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Summary: Not Just For Medical or Social Workers
Review: This book seems to be promoted primarily as a text for medical and social workers dealing with other cultures. But I am just a lay-person, and I found this book fascinating.I've often seen Hmong women at local craft fairs, selling their embroidered aprons and pillows, but I had no idea where they came from or why. Now I know. Fadiman does a wonderful job of presenting us with a condensed history of the Hmong and their beliefs. Never again will I pass by their craft stalls without a feeling of awe and respect.
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Summary: Eye-opening and sobering
Review: As a professional educator who works with Hmong students and their families, I relished the opportunity to read this book, hoping to gain some understanding into the culture and values of the Hmong community. What I got was a fist-in- the-gut experience that left me practically breathless. I finished the book in less than a day - a day in which I accomplished little else. Fadiman knows her topic well and writes with refreshing clarity and brutal honesty. The Hmong are resistant to adaptation of western values - a fact that had long frustrated me and left me somewhat skeptical of their willingness to adapt to life in this country. I now realize that the clash of cultures goes well beyond geographic and language issues. Deeply spiritual and devoted to their families and clans, every facet of Hmong life revolves around the spiritual. Fadiman's book is a cross between a case study and ethnic history. The case is that of a young girl stricken with epilepsy, and her family's struggle against western medicine and medical doctors. The history is a broad ranging but concise history of the Hmong people. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in culture clashes, and especially for anyone who knows a Hmong, or works with them. It will open your eyes.
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Summary: Problem and no solution
Review: I felt that this book was even handed in presenting both sides of this cultural/medical issue. At first, I thought this book meant for the esoteric members of the medical and Hmong communities. However, Anne Fadiman clearly provided the historical background and smoothly set up the cultural dilemma of this case study. I have to admit that this was my first time reading a book that explored the meticulous issues of "WesternizedEversus natural or "culturalEmedicine and healing. Although I found this book very interesting how the medical community practicing in this "melting potEof diversity must learn to wear different lenses towards such cultural and medical anthropological quagmires. Yet, what Fadiman fails to mention in this book are possible solutions for the future so such medical and cultural beliefs are not violated. Overall, I strongly believe that book serves as a great introductory case study to examine in meticulous detail. Actually, this book was assigned to me for the course I am taking at Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut) called Medical Anthropology, taught by the renowned anthropologist James A. Trostle. After reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down; A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, I have learned how we must learn to "expand our horizonEand see beyond what we have learned thus far. We must learn, understand, and accept other paradigms of healing that other cultures have previously established.
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Summary: and then this book lifts you up...
Review: It's the rare author who seems able to transcend all human biasin the analysis of earthly events. Anne Fadiman is a serendipitousdiamond. The case of Lia Lee a young, tempestous Hmong child with refractory epilepsy is presented then dissected in delicate, touching detail. The in-depth research into the Hmong culture and it's recent history is essential to the understanding of this awkward dance between the Hmong and their young, bright American doctors. The view from both sides is presented with extraordinary lack of bias, from the excrutiating frustration of two overworked, dedicated pediatricians to the story of a mother's love that knows no bounds. This is not an unusual story and it will ring loudly true to those in the medical field. I have experienced similar scenarios in my work as a surgeon. Even same-culture relations often have the same inescapable blindness, as if the narrow portion of the hourglass only lets through a few grains of the large truth on each side. The messy stew of belief, unspoken fear and angular motive makes most communication tenuous and this is beautifully dissected in this compassionate book.
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Summary: Wonderful Insight
Review: I completely enjoyed this book. The author offers great insight into Hmong culture and the American culture by relaying a true story without throwing personal opinions and biases into the mix. This book encourages the reader to look deeper within themselves to analyze the roots of their own thoughts and actions. This is a must read for any American, not just those with a medical interest. Lessons can be learned by all.
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Summary: David R Grube MD
Review: If there is one book that all medical students should read, more important than Gray's Anatomy, more important than Saultz' Family Medicine Text, it is this tragically wonderful book about a little girl and the whole world. Read it!
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Summary: Crossing borders and boundaries
Review: The very evening I first started reading this fascinating narrative of the "clash" between American and Hmong cultural (and religious) assumptions about disease, medicine and childcare, I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning because I couldn't put this book down. It is an engaging, insightful, rigorous but also tender account of an immigrant Hmong family, their little girl with epilesy, the doctors who work to bring the best of Western medicine to the child, and the authors journey across the borders and boundaries of a frontier within American culture. The sterile sounding catagory of multiculturalism does not do justice to this powerful story and the scholarship and experiences behind it.
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Summary: Gripping, Inspiring, Exceptional!
Review: This is quite possibly the best book I have ever read. I don't read much and this book is one of only a handful that I've had the inclination to finish. I couldn't put this book down! My 3 year-old got used to me saying, "Just a minute. One more page." I thought I knew something about the Hmong before reading this book, but after reading it, I realize I knew virtually nothing. I can't imagine the amount of work that went into writing this book. It is SO well written. The story of Lia Lee provides a heart-wrenching backdrop to the cultural and historical information conveyed. It is profound, but readable. (I did learn a few new words--in English as well as Hmong--to add to my vocabulary!) I loved the "Notes on Sources" section as well as the "Reader's Guide" that poses questions to ponder after reading the book. (This would be a great book club read.) She also provides a concise "Note on Hmong Orthography, Pronunciation, and Quotations" that provided just enough for the average person to digest about the nuances of the written language (which heretofore baffled me!). Anyway, I just can't say enough about this book. READ IT!
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Summary: Amazing material.
Review: This powerful tale about the clash of two cultures is written beautifully with great clarity and feeling. One sympathizes with both the terrible trouble that the Hmong people have had in recent years and with the plight of the American doctors trying to treat people whose cultural life is so different from their own. This book does read like fiction.
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Summary: EAST MEETS WEST
Review: This is a very engaging and soulful book about what happens when two cultures try to assimilate within one mainframe. There are problems one would never imagine that come up. Since people are individuals and since cultures are so diverse this book gives an interesting insight into a difficult medical case that became heartbreaking. There is no right and wrong. I imagine what will eventually happen in the world is a continued hybridization of things as the world grows closer together. If you love people....read this book!
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