BOOK REVIEW

The Latehomecomer - A Memoir of the Hmong family

The Latehomecomer - A Memoir of the Hmong family

Introduction

Author

The author Kao Kalia Yang was born in Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand, in 1980; she immigrated by way of California, to Minnesota, when she was six years old. She graduated both from Carlton College and Columbia University. Published by Coffee House Press of Minneapolis, in 2008, this is her first book. This books sheds some light on the social conflicting questions, and more than that, through simply sharing day by day memories of a family who found themselves refugees, without a homeland, then strangers, in a strange land; this book does the great work of recording for all time what it was like.

Book Review

Most of the book, based on both the author's experiences and those shared by her parents, paternal grandmother, and other family members, is told from the point of view of a little girl. This makes the reading very innocent and sweet, as the reader with presumed adult knowledge can read between the lines. Later on when the author has grown to be a young woman in America, life is full of hope for the future, but that does not make living in poverty, and learning, and adjusting, any easier (McCall, 2008).

The surprising bit of trivia was that when the adults got to Minnesota and saw all the leafless trees they refused to believe it was a natural phenomenon; they thought the government had poisoned them to get rid of all the people. The book is like that; even when it is funny, it is sad. Author is especially close and concern about her grandmother, who did not want to come to America but had no choice when all her family left. There is an entire section devoted to grandma's funeral, which goes into great detail explaining the Hmong beliefs about birth, and death and the afterlife. This is not the memoir that gets concerned about facts and dates, although it has these; it is more concerned about the feelings of the people in situations.

 

Discussion on major issues of marginalization, oppression, discrimination, power and privilege

The book narrates the story in a social prospecting angle. When someone who has lived in Minnesota all her life, virtually in one place, meets people from a hot jungle country on the other side of the world to make their home here, she cannot help but wonder many things, “Why did they choose Minnesota? Is America all they hoped? How do we seem to them? Are they happy here?”

The family has gone through lots of turbulences throughout their refugee time as well getting settled in a strange place. They have to go through all the disparity factors in America. Most of the times they have go through major oppression and discrimination in the country (Kaiser, 2008). The story states that when the family reached at Ban Vanai Refugee Camp, the guards looked at them with disgust. They were unhappy to see so many of ...