The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
I'm ashamed to say it's taken me years to finally read this book, and I read it because I picked it for a book talk at work. In light of today's climate regarding immigration, it's even more relevant today than when it was first published in 1997. At its core, t his book is about the struggle to understand cultures other than our own. Not understanding or even trying to understand; believing that our culture is the "best" culture and our medicine is infallible can lead to tragedy, as it did in the case of Lia Lee. Lia's parents and older sibling s came to Calif ornia f rom a re fugee camp after fleeing Laos after the Vietnam War, whe re ma n y Hmong were recruited by the CIA to fight for the American side both on th e ground and as trained pilots. They believed they would be taken care of by the American s after the war; coming to America was an obvious choice for them. Lia's parents, Foua Yang and Nao Kao Lee didn't speak , write, or r...