Monday, December 4, 2006

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah


If you are into autobiographies I would recommend you this book. I read it sometime back. Had no intentions of buying it but..I was getting tired of reading novels written by the western writers. I wanted a change from thrillers to something that could make me sob....so to speak. It was my luck I guess...I sort of stumbled upon this book at the bookstore.

Chinese Cinderella is a story written by a woman in her fifties about her own childhood. The story is set against a background of life in Japanese-occupied China and the civil war between the communists and nationalists which followed Japan's defeat at the end of the Second World War.

Yen Jun-ling life became catastrophic when her mother dies. Not only does her father turn from the five children he had by his first wife when he marries again, but her three brothers and sister also despise Jun-ling for being the cause of their own neglect.

Third Brother tells her:

It all stems from our mama dying when you were born. Big Sister and our two older brothers knew her better than I did. I only remember her a little. Things were much nicer when she was alive. You made her go away.

Jun-ling's story is seen through the filter of time. I find this book highly memorable. It has an extraordinary catalogue of abuse and malice which will hound you for a while after you finish reading it.

Narrated by Jun-ling herself, it is an intimate and simply told story. Read it for yourself and see if you agree with me.

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