The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
EUR 6,00
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.
A guided tour of the border between two cultures - In this book, aptly subtitled a Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures, Anne Fadiman offers a sympathetic, patient and imaginative account of the efforts of a Hmong family and of a team of American health professionals to care for a child with epilepsy. It offers the satisfaction of a fine novel in its rich character portrayal and narrative development. The description and analysis of the thoughts and actions of the participants reflect the vision of a person of considerable insight and sensitivity who has taken years to approach her subjects and to understand them as a friend. The book is an extraordinary achievement and a pleasure to read.