The Stay-In Weather Sale: 20% off select books
Used, New, and Out of Print Books - We Buy and Sell - Powell's Books
Cart |
|  my account  |  wish list  |  help   |  800-878-7323
Hello, | Login
MENU
  • Browse
    • New Arrivals
    • Bestsellers
    • Award Winners
    • Signed Editions
    • Digital Audio Books
    • See All Subjects
  • Used
  • Staff Picks
    • Staff Picks
    • Picks of the Month
    • Book Club Subscriptions
    • 25 PNW Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books From the 21st Century
    • 25 Memoirs to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Global Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Women to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books to Read Before You Die
  • Gifts
    • Gift Cards & eGift Cards
    • Powell's Souvenirs
    • Read Rise Resist Gear
    • Journals & Notebooks
    • Games
    • Socks
  • Sell Books
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Find A Store
McAfee Secure

Don't Miss

  • Looking Forward Sale
  • The Stay-In Weather Sale
  • Indiespensable 90:
    My Year Abroad
  • Our 2021 TBR List
  • Powell's Virtual Events
  • Oregon Battle of the Books

Visit Our Stores


Powell's Books: You'll Want to Bookmark This Page: 37 of Our Most Anticipated Books for Spring and Summer 2021 (1 comment)
The Powell’s purchasing team is here to share their most anticipated new releases for Spring and Summer 2021...
Read More»
  • Emily B.: Black History Month 2021: Black Women in Science (0 comment)
  • Rhianna Walton: Black History Month 2021: Rethinking the Classics (0 comment)

{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

by Anne Fadiman
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

  • Comment on this title
  • Synopses & Reviews
  • Award Excerpt

ISBN13: 9780374525644
ISBN10: 0374525641
Condition: Standard


All Product Details

View Larger ImageView Larger Images
$6.95
Used Trade Paperback
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Cart
Add to Wishlist
QtyStore
13Local Warehouse

Awards

1997 National Book Critics Circle Award for general nonfiction

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction

When 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 and 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.

Review

"Ms. Fadiman tells her story with a novelist's grace, playing the role of cultural broker, comprehending those who do not comprehend each other and perceiving what might have been done or said to make the outcome different." Richard Bernstein, The New York Times

Review

"An intriguing, spirit-lifting, extraordinary exploration of two cultures in uneasy coexistence...A wonderful aspect of Fadiman's book is her evenhanded, detailed presentation of these disparate cultures and divergent views — not with cool, dispassionate fairness but rather with a warm, involved interest...Fadiman's book is superb, informal cultural anthropology — eye-opening, readable, utterly engaging." Carole Horn, The Washington Post Book World

Review

"This fine book recounts a poignant tragedy...It has no heroes or villains, but it has an abunance of innocent suffering, and it most certainly does have a moral...[A] sad, excellent book." Melvin Konner, The New York Times Book Review

Review

"I cannot think of a book by a non-physician that is more understanding of the difficulties of caring for people...or of the conditions under which today's medicine is practiced." Sherwin B. Nuland, The New Republic

Review

"So good I want to somehow make it required reading....The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down explores issues of culture, immigration, medicine, and the war in [Laos] with such skill that it's nearly impossible to put down." Linnea Lannon, The Detroit Free Press

About the Author

Anne Fadiman is the author of two essay collections, At Large and At Small and Ex Libris, and the editor of Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down received a National Book Critics Circle Award, an L.A. Times Book Prize, and a Salon Book Award. Her essays and articles have appeared in Harpers, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, among other publications. She is the Francis Writer-in-Residence at Yale.

4.8 11

What Our Readers Are Saying

Share your thoughts on this title!
Average customer rating 4.8 (11 comments)

