内容简介

本书讲述了一个在美老挝裔家庭为女儿寻医治病的真实故事。黎亚一家是苗族难民，1980年从老挝移民到美国。黎亚大约三个月大时，突发癫痫，被母亲抱着来到默塞德医院求诊。不通苗语的急诊医生将黎亚误诊为“初期支气管肺炎”，开了药后便请他们离开。在以后的岁月中，黎亚频繁地进出医院，在被专业医生确诊后，她的情况依然不见好转。医生发现，黎亚的父母根本没有按指示给黎亚服药。

在苗族，癫痫被认为是一种光彩的病，代表此人受到神召，所以黎亚特别受父母疼爱。黎亚的父母更相信苗族传统的治疗方式，他们认为医生开的药不仅不能治病，反而会致病。在黎亚病情越发严重时，他们已经无法信任医生能够治好黎亚。

双方言语不通，所处的文化背景也不同，西方医学要“生命”，而苗族文化要“灵魂”，语言和文化的隔阂导致一次次医病沟通沦为徒劳。

作者一方面以温情细腻的语言记述故事经过，另一方面以人类学的笔法理性地论述在美苗族的民俗文化、过往经历与生活现状，两部分如蒙太奇般穿插进行，如纪录片般展现了一个关于生命与爱的故事，同时编织出一幅生动壮丽的群像。

作者简介

安妮·法迪曼（Anne Fadiman）

出身于美国纽约文学世家，1975年毕业于哈佛大学后在怀俄明州担任野外探险向导，后重回纽约写作。目前于耶鲁大学担任驻校作家，所开设的写作课以内涵丰富闻名，深受学生欢迎。2012年获耶鲁大学理查德·布洛德黑德奖之年度卓越教学奖。

法迪曼除了曾为《生活》杂志撰稿，也担任《文明》和《美国学人》杂志的主编。本书是她的第一本着作，第一次出手便赢得“美国国家书评人协会奖”等众多出版界重要殊荣。此外还出版有《书趣》（Ex Libris）、《闲话大小事》（At Large and At Small）等作品。

Content introduction

This book tells the true story of a Laotian family in the United States seeking medical treatment for their daughter. Leah's family is a Hmong refugee who immigrated to the United States from Laos in 1980. When Leah was about three months old, she had a seizure and was carried to Merced Hospital by her mother. The emergency doctor, who did not speak the Miao language, misdiagnosed Li Ya with "early bronchopneumonia", prescribed medicine and asked them to leave. In the following years, Li Ya frequently in and out of the hospital, after being diagnosed by professional doctors, her condition still did not improve. The doctor found that Li Ya's parents did not give Li Ya the medication as instructed.

In the Miao people, epilepsy is considered to be a glorious disease, representing that the person is called by God, so Li Ya is particularly loved by his parents. Li's parents put more faith in the traditional Miao way of healing, believing that the medicine prescribed by doctors could not cure the disease, but actually cause disease. As Liya's condition worsened, they could no longer trust the doctors to cure her.

The two sides do not speak the same language and live in different cultural backgrounds. Western medicine needs "life", while Miao culture needs "soul". The estrangement of language and culture leads to futile communication between doctors and patients.

On the one hand, the author describes the story in tender and delicate language, and on the other hand, he rationally discusses the folk culture, past experience and living situation of the Miao people in the United States with anthropological writing. The two parts are interwoven like a montage, showing a story about life and love like a documentary, and weaving a vivid and magnificent group image.

About the author

By Anne Fadiman

Born in a New York literary family, he graduated from Harvard University in 1975 and worked as a wilderness guide in Wyoming before returning to New York to write. He is currently a writer-in-residence at Yale University, where his writing courses are well known for their rich content and are well received by students. In 2012, he received the Richard Broadhead Award for Excellence in Teaching of the Year from Yale University.

In addition to writing for Life magazine, Fadiman also served as editor in chief of Civilization and The American Magazine. This book is her first work, the first time to win the "National Society of Book Reviewers Award" and many other important awards in the publishing industry. He also published "Ex Libris" and "At Large and At Small."