Fadiman wrote a fascinating and sympathetic story about a culture that couldn't be much farther removed from ours in the West. It was especially interesting reading it right after Hitchen's God Is Not Great, because, theoretically, had there been no religion involved there wouldn't have been a real culture clash, and Lia could have grown up as an epileptic but functioning girl. Maybe.But that's not really the point of Fadiman's book: she doesn't condemn anyone, and, in fact, she points out that there isn't anyone person or group who can be blamed for what happened to Lia. The point of the book is to take a look at the differences in cultures that exist in our country today, and maybe realize that there are better ways of dealing with the issues that arise.The look at the Hmong culture and history the book provides is fascinating and enlightening. The different levels of engagement the Lee family had with various westerners was particularly telling, and explained a lot about the wildly varying opinions people had formed.The story of Lia Lee is tragic, and the possibility that it could have turned out differently makes it especially so. It's been over ten years since the book came out, and I would love to have some kind of update as to how the Lee family is doing - especially how Lia is doing - and if there has been any real progress made in solving culture collisions in Mercer.

My dad told me to read this book 2 years ago but I never mange to read it. I happened to read it exactly a week after my cousin died with epilepsy. The main character in the book, Lia, also have several epilepsy which lead her to vegetable stage. Both Lai and my cousin was born on the same year too. Before I read the book, I don't knowWho Hmongs are though they live next to my country. The author beautifully wrote between the medical perspective and culture perspective. For Neil and Peggy, Lia was not the only patient that they need to take care. However, they tried their best for Lia. For Nao and Foua, Lia was the special one among their 16 children.The author wrote the real struggle about being an immigrants. During my time in US, my first year was a struggle. I could not adapt the environment easily. I want to eat rice for all meals. I can imagine the struggle of immigrants who could not speak a word of English. For doctors, they tried to save the life first instead of the souls. That was one of the reason where they failed to understand the culture. It was a good book that I could not let go easily and Lia will be in my heart forever.

I never would have chosen this book to read on my own. So I must thank Eliza for lending it to me. (I now feel like lending/recommending a book proves friendship...)I didn't know anything about Hmong culture and now I do. This book also taught me about the American medical system - it looks strange when you step back. It would have been a good book for me to read when I was in Japan, too, because it kind of opened me up to the idea that people of other cultures can really be sooo different. It's not stupidity, it's not lack of common sense, whatever. It's the fact that there are so many different cultures in this world, and growing up in any one of them makes just about everything about you so totally different from those in other societies. And is there any way to bridge those gaps completely? I don't think so. There's probably a way to improve cross-cultural relations though. Especially in a place like the US. This book brings up those questions and doesn't pose solutions but does give ideas at least to open up your mind and eyes to it all. And it gives facts about how things have been (poorly) dealt with, and the problems that causes. The case study Fadiman explores is a perfect example that you can kind of project onto other situations. And the story itself is really interesting. Fadiman tells the story rather skillfully - (but?) you can tell she is a journalist, for better or worse, here. This book was really enjoyable. It impressed me and taught me a lot and made me think about the issues it brought up - namely cultural issues - a lot. I'm glad I read it and I hope I keep it in mind when I encounter those from other cultures and have difficulties with how I may feel about them. Because I can pretend I'm not "culturalist" and I'm all open and accepting but when it comes down to it, I'm not.

A book like this one should be required reading for anyone who lives in a community of multicultural members, and nowadays that's probably just about everyone. Sadly, and not surprisingly, those who would probably most benefit from a book like this would probably be the ones least likely to read it.It's an eye-opener on cross-cultural issues, especially those in the medical field, but also in the religious, as the Hmong don't distinguish between the two. In understandable and compelling language, it also explains the background of the Hmong (historically, a migrating people without a country) and their CIA-recruited role in the American War in landlocked Laos, a place they didn't want to leave but were forced out of, and how so many of them ended up in Merced, CA.There's a lot to learn here, but the most important thing for me was the, perhaps needless, conflict and heartbreak that can result when bureaucracies try to fit everyone into their one-does-not-fit-all pigeonholes.

"The parents of one small boy emptied his intravenous bottle refilling it with a green slime of undetermined ingredients- herbal home brew made by the Hmong parents for ages. Hmong patients made a lot of noise in the hospital which annoyed their American counterparts. They sometimes wanted to slaughter animals in the parking lot or hospital room of a sick relative. One resident recalls" they would bang the crap out of some musical instrument while visiting sick relations and the American patients close-by would complain. Finally we had to have a talk with them and tell them "No Gongs and No Dead Chickens!" Excerpt from The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down II. The customs they were expected to follow were so numerous and seemed so peculiar, rules and regulations were hard to learn, many Hmong were simply overwhelmed. Some newcomers wore nightgowns as street clothes, poured water on electric stoves to extinguish them, lit charcoal fires in their livingrooms;stored blankets in their refrigerators; washed rice in the toilet; washed clothes in swimming pools; washed their hair with Lestoil; cooked dinner with motor oil & furniture polish, drank clorox bleach; ate cat food;planted crops in public parks; shot and ate skunks, woodpeckers, porcupines,robins,sparrows, egrets, a bald eagle, and hunted pigeons w a crossbow in the city streets of Philadelphia." pages 187-188