`
AYUN , January 23, 2015 (view all comments by AYUN)
The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down makes a strong case for cultural understanding as a first step in medical treatment. It should be required reading for anyone working in a big city hospital or a smaller community with a large immigrant population. As the mother of a child with intractable epilepsy, it was distressing to witness the little girl's deterioration, but I understood why her parents would not - or could not - comply with her doctor's orders. It's also weirdly comforting for me to see other cultures taking a positive view of seizures, coming from a place where they are seen only as affliction and disability.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(5 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
melbutler02 , August 05, 2013 (view all comments by melbutler02)
As a medical provider, I found Anne Fadiman's book extremely eye-opening and insightful. Part history of the Hmong culture (the ethnicity depicted in Clint Eastwood's 2008 film, Gran Torino) and part biography of an epileptic toddler and her family's struggles with the American healthcare system, Fadiman describes The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down "not as the book about the Hmong but as a book about communication and miscommunication across cultures." I originally picked up this book to learn more about epilepsy but found myself realizing and redefining my own intolerance to other cultures.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(6 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
MollyT , January 03, 2013
Best thing I've ever read on how cultures collide, even in multi-cultural America. There are no heroes and no villains in this book, only people trying to do the right thing. Should be required reading for everyone in the health care and social work professions.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(5 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
dlm , January 01, 2012
This is a great book for not only understanding Hmong culture, but American culture as well. A very well written anthropologically informed study of the relationship between a Hmong family, their severely epilectic daughter, Americans, cultural ideas, and medical systems. A great read.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(4 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
rcc , September 20, 2011
The most eye opening book that i've read about healthcare in my doctoral training. this book should be mandatory for anyone involved in healthcare since it teaches so much about one culture, the Hmong, and does it on an emotional level. once you read this you'll never forget lia lee.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(3 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
Ka Xiong , January 04, 2011
Very insightful reading.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(1 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
katiez , January 04, 2010
This book was selected and read as a community book project in Davis, CA, and opened my eyes to the often conflicting traditions of Western medicine and the Hmong culture. I think this is a must read - both educationally and emotionally stimulating.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(6 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
Debra Schneider , January 02, 2010
Fadiman taught me Hmong history and culture, all through the story of one small child with epilepsy. While recounting the struggle between the competing perspectives of the doctors and the patient/patient's family, Fadiman remains open to and respectful of both. A great story and wonderful writing.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(3 of 9 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
Dana Brush , January 01, 2010
Clearly describes medical and cultural views about a Hmong child with epilepsy and does not present either side as wrong. Very good read.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(3 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
Jeane , April 02, 2008 (view all comments by Jeane)
Fadiman has written a fantastic book about the clash between two cultures met in the arena of medicine. At three months old Lia, daughter of Hmong immigrants, developed symptoms of epilepsy. Her parents viewed this condition as indication that her soul had been stolen by a malevolent spirit. Her team of doctors at the Merced Community Medical Center prescribed medicine that could halt her seizures. But her parents did not understand the doctors' diagnosis, routinely failed to administer her medications and preferred to treat her with traditional Hmong healing methods. Both the doctors and her parents cared deeply for Lia, but their complete failure to understand each other led to a disastrous series of events and tragedy. This book is a skillful woven story built of Lia's complex medical case, her family's stubborn solidarity and an exploration into Hmong culture, history and folklore. It presents both sides of the story fairly, looking in equal depth at the doctors' concerns and the deep-rooted beliefs of the Hmong.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(10 of 23 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

`
Pam Magnuson , February 09, 2007
Despite the fact that I am a nurse so could relate to the many difficulties of language barriers with patients, I loved the descriptions of the cultural traditions and beliefs of the Hmong. There is a good historical description of the Hmong and their involvement with the Vietnam War as well as their escape from Loas and immigration to the U.S. A very interesting read.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No

(35 of 86 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment

View all 11 comments


Product Details

ISBN:
9780374525644
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
09/01/1998
Publisher:
FARRAR STRAUS & GIROUX
Pages:
341
Copyright Year:
1997
UPC Code:
2800374525646
Author:
Anne Fadiman
Preface:
Anne Fadiman
Subject:
Transcultural medical care
Subject:
Hmong Americans.
Subject:
Delivery of Health Care
Subject:
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Subject:
Health and Medicine-Professional Medical Reference
Subject:
Intercultural communication
Subject:
Medicine
Subject:
Hmong (asian people)
Subject:
Ethics
Subject:
Ethnic groups
Subject:
Medical care
Subject:
Emigration and immigration
Subject:
Epilepsy in children
Subject:
Epilepsy
Subject:
Hmong American children.

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$6.95
Used Trade Paperback
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
QtyStore
13Local Warehouse

More copies of this ISBN

  • Used, Trade Paperback, Starting from $4.50
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

  • Help
  • Guarantee
  • My Account
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Security
  • Wish List
  • Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Shipping
  • Sitemap
  • © 2021 POWELLS.COM Terms

{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##