2009 Reading #101: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
Books 71-80.
Books 81-90.
Books 91-100.
101. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman. The illness of a young child becomes a prism for talking about culture clash, as her Hmong immigrant parents and her American doctors butt heads, talk past one another, and finally give any attempt at communication. In the meantime, Lia Lee goes from a lively and loving child to a brain-dead invalid. Without explicitly laying blame, Fadiman makes it clear that her sympathies lie with Lia's parents, and takes pains to show the reader their point of view of a medical system which could not communicate with them, took no interest in their own wishes for their daughter's treatment, and did not take the health of Lia's soul into account. The doctors, for their part, saw the Lees as uncooperative, irrational, and stubborn, which--Fadiman convincingly argues--is just what their medical training taught them to see. Fadiman's account is well-researched, giving cultural details I haven't seen elsewhere; at the same time, there are points where her descriptions of the Hmong take on a sort of condescendingly amused tone, as if to say Aren't they quaint and adorable? Despite this caveat, in the end this is a well-done and heartbreaking look at two deeply ingrained worldviews crashing together.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
Books 71-80.
Books 81-90.
Books 91-100.
101. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman. The illness of a young child becomes a prism for talking about culture clash, as her Hmong immigrant parents and her American doctors butt heads, talk past one another, and finally give any attempt at communication. In the meantime, Lia Lee goes from a lively and loving child to a brain-dead invalid. Without explicitly laying blame, Fadiman makes it clear that her sympathies lie with Lia's parents, and takes pains to show the reader their point of view of a medical system which could not communicate with them, took no interest in their own wishes for their daughter's treatment, and did not take the health of Lia's soul into account. The doctors, for their part, saw the Lees as uncooperative, irrational, and stubborn, which--Fadiman convincingly argues--is just what their medical training taught them to see. Fadiman's account is well-researched, giving cultural details I haven't seen elsewhere; at the same time, there are points where her descriptions of the Hmong take on a sort of condescendingly amused tone, as if to say Aren't they quaint and adorable? Despite this caveat, in the end this is a well-done and heartbreaking look at two deeply ingrained worldviews crashing together.