Chinese Cinderella is a great book by Adeline Yen Mah. This book is about an unwanted Chinese daughter named Wu Mei, or Fifth Younger Sister. She has one older sister and three older brothers that all blamed her for their mother’s death. Their mother came down with a high fever three days after Wu Mei was born and died when she was two weeks old. Later, her father met Jeanne, a French woman who was always up to the latest fashion trends, but kept her step children looking hideous. Soon enough, she was their Niang, or stepmother. She and her father had two more kids, a boy and a girl. Their names were Fourth Brother and Little Sister. They were always nurtured and favored by Niang and their father. Their Aunt Baba, their mother’s sister, also lived with them and was the only one who noticed Wu Mei.

This book is about Wu Mei and her struggle to fit in with her family. She had been despised from the start because her siblings blamed her for their mother’s death. Through her life she makes friends, loses some, gets very mistreated and abused by her Niang, and is sent away to boarding school…twice! This book is a true story of an unwanted daughter, who has to cope with so many of the things we would never even dream of.

The conflicts in the story were man vs. man and man vs. himself. One was man vs. man because of the constant fighting with Wu Mei and her Niang. Her Niang was very easily angered and took it all out on Wu Mei, physically. She beat her and made her so unhappy in her so called home. Another conflict would be man vs. himself because Wu Mei was always trying to hide her emotions and prove her father wrong, that she could be somebody. She tried so hard in school. She got straight A’s, Student of the Week five times in a row, and even won Class President! Even then, her father gave in to Niang and turned her away. Soon enough she went to boarding school and was almost completely forgotten.

The conflict of man vs. man was never completely solved. When she was old enough and was still in boarding school, she asked her father to go to England and be in school to become a writer. Her father let her go, but she had to go to medical school. But she got to be away from her Niang and was finally free. The conflict of man vs. himself was never completely solved either. She still had to keep her thoughts straight like before but it was easier because she didn’t have to prove anything to anyone and she was not under pressure like before.

I loved this book! Before I had ever read a biography, I thought they would be boring. But after reading this book, I know I will read more in the future. The only thing I didn’t like about this book was that Adeline Yen Mah’s writing style is somewhat dull. Other than that it was a great story and kept me interested. (Most of the time anyway.)

I would recommend it to anyone from 12 to around 18. It was a very intelligent book, so I think older people would be more interested than younger people.