Final Week Blog

In Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah, a little girl, distant from the rest of her family grows into a woman. When I finished this book, I felt really sad. Adeline had gone through so much, and she did so without even breaking down, a feat that many could not achieve. She was abused by her brothers and her mother. She had to deal with early deaths of her family, dealing with financial problems once her father died. And much much more. I felt like Adeline was a very strong person. I personally would not have dealt with these kind of things as well as she did. This book was quite an eye opener, I finally realized how hard other people's lives could be and how important doing the right thing is. I highly recommend this book to others if they can take reading a boring first quarter of the book.

Week Five

Welcome to Week Five, and our last week week of blogging. This week's post should be on your overall thoughts about the book. It must be a ten sentence reflection. You do not need to comment on anyone else's blog, but your post should be up here by Sunday, March 29 You should have made up any missing work by then as well.

Week 4 Response

In Falling Leaves, the grandma talks about how she had binded her feet to make them look good. In China at the time, small feet on a woman was very attractive apparently. So she had hurt herself to enhance the way she looks. But when she is older she tells her daughter never to bind her feet. Basically, the grandma had hurt herself to be more accepted in society. Do people have to go through pains to be accepted in society? I think that a lot of people do have to go through pains to be accepted in society. Such as immigrants. They have to endure the racial stereotypes people spit at them and they have to deal with learning a new language and all that stuff. Also people who are below average people (as in social class), they are looked down upon and if they don't make more money, society will also look down upon them.

Week Four

Welcome to Week Four!

For this week's blog you will post a thought-provoking question that does not have only one answer. Remember that you must make 10 comments this week, not 5. Please do not leave this until the last minute, you have the whole week to get it done.

Week 3 Blog

In Falling Leaves the best used technique is most definately how Adeline Yen Mah shows insteads of tells, much like McCarthy. Her use of this technique is shown here. "Early photographs show a solemn girl with clenched fists, pressed lips and serious eyes, dressed in pretty western frocks decorated with ribbons and bows." (ch 5, pg 34). The ways she describes herself as a very uptight and grumpy child is very good. She doesn't just say like early photos show a serious grumpy child in western clothing. Instead Adeline describes everything. This inclluding her serious eyes, her clenched fists, and pressed lips. This is also showed in this quote. "I remembered her as a quick-witted and strong-willed chain smoker with bound feet, short hair and a razor-sharp tongue." (ch 1, pg 11). The way she says razor-sharp tongue and all of the other descriptions really helps you imagine what's going on. Adeline Yen Mah's way of writing really helps people imagine things in their heads, which I guess would also be imagery then as well. Her descriptive words are key to her style. That concludes week 3.

Week Three

Welcome to Week Three of the Discussion! This weeks discussion will run from Monday, March 9 to Sunday, March 15.

This week's discussion will be on figurative language and literary elements in your book. Please find an example of these in your book and POST a 10-sentence comment on it. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, please don't wait until the last minute.

Setting

This is Andre B blogging on the setting in Falling Leaves. The setting in Falling leaves is in China, close to WWII. The family of Adeline Yen Mah moves very often so it is hard to tell the exact place in China. But currently in Tianjin China. The time period is in the midst of the beginning of WWII where the Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor. The house that Adeline and her family are currently living in is a very big house. The family had recently connected the two parts of their home to make one very large house. They had to do this due to a flood. So Adeline and her family live in a very prosperous place. They also live with servants and bunches of rich items. Overall, they live in a quite easy lifestyle.

Character (Had it as a comment before)

The main character in falling leaves is Adeline Yen Mah, who at this point in the book has not been in enough. I've read up to chapter 5, the beginning of it, and found out that her character is not shown that much, the first chapters are her families past. Her grandaunt was a sucessful bank owner who fought for women, she had a grandpa who was a sucessful import buisness man, and her father was also sucessful in owning his own company. When Adeline was born and her mother died 2 weeks later, she mentions not ever remembering her mom, she didn't even have a picture. This may make her feel as though she killed her mom, but it is too early to know because she is barely in the story. She having a extremely sucessful family easily puts her in a place of high society. This also allows her to go to school later on. She also has 4 older siblings and 2 younger half siblings, which I would think, would make her feel a bit left out being near the middle child. That is just a guess though. She also has a stepmom who the book described almost as a golddigger. At the very beginning of the book though, in the present time in which her father died, she and her siblings were very obedient to their stepmom which you could probably create the guess that Adeline was a very quiet and obedient child. But again that is a guess, you will here more as the story progresses

Week Two

Welcome to Week Two of our discussion. This discussion will last from Monday, March 2nd to Sunday, March 9th.

This week's discussion is on Setting. Please POST a 10-sentence comment on setting. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, but waiting is not recommended!

Week One!

Welcome to Week 1 of our Discussion. This discussion will last from Monday, February 23rd to Sunday, March 1.

This week's discussion is on Character. Please POST a 10 sentence comment on character. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, but don't wait until the last minute!!!

ARE YOU GOING TO READ THIS BOOK?

ARE YOU GOING TO READ THIS BOOK?

If so, please comment on this post with your name and hr and answer the following 2 questions by Monday, February 2nd.

1. Why do you want to read this?
2. How are you going to acquire the book?

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to 3rd quarter OR. On this blog we will be discussing Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah. Here is a short summary of this book.

"Born in 1937 in a port city a thousand miles north of Shanghai, Adeline Yen Mah was the youngest child of an affluent Chinese family who enjoyed rare privileges during a time of political and cultural upheaval. But wealth and position could not shield Adeline from a childhood of appalling emotional abuse at the hands of a cruel and manipulative Eurasian stepmother. Determined to survive through her enduring faith in family unity, Adeline struggled for independence as she moved from Hong Kong to England and eventually to the United States to become a physician and writer.A compelling, painful, and ultimately triumphant story of a girl's journey into adulthood, Adeline's story is a testament to the most basic of human needs: acceptance, love, and understanding. With a powerful voice that speaks of the harsh realities of growing up female in a family and society that kept girls in emotional chains, Falling Leaves is a work of heartfelt intimacy and a rare authentic portrait of twentieth-century China."

Courtesy:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Falling-Leaves/Adeline-Yen-Mah/e/9780767903578/?itm=2