Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang - Available

The Latehomecomer

A Hmong Family Memoir

by Kao Kalia Yang
Kao Yang
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 2 copies available
In the 70s and 80s, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to the United States-all in search of a new place to call home. Decades later, their experiences remain largely unknown. Kao Kalia Yang was driven to tell her own family's story after her grandmother's death. The Latehomecomer is a tribute to that grandmother, a remarkable woman whose spirit held her family together through their imprisonment in Laos, their narrow escape into Thailand's Ban Vinai Refugee Camp, their immigration to St. Paul when Yang was only six years old, and their transition to life in America. It is also an eloquent, firsthand account of a people who have worked hard to make their voices heard in their adopted homeland.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 10, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781611744507
      • File size: 272326 KB
      • Duration: 09:27:20

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 890
    • Text Difficulty: 4-5

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      While Kao Yang's narration of her memoir is a bit flat, there's still something spellbinding about hearing her describe in her own voice how her family, like many other Hmong people, faced persecution and displacement following the Vietnam War. The family endured a harrowing escape from the jungles of Laos to a refugee camp in Thailand and ultimately settled in St. Paul, Minnesota, where their struggles were far from over. Yang has chronicled their experiences in a poignant memoir that provides a glimpse of Hmong history and culture and ultimately pays homage to her beloved grandmother, the family matriarch. It's a remarkable story of Hmong endurance and family love. In the end, she needs no narrative embellishments to hold the listener rapt. S.E.G. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from January 21, 2008
      Yang, cofounder of the immigrant-services company Words Wanted, was born in a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand in 1980. Her grandmother had wanted to stay in the camp, to make it easier for her spirit to find its way back to her birthplace when she died, but people knew it would soon be liquidated. America looked promising, so Yang and her family, along with scores of other Hmong, left the jungles of Thailand to fly to California, then settle in St. Paul, Minn. In many ways, these hardworking refugees followed the classic immigrant arc, with the adults working double jobs so the children could get an education and be a credit to the community. But the Hmong immigrants were also unique—coming from a non-Christian, rain forest culture, with no homeland to imagine returning to, with hardly anyone in America knowing anything about them. As Yang wryly notes, they studied the Vietnam War at school, without their lessons ever mentioning that the Hmong had been fighting for the Americans. Yang tells her family's story with grace; she narrates their struggles, beautifully weaving in Hmong folklore and culture. By the end of this moving, unforgettable book, when Yang describes the death of her beloved grandmother, readers will delight at how intimately they have become part of this formerly strange culture.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:890
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

Loading