Subtitled: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
by Anne Fadiman
Carver County Library, 330 pages
I actually read most of this back in December for Diversity class. I hadn't finished it by the time the class met, though, and intended to complete it. Well, I finally checked it out from the library and finished it today. It was a wonderful book that made me think hard. I love that the author didn't demonize the American doctors or oversimplify the events in the Lee family's lives.
Lia Lee's transformation from a relatively healthy baby with epilepsy to a vegetable is so terribly sad! It is especially frustrating to see how so much heartache and sorrow could have been avoided with better communication and understanding. In some ways, it's tempting to think that if not for our CIA and our actions in southeast Asia during the 1960s, a lot of people's lives would have been far, far better. Not that we could ever know or go back in time. . .
Probably the hardest part of this book for me was my own knee-jerk reaction to the Hmong religious practices. Reading about the spirits and the rituals to deal with them isn't really that much different from my reliance on the Holy Spirit and crying out to Jesus for deliverance. It just seems so very contrary to my beliefs.
The author has done a sensational job of researching this book and really looking at the situation from multiple perspectives. I hope that it is required reading for med students!
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