Anne Fadiman
Paperback | Pages: 341 pages Rating: 4.17 | 64440 Users | 4454 Reviews
Identify Books Conducive To The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
| Original Title: | The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures |
| ISBN: | 0374525641 (ISBN13: 9780374525644) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://us.macmillan.com/thespiritcatchesyouandyoufalldown/AnneFadiman |
| Literary Awards: | Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest (1997), National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction (1997) |
Representaion During Books The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
Lia Lee was born in 1982 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, over-medication, 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.Describe Regarding Books The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
| Title | : | The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures |
| Author | : | Anne Fadiman |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 341 pages |
| Published | : | September 30th 1998 by Noonday Press (first published 1997) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Health. Medicine. Anthropology. Science. Medical. Autobiography. Memoir |
Rating Regarding Books The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
Ratings: 4.17 From 64440 Users | 4454 ReviewsColumn Regarding Books The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
I knew a little about this case, and before I read the book, I was certain Id feel infuriated with the Hmong family and feel nothing but disrespect for them, and would side with the American side, even though I have my issues with the western medical establishment as well. Not that I didnt feel angry (and amused) at times with both sides, but I also ended up empathizing with the people in both sides of this culture clash, which is a testament to Anne Fadimans account of the events. My culture isThe first, spontaneous reaction with regard to the stranger is to imagine him as inferior, as he is different from us. Lia Lee's parents immigrated to this country in the early 1980s from Laos. They were of the Hmong culture, a people who inhabited mountaintops and all they wanted was to be left alone. During the war they sided with the Americans. Their men joined the military some even becoming pilots. When the war was lost, they had to leave their country or die. They were promised a place in
In Hmong culture they revere their children so much, it is wonderful. This little girl was her parent's favorite and they believed her epilepsy was a special gift that made her more in tune with the spirit world. Many of the spirit healers in Hmong society have epilepsy.More largely, this is the story of a clash between western and eastern cultures, a communication lapse that ultimately ended up hurting the parents of this little girl very profoundly.
4.25-ishLOVED
This is a fantastic work of journalistic nonfiction. It begins with a toddler, Lia Lee, living in California in the 1980s. The daughter of Hmong refugees, Lia begins suffering epileptic seizures as an infant, but her treatment goes wrong as her parents and the American doctors are unable to understand and respect one another. The book expands outward from there, exploring the history and culture of the Hmong, their enlistment in the U.S.s secret war in Laos, and their subsequent refugee
This is the heartbreaking story of Lia, a Hmong girl with epilepsy in Merced. It is intended to be an ethnography, describing two different cultural approaches to Lia's sickness: her Hmong parents' and her American doctors'.Don't read any further unless you don't mind knowing the basic story told in this book (there are no spoilers, since this is not a book with a surprise ending, but if you want to keep a completely open mind, stop now) ... I have wavered between four and five stars for this
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