Smith's summer chore

As an entering student at Smith College, I found myself immersed in the new life I would be coming into: excited about everything, planning my class loads, wondering what my roommate would be like, fretting about dorms, the right place on campus, and homework. When I found out we had summer reading (which would be discussed at length during the orientation week-end) I was ecstatic: it would give me the chance to get to know my professors and show that I truly belonged at Smith.

The summer reading, "The Spirit Catches you and You Fall Down" had potential. The story of different and clashing cultures was promising, and a type of book that usually interests me. As an avid non-fiction reader, I looked forward to taking it all in. However, once I got into the book I began to find it quite tedious. While some chapters moved very quickly (and were extremely interesting) others were very slow and, from my point of view, equally pointless.

The book is about the Lee family, a large family of Hmong immigrants, and their daughter, Lia, who has epilepsy, or as the Hmong refer to it as, "The Spirit Catches you and you Fall Down" (thus the title). The premise of the book is to demonstrate how the doctors and the family dealt with this disease and how they tried to work together, through cultural, spiritual, and language difference and barriers, to treat this little girl. Unfortunately, the story is jumbled with too many seemingly pointless facts, small, minute details, the author's emotions, and anecdotes that serve no real purpose. Almost every other chapter could easily be cut and the main purpose of the book would not be lost. The author, while enthusiastic about her subject (a positive point) might prove to be a little too enthusiastic, trying to cram in everything she knows about the Lees, their doctors, the Hmong, Laos, Vietnam, and the politics surrounding the situation, to the point that often times the actual purpose of this book is almost lost. For instance: there is a 30-page chapter based around US involvement in Vietnam, which does little to help along the purpose. While a good portion of the book is great-- it makes you think and re-examine the classic American take on life, religion, and medicine-- a good portion of it is also terrible-- poorly organized and brings up question marks as to its relevance.

I cannot say that I would recommend this book, but I cannot say that I wouldn't either. I can say that I probably will not read it again and that I will likely make a name for myself during the discussions to come-- whether that is good or bad, I do not know. It is the opinion of this author that this book does little to change one's point of view. If you are looking for a book that challenges typical American ideals and compares cultures, I would suggest the Joy Luck Club (by Amy Tan) instead.