The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down | 
|  | | | Title: | The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down | | Author: | Anne Fadiman | | Publisher: | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 28 September, 1998 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0374525641 / 9780374525644 | | List Price: | $15.00 | | You Save: | $4.80 | | Amazon Price: | $10.20 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
When three-month-old Lia Lee Arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion from which neither she nor her parents nor her doctors would ever recover. Lia's parents, Foua and Nao Kao, were part of a large Hmong community in Merced, refugees from the CIA-run "Quiet War" in Laos. The Hmong, traditionally a close-knit and fiercely people, have been less amenable to assimilation than most immigrants, adhering steadfastly to the rituals and beliefs of their ancestors. Lia's pediatricians, Neil Ernst and his wife, Peggy Philip, cleaved just as strongly to another tradition: that of Western medicine. When Lia Lee Entered the American medical system, diagnosed as an epileptic, her story became a tragic case history of cultural miscommunication.
Parents and doctors both wanted the best for Lia, but their ideas about the causes of her illness and its treatment could hardly have been more different. The Hmong see illness aand healing as spiritual matters linked to virtually everything in the universe, while medical community marks a division between body and soul, and concerns itself almost exclusively with the former. Lia's doctors ascribed her seizures to the misfiring of her cerebral neurons; her parents called her illness, qaug dab peg--the spirit catches you and you fall down--and ascribed it to the wandering of her soul. The doctors prescribed anticonvulsants; her parents preferred animal sacrifices.
Amazon.com Review
Lia Lee was born in 1981 to a family of recent Hmong immigrants, and soon developed symptoms of epilepsy. By 1988 she was living at home but was brain dead after a tragic cycle of misunderstanding, overmedication, and culture clash: "What the doctors viewed as clinical efficiency the Hmong viewed as frosty arrogance." The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, written with the deepest of human feeling. Sherwin Nuland said of the account, "There are no villains in Fadiman's tale, just as there are no heroes. People are presented as she saw them, in their humility and their frailty--and their nobility."
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Customer Reviews:
• A Must Read! 12 June, 2009
I recently stayed at two Hmong villages, first by chance at a village in Laos located by the Mekong river off of Luang Prabang and the second time a pre-planned stay at Sapa, Vietnam. Reading this book after my return brought a new appreciation for their identity and culture. I wish I had read this book prior to my travels!
This book is definitely a must read, for anyone who is even remotely interested in other cultures. It has the right mix of historical background of the Hmong people, U.S. involvement in Laos, personal accounts and the clashes of cultures; gently steering us to a less judgmental point of view on cross cultural issues.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3GAT8PJZN4TWM
• Excellent Read 02 July, 2009
This book is excellent. Written with an unbiased opinion. I could not put it down. It made me examine how I view others.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1NW7ND7YI0WU1
• Very Sympathetic 08 June, 2009
Where did this lady learn how to write?! She makes excellent observations throughout. The story is well-balanced between the Hmong and the meds.
A good background is included as to cultural information. And you'll come away with several important points.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1FYK7150KTVVL
• Good Book 17 June, 2009
I would not have chosen to get or read this book if not required by the a course I am taking. I have read about 80 pages so far, and it is an interesting book. It's good to learn more about other cultures.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1Q2K5ZADSZL15
• Good Reading With Great Historical And Cultural Info! 15 June, 2009
Become informed while you enjoy good writing. This book is uplifting in its literary style as it presents invaluable historical and cultural information about the Hmong who settled in the United States. The reader will be rewarded by gaining understanding and compassion toward the Hmong families and community.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AO4YA42QC5H8C
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