Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah
Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter
by Adeline Yen Mah
205 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir
I never really understood the difference between memoir and autobiography. Dramatization? This slim book reads like YA memoir, but Mah previously wrote the NYT-bestselling autobiography Falling Leaves. According to my friend, much of the same ground is covered.
But in any case, Chinese Cinderella is lovely and poignant, although perhaps not something one would reread over and over as the voice can get whiny. I was crying through at least half of the book. The prose is rough--too many exclamation marks, sometimes unrealistic dialogue, infodumps (p.p. 151-154 is all lecturing by the grandfather). I guessed one of the plot points as soon as it was introduced, too. But as a memoir, it touched me because I find it so hard (and yet so easy) to believe that these things actually happened. That such blatant favoritism was never resolved.
Something to savor in one sitting, and recommended especially to those of Chinese heritage.
by Adeline Yen Mah
205 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir
I never really understood the difference between memoir and autobiography. Dramatization? This slim book reads like YA memoir, but Mah previously wrote the NYT-bestselling autobiography Falling Leaves. According to my friend, much of the same ground is covered.
But in any case, Chinese Cinderella is lovely and poignant, although perhaps not something one would reread over and over as the voice can get whiny. I was crying through at least half of the book. The prose is rough--too many exclamation marks, sometimes unrealistic dialogue, infodumps (p.p. 151-154 is all lecturing by the grandfather). I guessed one of the plot points as soon as it was introduced, too. But as a memoir, it touched me because I find it so hard (and yet so easy) to believe that these things actually happened. That such blatant favoritism was never resolved.
Something to savor in one sitting, and recommended especially to those of Chinese heritage.