《Falling leaves return to their roots落叶归根》书评

A very personal account of life

The book, vividly written in English, provides a very personal account of life back to the 1900s, when flourishing business and foreign influence claimed the coastal metropolis of Shanghai and Tianjin. Yet it has delved too much into daily nuisance - her sense of superiority from family wealth, her antipathy towards her step mother and siblings, and most ironic of all, her honest admiration of anything western during a disgraceful time of national crisis. It was, after all, an individual's acclamation of capitalistic affluence and narration of daily jealousy and misfortune. Her personal happiness, joy, sorrow and discontent occupying the entire story failed to acknowledge the suffering of millions of her fellow Chinese citizens from wars, poverty, politics as well as both capitalistic and imperialistic exploitation that was shamefully glorified by the author. She was indeed a falling leaf - belonging to some splendid life of materialistic and personal triumph; her heart never echoed with the painful tear and blood of her motherland.

苦逼女的成长史

已经忘记当年选择阅读马严君玲这本传记的初衷，很可能是抱着一种研究态度，想了解二战初期的中国，也好奇那时候的富人生活。如果真是这样，我大概没有从马严君玲的书中得到我想要的信息。落叶归根其实就是常见八点档的浓缩版。狐狸精般的继母，美丽但阴险。色迷心窍的父亲，对子女没有担起责任，对自己的爸爸也十分不孝。以及继母所生的嚣张跋扈的弟弟。严家的哥哥和姐姐们起先还会反抗，但一切小动作在继母的高压管制下是那么无力，以至于他们最后全部向恶势力投了诚，只剩下孤零零的作者与恶毒女巫战斗。这本书中，小人和坏人如此之多，作者仅有的几位支持者又很早与她分离，越发显得童年的马严君玲不屈不挠，自强不息。难为作者移民这么多年，行文仍带着浓浓的中国腔调（尽可能地煽情），让读者无法不喜她所爱，憎她所恨。《Falling Leaves》一出，便登上纽约畅销书的排行榜。显然，苦逼女的遭遇最容易引发共鸣，而有着美好结局的灰姑娘故事更是讨人喜欢，丝毫不受国籍和文化背景的影响。我不知道严继母是否真的十恶不赦，也不清楚马严君玲在早年的悲惨遭遇中到底扮演了什么角色。她选择在继母去世这么多年后出版自传，一方面反映出继母在严家的影响力，另一方面也完全杜绝了继母维护自己名声的任何可能性。马严君玲憋屈这么多年，《落叶归根》也许是她面对自己家庭时，唯一的毫无置疑的胜仗。而对于我自己来说，虽然可读性强，但除去对技能不健全家庭以及作者自己的光辉形象的描写，《落叶归根》能提供的价值太少。~All rights reserved, 翻版必究~