4.0
Where Rivers Part
By Kao Kalia YangPublisher Description
This powerful memoir about a Hmong family’s epic journey to safety is a profound “testament to the miraculous strength of women and the indomitable resolve of the human spirit” (Cristina Henríquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans).
Born in 1961 in war-torn Laos, Tswb’s childhood was marked by the violence of America’s Secret War and the CIA recruitment of the Hmong and other ethnic minorities into the lost cause. By the time Tswb was a teenager, the US had completely vacated Laos, and the country erupted into genocidal attacks on the Hmong people, who were labeled as traitors. Fearing for their lives, Tswb and her family left everything they knew behind and fled their village for the jungle.
Perpetually on the run and on the brink of starvation, Tswb eventually crossed paths with the man who would become her future husband. Leaving her own mother behind, she joined his family at a refugee camp, a choice that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Eventually becoming a mother herself, Tswb raised her daughters in a state of constant fear and hunger until they were able to emigrate to the US, where the determined couple enrolled in high school even though they were both nearly thirty and worked grueling jobs to provide for their children.
Now, her daughter, Kao Kalia Yang, reveals her mother’s astonishing saga with tenderness and clarity, giving voice to the countless resilient refugees who are often overlooked as one of the essential foundations of this country. “Haunting and painfully relevant” (Booklist), Where Rivers Part is destined to become a classic.
Born in 1961 in war-torn Laos, Tswb’s childhood was marked by the violence of America’s Secret War and the CIA recruitment of the Hmong and other ethnic minorities into the lost cause. By the time Tswb was a teenager, the US had completely vacated Laos, and the country erupted into genocidal attacks on the Hmong people, who were labeled as traitors. Fearing for their lives, Tswb and her family left everything they knew behind and fled their village for the jungle.
Perpetually on the run and on the brink of starvation, Tswb eventually crossed paths with the man who would become her future husband. Leaving her own mother behind, she joined his family at a refugee camp, a choice that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Eventually becoming a mother herself, Tswb raised her daughters in a state of constant fear and hunger until they were able to emigrate to the US, where the determined couple enrolled in high school even though they were both nearly thirty and worked grueling jobs to provide for their children.
Now, her daughter, Kao Kalia Yang, reveals her mother’s astonishing saga with tenderness and clarity, giving voice to the countless resilient refugees who are often overlooked as one of the essential foundations of this country. “Haunting and painfully relevant” (Booklist), Where Rivers Part is destined to become a classic.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities6 Reviews
4.0
Molly
Created 2 months agoShare
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“4.5 stars
A Hmong daughter retells her mother’s life, from growing up in Laos, fleeing their village during the genocidal attacks on their people, hiding in the jungle for years, surviving resettlement camps in Thailand, and her eventual move to Minnesota.
Ultimately, this is a story about the bonds of family, most notably the unending love of mothers.”
Sam
Created 3 months agoShare
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“I don’t think I could give this anything than four stars, simply because the writing is so beautiful.
I do feel obliged to warn any future readers about the cultural misogyny throughout the pages of this book, which is never acknowledged. The author analyzes the relationship between her father and mother through detached and passive lenses. Tswb continues to have children throughout the entire book, even after she has access to birth control, despite her bloody and painful miscarriages. The fact that she apparently cannot refuse her husband’s advances is never touched on or explored.”
Sarah S
Created 4 months agoShare
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Kathy
Created 5 months agoShare
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The Farmer's Wife
Created 6 months agoShare
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About Kao Kalia Yang
Kao Kalia Yang was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and came to America at the age of six. She is the author of The Latehomecomer, The Song Poet, Yang Warriors, and most recently, Where Rivers Part. She also coedited What God Is Honored Here? and is the author of a collective memoir about refugee lives called Somewhere in the Unknown World. Find out more at KaoKaliaYang.com.
Other books by Kao Kalia Yang
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