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Yang immigrated to Minnesota when she was six. Her memoir recounts the family‘s journey from the war torn jungles of Laos to a refugee camp in Thailand and their transition to life in the US. A very personal family memoir it also gives voice to the Hmong community, folklore, and culture.

Adjusting to the new normal... Mornings are dedicated to relaxing with a book and music before I head to my desk to work from home ❤ #socialdistancing

After reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, I was curious to learn more about the Hmong people and "The Secret War." This memoir chronicles the Yang family's escape from Laos into a refugee camp in Thailand (where the author was born) to resettlement in Minnesota. The contrast in cultures and values was stark as the parents as the family tried to make the United States home, even if it's not where the ancestors are buried. ⤵️

I listened to this on audiobook it was narrated by the author it is beautifully written and read, a powerful story of a young woman and her memories of her grandmother, mother, and family. You learn about how much family can influence your life even with all the pain.

Rewritten history (again).
"In American history we learned of the Vietnam War. We read about guerilla warfare and the Vietcong. The Ho Chi Minh Trail and communism and democracy and Americans and Vietnamese. There were no Hmong - as if we hadn't existed at all in America's eyes."
Most of the Hmong here in MN came as refugees because they fought with Americans in the Vietnam war.
Kao Kalia Yang's book is a good telling of the Hmong refugee story.