Chinese Cinderella Book Review

Cinderella is an autobiography about Adeline Yen Mah’s childhood, starting in 1941. Throughout the book, Adeline explains her childhood in which she faces many dilemmas. She also describes how she was made to feel unwanted and unloved by most of her family. The story is set in World War 2, during the time period when the Japanese had invaded China. In the story, Adeline explains the amount of respect that all of the Chinese people had to show towards the Japanese. When Adeline was just four years of age, the Japanese were already marching into Tianjin, China (Adeline’s hometown) and were demanding to become her father’s business partners. For this reason, Adeline and her family fled to Shanghai, a large port city just north of Tianjin.
Adeline’s mother died giving birth to Adeline when she was only a year old. Her father remarried two years later to a half French half Chinese woman who was only seventeen years old. At this time, Adeline’s eldest sister was only six years old. Later on in their marriage, Niang and Father had two more children, Fourth Brother and Little Sister who were treated well, unlike her stepchildren. There were then seven children (five from father’s first marriage and two from his second marriage). Niang loathed Adeline and all through her childhood she tried her best to be make Adeline’s life a misery. Her stepmother makes Adeline feel like she is a piece of garbage and in Adeline’s own words 7she describes herself as ‘ugly, I loathe myself’. Adeline also feels intimidated by Niang’s faultless person; her stunning hair with not a curl out of place, her faultlessly manicured nails and her expensive Parisian dresses. When Adeline is sent away to boarding school by Niang, Niang concentrated on making Adeline feel forgotten by the family. Her stepmother directed all letters that Adeline wrote to Aunt Baba to her which results in Aunt Baba not replying to Adeline. Overall, Niang despises