The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Anne Fadiman

A Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures. Anne Fadiman has written a non-fiction story that reads like a novel, much of the time. Alternating chapters between the story of Lia Lee, a child with a seizure disorder, and the history of the Hmong people, Fadiman manages to walk the fence between the two groups represented. A fair, interesting investigation of tragedy caused by cultural differences.