Chinese Cinderella: the true story of an unwanted daughter

by Adeline Yen Mah
PRMS paperback 205 pages
genre: memoir

When a student told me I "had" to read this, I was glad to comply. Now, like that student, I want to read Falling Leaves, which is Mah's full autobiography, and an award-winning book. What a horrible childhood - to be blamed as an infant for her mother's death and then treated like a non-person by her stepmother . . . at first, I actually thought she was a bit of a whiner ("poor me"), but as the story went on, I was saddened by the gap between what could (and should) have been for her and her siblings, and their reality. I am curious now to read Falling Leaves. One of the most stark scenes, to me, was when her father had to ask her what her Chinese name was because he didn't remember that (or her birth date). A well-told story.