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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

by: Anne Fadiman

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.461
EAN: 9780374525644
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0374525641
Label: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageEnglishUnknownEnglishPublished
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: September 28, 1998
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Studio: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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ISBN13: 9780374525644
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

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Editorial Review:Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for NonfictionWhen three-month-old Lia Lee Arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion from which neither she nor her parents nor her doctors would ever recover. Lia's parents, Foua and Nao Kao, were part of a large Hmong community in Merced, refugees from the CIA-run "Quiet War" in Laos. The Hmong, traditionally a close-knit and fiercely people, have been less amenable to assimilation than most immigrants, adhering steadfastly to the rituals and beliefs of their ancestors. Lia's pediatricians, Neil Ernst and his wife, Peggy Philip, cleaved just as strongly to another tradition: that of Western medicine. When Lia Lee Entered the American medical system, diagnosed as an epileptic, her story became a tragic case history of cultural miscommunication.Parents and doctors both wanted the best for Lia, but their ideas about the causes of her illness and its treatment could hardly have been more different. The Hmong see illness aand healing as spiritual matters linked to virtually everything in the universe, while medical community marks a division between body and soul, and concerns itself almost exclusively with the former. Lia's doctors ascribed her seizures to the misfiring of her cerebral neurons; her parents called her illness, qaug dab peg--the spirit catches you and you fall down--and ascribed it to the wandering of her soul. The doctors prescribed anticonvulsants; her parents preferred animal sacrifices. 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."

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

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- Always great service
Never a problem with this bookseller. Quality is as advertized or better--arrival is timely.

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- As described.
Book was for class and not entertainment - with that said - the item arrived as described.

Rating:

- A must read!
Riveting story of the impact of culture on patients in the healthcare system. I feel that this should be required for all students in any healthcare related field, as well as all involved with children and parents of different cultures.

Rating:

- A read for all ages
One of my favorite books of all time. My Cultural Anthropology teacher had us read this book and I don't regret one minute of it. It's a very touching and compelling book. You will not want to put it down once you get going. I believe that it's a great read for all for it really opens your eyes up to another families culture and their intimate life. The knowledge you will acquire from this book is worth the time spent reading it. So buy it!

Rating:

- Great Book
I picked up this book, and within a few minutes i was hooked, it is utterly intregging. Its really easy to understand, and i like how it gives explanations of the medical conditions that are discussed within the text. This book is also great because it evokes a lot of emotion toward the Hmong families, as well as toward the doctors that dealt with these people. So uch to say, overall this book if filled with so many things, thats anyone can find somehthing to like in it. Enjoy!

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