The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

Lia's Diary

While reading this book for my seminar, I completed a project where I had to keep a diary and write entries as if I was the main character, Lia Lee. By doing this, I was able to envision myself as a young Hmong girl living with epilepsy in the United States, where her family's traditional culture's medicinal practices clashed with the westernized medicine used in the American healthcare system. These clashes occurred when Lia was prescribed medicines that her parents didn't agree with, when her parents didn't see the problem with not following the doctors' exact orders, and when Lia was in a vegetative state and her parents kept her alive longer than the doctors had intended. I learned so much about Hmong traditions and beliefs related to caring for sick family members, and about how American doctors tend to be unfamiliar about other cultures' beliefs. Lia's story is influential to everyone who reads it, not just healthcare professionals and medical students. This book teaches the lesson of how you don't have to know everything, how important it is to be willing to learn and adapt to others' cultural beliefs in all aspects of life.