Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah

Title       :Falling   Leaves

Author   :Adeline   Yen   Mah

London, M. Joseph, 1997

1. How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?

This book teaches about love, acceptance and betrayal. From the beginning of the text, the author, whose name Adeline narrates her childhood days as a girl, who was labelled as ‘bad luck’. Her fate became worse when his father married an Eurasian woman, Jeanne. She and her siblings were emotionally abused by their stepmother. As she grew up, she struggled to achieve success to impress her parents. Being a bright student was not enough to amuse them. She faced a lot of difficulties to be loved by her family, especially her father and stepmother. Although she has fulfilled all her parents’ needs and obeyed their orders, they were worthless when she was being stabbed from the back by her flesh and bones.

2. What is the main issue in the text?

The main issue of this book is love of the family. Family’s love was the strongest power for Adeline, yet she didn’t know that she was the only one who struggled for it. She might be fool to be a puppet of her Niang (her stepmother), followed Niang’s order to climb the stairs of her life, but her thought was reasonable ~she did not want to lose her beloved family, since she already knew that her Niang controlled her family’s bond. The love that Adeline longed for was the love that killed her heart at last, when she faced love’s most powerful murder, which is betrayal.

3. What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?

Adeline , the main character in text is the most adorable character of all. She went through hardship with patience and pure heart.Her supplement was not wealth and fame, but only love. I wonder how she could bear being a woman, whose her childhood days were destroyed by her cunning and vindictive stepmother , and when she became successful and affluent, she helped her stepmother without any avenged heart. Her story is greater than any Cinderella story ever published. This was not an exaggerating praise but her life’s story really tears my heart apart. Her compassion to the person who had ruined her life was the highest honour I could give in this text.

4. How does the text develop your understanding of the world?

The world is not as beautiful as what I have imagined. I never know that on the other part of the world, there is still people who do not know the value of family’s love. What she dreamt of was not exactly what she got. Reality hurts. This heart wrenching story helps me go beyond what it was written, and share Adeline’s feeling. I found it hurts a lot to be the one who demand for love that others do not want to give. Betrayal is the most dangerous thing that could kill one’s heart. Adeline shared her laughter with her family and lend hands to help when they were in trouble. Sadly, not all people who were being helped, remember her sacrifices. After reading this novel, I think I have to be cautious to every human I meet in this world. Her good deed encourages me to contribute without receiving the present.