The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Author ANNE FADIMAN
Reviewed by KATIE SILVERSTEIN
Author ANNE FADIMAN
Reviewed by KATIE SILVERSTEIN
The book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, or in Hmong, quab dab peg, is the story of a special girl Lia Lee who happened to be the first of her 13 brothers and sisters to be born in a hospital. 3 days after she was born, on July 19 1982, and discharged from the hospital, she had to be admitted back because of a grand mal seizure. Her parents Foua and Nao Kao, are very spiritual people and believe, as many Hmong do, that even though a body may be lifeless, that persons soul continues to live on in the after life.
Taking place in Merced, California, the Lee family struggles to understand English and the doctors recommended dosages. The book was very detailed about the spiritual beliefs of the Hmong and how their culture thought about the American doctors and hospital treatments. Over and over again, the Lee family had to stay strong and make the right decisions that they thought were right for their daughter. Lia being the first child of Nao and Foua, must’ve been a real tough decision to make because of their spiritual beliefs and what the Hmongs thought of the American culture and people.
Nao Kao and Foua never left their daughters side in the hospital and always had faith that their daughters soul would live on forever. Just the thought of having my own epileptic child and putting myself in Nao and Foua’s shoes made me so grateful to be healthy. This was a hard time for the Lee’s and even harder because they couldn’t understand the language and what medicine the doctors wanted to give to their daughter. I can’t even imagine what Foua and Nao had to go through yet I felt bad for Lia while reading this book because her health was affected by her diagnoses of epilepsy.
This book really opened my eyes to the struggles that many families have to go through for their loved ones health. To learn some history of the Hmong culture and how they left for Laos and some to America, it was very inspirational to see such a spiritual family go through such hard times and yet still stay strong and love each other no matter what, it was very touching and hit me very hard.
To me, the authors’ style of writing was by information she was able to get from the family and from research. She sounded like she really knew a lot about the Hmong culture and the history of the Hmong. I recommend this book to people who enjoy learning about different cultures and differently medical terms. It felt to me as though it was more of a medical and cultural book and felt as though I couldn’t get as much out of it as perhaps an older and more mature person might. I recommend this book to the age group of 20’s or pre adults and higher and preferably from my experience, to many middle scholars or high scholars because of their maturity level.
Taking place in Merced, California, the Lee family struggles to understand English and the doctors recommended dosages. The book was very detailed about the spiritual beliefs of the Hmong and how their culture thought about the American doctors and hospital treatments. Over and over again, the Lee family had to stay strong and make the right decisions that they thought were right for their daughter. Lia being the first child of Nao and Foua, must’ve been a real tough decision to make because of their spiritual beliefs and what the Hmongs thought of the American culture and people.
Nao Kao and Foua never left their daughters side in the hospital and always had faith that their daughters soul would live on forever. Just the thought of having my own epileptic child and putting myself in Nao and Foua’s shoes made me so grateful to be healthy. This was a hard time for the Lee’s and even harder because they couldn’t understand the language and what medicine the doctors wanted to give to their daughter. I can’t even imagine what Foua and Nao had to go through yet I felt bad for Lia while reading this book because her health was affected by her diagnoses of epilepsy.
This book really opened my eyes to the struggles that many families have to go through for their loved ones health. To learn some history of the Hmong culture and how they left for Laos and some to America, it was very inspirational to see such a spiritual family go through such hard times and yet still stay strong and love each other no matter what, it was very touching and hit me very hard.
To me, the authors’ style of writing was by information she was able to get from the family and from research. She sounded like she really knew a lot about the Hmong culture and the history of the Hmong. I recommend this book to people who enjoy learning about different cultures and differently medical terms. It felt to me as though it was more of a medical and cultural book and felt as though I couldn’t get as much out of it as perhaps an older and more mature person might. I recommend this book to the age group of 20’s or pre adults and higher and preferably from my experience, to many middle scholars or high scholars because of their maturity level.
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