falling leaves return to their roots”.

And then, the cheeky side of me thought; what if the fallen leaves are picked up by someone and carried far away from its roots? :-P
Will it grow anew like jade plant which grows right from its leaves?
Perhaps growing up beside the parent tree might not be a good idea after all eh?
Don’t mind me, sometimes my mind wanders…

Sometimes I wonder how often we look back to our childhood reminiscing about the bygone era in which we lived a carefree life without being saddled with endless bills, expectations and so on.

While some will whine, some, like this book entitled “Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah”, captures the essence of a childhood trapped in a never-ending home politics is a gem to be savored.

In this open hearted, tell-all book (which is almost none-existence in Asian culture), Adeline exposes the underbelly of the home politics when her biological mom passed away after giving birth to her. Her dad remarried to a “sophisticated lady” and with her stepping on the wrong side of the shadow, she was labeled as the black sheep of the family.

From thence onwards, she was often subjected to countless exclusion and not to mention humiliation during her growing up years. She literally paved her own road away from the family despite being deprived from what she craved the most; love and acceptance as part of the family.

I will not dwell in the methods she used to “break” from the family but in my opinion, the book is readable but the portrayal is rather one sided.

That is to say that Adeline’s depicts herself as victim from start until the end of the book. I’m not to judge an autobiographical book like this but readers should be neutral-minded when they read this book so as not to pass any judgment without hearing both sides of the story.

Short book review eh? :-)
I can’t comment nor review too much on people’s autobiography right?
Later I kena “tembak” for commenting on other people’s life. :-P

Personal rating: N/A

Cons:
1) N/A

Pros:
1) N/A

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