jschulz21's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
kjboldon's review
4.0
Three and a half stars, I think. A tremendous, moving story of a refugee Hmong family. I learned a great deal about a people and their history. The writing felt like it could use a sharper edit, though, with plot and characters needing to be sharpened.
knkoch's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
I liked this lucid, empowering account of a Hmong family’s trials, beginning in Laos and moving through Thailand, refugee camps, and ending in Minnesota. I knew there was a strong Hmong community in MN, but I knew very little about the Hmong people and the difficulties they’ve faced as a continually displaced ethnic minority. I thought Yang did a particularly good job writing from the perspective of her childhood self without coming across as either too precocious or naive. And she went far beyond simply accounting events as they happened, grounding the emotional outlooks of herself and close family members as if it was a plotted novel.
zoefcampion's review
4.0
The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang is about a Hmong families journey from Laos to Saint Paul, Minnesota. It starts out in Laos told as Kalia's parents would of viewed it. Then the go to a refugee camp in Thailand where the girl telling the story is born and what it is like there. Then she tells about the journey from Thailand to the USA. For the rest of the book Kalia tells about her and her family's life in Minnesota and how it goes.
I really liked the book The Latehomecomer. It is a memoir. At first it was confusing on who was telling the story. I thought it was really descriptive though. Hear is an example of that:"Somewhere in the undertow, when her head was beneath the water, the heavy silver necklace slipped from her neck." I also thought the book is really deep. It took me a while to read. I recommend this book to people who like to read advanced books.
I really liked the book The Latehomecomer. It is a memoir. At first it was confusing on who was telling the story. I thought it was really descriptive though. Hear is an example of that:"Somewhere in the undertow, when her head was beneath the water, the heavy silver necklace slipped from her neck." I also thought the book is really deep. It took me a while to read. I recommend this book to people who like to read advanced books.
discoveringpeace's review
5.0
An gentle, moving memoir of tragedy, beauty, determination, and - most touching - family traditions. A book I suspect I'll never forget.
in2reading's review
3.0
Beautifully written memoir that straddles the author's young life in a Thai refugee camp with her family's move to America.
drsdon's review
5.0
I found this book, a family memoir of Hmong refugees as a result of the Vietnam War, enlightening and provocative. First, I had never heard of the Hmong connection with the Vietnam war, their assistance to US troops in Laos, and following US withdrawal, their persecution and attempted genocide. This book follows the story of the author's family as they escape from Laos into Thailand, where they stay at a refugee camp for several years before eventually moving to the US. The author is actually born in one of the refugee camps in Thailand and spends her first years there. That first hand, personal account of the conditions in those camps, the impact of fleeing one's homeland had on her family's cultural and spiritual beliefs (particularly her grandmother's), as well as the difficulty in adjusting to life in a new country, with sporadic support, is truly profound. I could not read this book without thinking to myself, every 10 minutes or so, how fortunate I am to be born in a place and time to not face such persecution due solely to the happenstance of my birth.
The book is an educational read, worthy of being read, to help raise awareness of a little known aspect of our country's involvement in the Vietnam War and how those that helped were also affected, and to raise a cultural awareness in the US about refugees, the conditions they often are fleeing from, and the promise that America can hold for many. Remembering that promise, for those of us who are descendants of immigrants (and perhaps refugees) long gone is worthwhile, for the perspective and mindfulness it may bring to current political and social issues.
The book is an educational read, worthy of being read, to help raise awareness of a little known aspect of our country's involvement in the Vietnam War and how those that helped were also affected, and to raise a cultural awareness in the US about refugees, the conditions they often are fleeing from, and the promise that America can hold for many. Remembering that promise, for those of us who are descendants of immigrants (and perhaps refugees) long gone is worthwhile, for the perspective and mindfulness it may bring to current political and social issues.
beckethm's review
4.0
A beautifully written memoir of the author's family's journey from Laos to Minnesota, via Thai refugee camps. I particularly appreciated her interweaving of Hmong folktales, which at times give the story a sort of magical realism feel, and which made me feel I had learned something new about Hmong culture. My only criticism of the book is that the author jumps very quickly from her arrival in the United States at age seven to her senior year in college, touching only briefly on what seems to have been a difficult high school experience. I would have liked to know more about the intervening years, how she managed to go from a child afraid to speak English to an accomplished writer, and the challenges she faced in moving from a working-class inner-city neighborhood (which happens to also be the neighborhood where I grew up) to one of the top private colleges in the country.