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| Plot Summary of The Spirit Catches You, and You Fall Down |
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"In the 1960s, the CIA recruited a primitive but fiercely independent people in Laos -- the mountain farmer/nomads known as the Hmong -- to fight the Communist forces, and all but promised to take care of them if they and the US lost. When the war was lost, many of the Hmong were abandoned to imprisonment and death, but those who were "rescued" and brought to the states fared no better: Their clans were dispersed, their culture all but destroyed, and their lives battered and often ended by American prejudice and well-meaning ignorance. All this is background to Fadiman's tale of one particular family in Merced, California whose daughter has epilepsy -- the book's title comes from the Hmong phrase for it, "quag dab peg" -- and how even the sophisticated, sympathetic American medical system and its practitioners all but kill her in their efforts to help her. This deeply compassionate and gripping acccount won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and is both spellbinding and heartbreaking."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Spirit Catches You, and You Fall Down |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Ethnic/Relig. of subject (inside)
- Asian, other
Gender/Class story?
- immigrant story
Family, ill
Yes
Who?
- Daughter
because he/she is
- physically ill
If this is a culture clash:
- minority culture living in majority area
Ethnic/regional/gender
Yes
ethnic of society (outside)
- American (general)
Period of greatest activity?
- 1950+
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Female
Age:
- a teen
Ethnicity
- Other Asian
How sensitive is this person?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- physically sick
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 2 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
- California
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- Southeast Asia
Century:
- 1980's-Present
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Book makes you feel?
- depressed
Is book humorous?
Yes
If humorous, kind of humor
- eccentric personalities
- Dry-cynical
- gentle
Commentary on society?
Yes
Commentary on
- race
- decency
- war
- wicked men
- religion
Writer's slant towards subject:
- very favorable
Is this a biography of several people?
Yes
How much dialogue in bio?
- little dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Anne Fadiman Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Loftus
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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