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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall down A Hmong Child Her American Doctors and the Collision of Two Cultures Anne Fadiman Books

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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall down A Hmong Child Her American Doctors and the Collision of Two Cultures Anne Fadiman Books

This book was written in 1997 and I first read it in nursing school. Although it’s been almost twenty years, “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” is just as relevant now as it was when it was written. In fact, I somehow mentioned the book to my mother in law and when I found out she hadn’t read it, I bought her a copy for Christmas. I then felt compelled to re-read the book myself, and discovered that I’ve lent out my copy. It’s been long enough that I’m guessing that I’m not getting my copy back- especially since I don’t recall who has my copy! I came to Amazon today to purchase another copy for myself. The book is just that good.
Anne Fadiman’s book is really engaging and just draws the reader in. Although “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” touches on so sensitive subjects, Anne Fadiman manages to illustrate the cultural differences so starkly that I ended up feeling sympathetic to both the western medical community that was trying to treat Lia Lee as well as Lia’s family and her community. It’s written far more like a dialogue between author and reader than a narrative.
I work as a nurse I often think of this book when I watch a new mom stuff cotton in her ears, put a towel over her head before going outside, reject the hospital food in favor of broth and chicken brought in by family, or politely remind me over and over “No ice in the water please!”. I honestly think this book should be required reading for doctors, nurses, social workers, foster parents, etc.


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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall down A Hmong Child Her American Doctors and the Collision of Two Cultures Anne Fadiman Books Reviews

I'm hesitant to review this book because I know I will not do it justice. It was truly amazing; extremely interesting subject matter written about with such eloquence. I loved it!

The main story is about a sick little girl, but there's so much more to it. Hmong tradition & history is expertly woven into the pages. Most stories about tribes & clans are written by ppl who go thousands of miles away & come back to America to tell the story. The Hmong came to America & the story unfolded before the eyes of many Americans, some of whom wished it hadn't. It was interesting to see how the Hmong reacted to our own customs & habits, and even more interesting to read about theirs. The girl's first seizure occurred when her sister slammed a door. According to the Hmong, the loud noise scared her soul away, so she got sick. You can also get sick if you point your finger at the full moon, pee on a rock that looks like a tiger, or wash your clothes in a lake w/ dragons.

Though it was emotionally intense, it was not a ball-your-eyes-out kind of book. There were a few sad parts, a few funny parts, and even a little fantasy (their shamans rode winged horses through a staircase to the 'sky-world' to bargain for souls of the sick.) And of course, there was a heavy dose of reality; how they were treated when they came here, the best way to bridge the communication gap, welfare programs & the justice system, the concerns of her doctors & care givers. How do you explain pneumonia to ppl who don't know what lungs are!?

Overall, an excellent & fascinating book.
This was a required book for a psych nursing class. I quite enjoyed it overall and have read it twice now (once for class and once out of class). The author has a unique way of writing, where a couple of chapters talk about the family and then a couple chapters talk about the history of the Hmong people; I will admit about halfway through the book that started to annoy me as I wanted to know what happened with the family, so I went through and found/read the chapters on them, and then went back and found/read the history chapters. Probably not what the author or my instructor intended, but I still retained all the info and got 100% of the test questions on this book correct.

Overall, this is an awesome book for understanding cultural differences in the healthcare setting and how a little bit of effort into cultural understanding and language translating could drastically change the outcome for the patient and the family. Read this please if you're going into any medical field, especially if you're going to be working in an area with diverse ethnic populations.
A real eyeopener to the Hmong culture, the treatment of epilepsy and the various views of medical staff and caregivers. I was drawn to this book because I have a child who has had seizures. Learning the viewpoint of another culture toward epilepsy gave me greater understanding on facing such a disability. It was unsettling to realize the different approaches to treatment and how cultural differences were/are not always recognized (to the benefit of the patient and their family). This was not an enjoyable book to read, but it was also not easy to put down. I hope that more recently cultural awarness in medical staff and caregivers has been recognized and is being put to use.
This book was written in 1997 and I first read it in nursing school. Although it’s been almost twenty years, “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” is just as relevant now as it was when it was written. In fact, I somehow mentioned the book to my mother in law and when I found out she hadn’t read it, I bought her a copy for Christmas. I then felt compelled to re-read the book myself, and discovered that I’ve lent out my copy. It’s been long enough that I’m guessing that I’m not getting my copy back- especially since I don’t recall who has my copy! I came to today to purchase another copy for myself. The book is just that good.
Anne Fadiman’s book is really engaging and just draws the reader in. Although “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” touches on so sensitive subjects, Anne Fadiman manages to illustrate the cultural differences so starkly that I ended up feeling sympathetic to both the western medical community that was trying to treat Lia Lee as well as Lia’s family and her community. It’s written far more like a dialogue between author and reader than a narrative.
I work as a nurse I often think of this book when I watch a new mom stuff cotton in her ears, put a towel over her head before going outside, reject the hospital food in favor of broth and chicken brought in by family, or politely remind me over and over “No ice in the water please!”. I honestly think this book should be required reading for doctors, nurses, social workers, foster parents, etc.