The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Since I have had more time on my hands lately I decided to read a book. ‘The Spirit Catches you and You Fall Down’ by Anne Fadiman caught me when I saw it was on the required reading list for my social and cultural class this fall. (So not only did I read a great book, I also got ahead for next semester!)

Fadiman’s book contains the true story of the clash between a Hmong family whose daughter (Lia Lee) was diagnosed with severe epilepsy and the American doctors that treated the little girl. Both parties desperately wants to do what they believe is best for Lia Lee. Unfortunately both ideas are polar opposite and their lack of understanding of each other leads to tragedy.

It was easy for me to have a connection with Lia Lee, who was born in Merced California on July 19, 1982. I was born an hour north of Lia just about one month earlier. While Lia and her family were struggling to understand and compromise with the doctors I was growing up in a very white town where such conflicts did not even enter the minds of most of its citizens.

Fadiman’s empathic story telling leads you to more fully understand both sides of the story. Her dedicated work is truly magnificent, eliciting years of her time which she spend with the Lee family, Merced doctors, social and state workers and Hmong educators, interpreters and cultural brokers. This unique book is a part historical, part cultural, part medical and part therapy book. In the preface Fadiman states “I am sure that if I had never met Lia’s doctors, I would be a different kind of patient. I am sure that if I had never met her family, I would be a different kind of mother.” Having read this profound book has made me a different kind of person.