The Hungry Season: A Journey of War, Love, and Survival

by Lisa M. Hamilton

In the tradition of Katherine Boo and Tracy Kidder, a deeply reported drama ranging from the mist-covered mountains of Laos to the sunbaked flatlands of Fresno, California, tracing one woman’s quest to overcome the wounds inflicted by war and family alike​.

As combat rages across the lush highlands of Vietnam and Laos, a child is born. Ia Moua enters life at the bottom of her world’s social order, both because she is part of Laos’s Hmong minority and because she is female. But when brutal communist rule upends her life and strips Ia of all she loves, this young girl resolves to chart her own defiant path. With ceaseless ambition and an indestructible spirit, Ia builds a new life for herself and, before long, for her children, first in the refugee camps of Thailand and then in the industrial heartland of California’s San Joaquin Valley. At the root of her success is a simple growing rice just as her ancestors did. When she gains power and independence, however, Ia must confront all that she left behind—and find a place in her heart for those who left her.

Meticulously reported over seven years and written with the intimacy of a novel, The Hungry Season is an unforgettable tale about hard-won survival and the nourishment that matters most.
 

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, War, History, Audiobook, Book Club

368 pages, Hardcover

Published September 26, 2023

About the author

For more than ten years, writer and photographer Lisa M. Hamilton has been telling stories of farmers in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her work has been published in National Geographic Traveler, Harper's Magazine, The Nation, Orion, and Gastronomica. She lives in Northern California."

Reviews

[Mai H.]

Non-fiction November TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Just a quick note: I wrote a review earlier this week, and when I went to edit it, I must have pushed the wrong button because the whole review disappeared. I'm going to try to recreate it now. If you read it before, this is why it is now slightly changed.)

I participated in the Hachette Publishers fall brunch event via Zoom. This author, Lisa M. Hamilton, was one of four non-fiction writers on a panel discussing their recent publications. I latched on to this particular book over the others because I am interested in the Hmong and Laotian cultures. Also, as an educator in California, I met many wonderful people from that part of the world. Their stories interested me.

In this book, we meet an interesting main character, Ia, whose life story is unique. Her determination, strength, persistence, and dedication to her family showed at a very early age and has carried her successfully from the land where she was born to a successful (albeit fraught) farming endeavor near Fresno. There, she pulled traditional strains of rice from the unforgiving soil despite harsh temperatures and water shortages. The story of how she prevailed--as a daughter, wife, mother, and business woman--is rich and detailed and particular to this one fascinating woman.

Anyone who has an interest in stories from the Laotian, Hmong, Thai, and Vietnamese cultures will find this book very engaging. I would give it a 4.5 if that option were available.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hungry Season is a biography about the incredible life of Ia Moua, a member of the Hmong people who was born in Laos, fled to Thailand and then settles in Fresno, California with her husband and 11 children. In California, Ia becomes a rice farmer and struggles with the risks and uncertainties inherent to farming.

This book is very well researched. I learned a lot about the history of the US and Laotian Civil War and the ensuing challenges that the Hmong people faced. I also really enjoyed learning about rice cultivation. Ia’s story is fascinating, and her bravery is inspiring.

As I was reading the book, I struggled to understand who was narrating the book and why many of Ia’s 11 children are not involved in her adult life. The book paints a very negative picture of Ia’s brother who continues to live in Laos but then he is thanked in the acknowledgements. He was interviewed, but was he given a chance to review the manuscript? Was Ia given a chance to review the manuscript? I fully recognize that the language barrier is a challenge, but I really hope that Ia and her family feel comfortable with the portrayal of the family. This is my own opinion and I still recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read other books about the Hmong population, but appreciated this individual narrative for the heartfelt depiction of resilience and hope after a looming shadow of tribulation. The book exposes a need for greater services for traumatized immigrants. I gave the book four stars because it felt repetitive at times (e.g. Laos was compared to the size of the state of Utah three different times) and would likely have been as powerful if it were a bit shorter.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I love learning about the Hmong people, and this is by far the best book I have read in terms of balancing history, individual effects and ability to understand the nuances of the culture.

[librarylovestory · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Hungry Season is the story of Ia, a Hmong girl born in Laos during the war. This is a work of non-fiction retelling Ia's life, from her childhood in Laos, her escape to Thailand as a refugee, and her pursuit for freedom in the United States. The Hungry Season is also an intergenerational story of hard work, of love, of forgiveness, of culture and traditions.

This is an excellent book for those with an interest in history. Unfortunately, I found it rather difficult to read this historical recounting of a story through the third person. However, I did learn a lot about the history of Laos and the Hmong.

The Hungry Season released on September 26, 2023 and is now available for purchase.

🙏 Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the gifted electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1964 Ia Moua is born in Laos. Her entire life her country has been at war with Vietnam but it didn't directly affect her much as her family lived higher in the mountains where they grew "dry" rice in their small village. When Ia is 13 she finds out that her parents have promised her in marriage to a much older man. Unhappy about this, she decides to marry on her own secretly to Chou Lor a local villager who is 16. This is not a marriage for love but the only way Ia can have any say in her own future. Not long after they are married the conflict comes closer and they are forced to leave their village and attempt to flee to Thailand. Ia tries to get her parents and younger brother to come with them but they are separated - Ia will never see her father again and it will be 20+ years before she sees her mother again. Ia gives birth to 8 children over 15 years in a Thai refugee camp before the family is able to move to the US. Here they have more opportunity but also encounter enormous challenges including racism, language and cultural barriers, poverty, and separation from extended family. With no English and limited skills, Ia finds land and starts cultivating rice - the rice she grew up eating and this becomes what bridges Laos and America for her and the displaced Hmong community living in the US.

I thought this would be a cool story of this immigrant woman who makes it to the US against crazy odds and finds success growing rice that connects her to her Laotian history. But, Ia's story while remarkable is extremely sad and depressing. Her husband was a dick and cheated on her throughout their marriage. Her family back in Laos saw her as "rich" because she was living in the US and constantly asked her for money. When they would go back to Laos and provide a huge feast Ia and the other women would still eat last because women are at the bottom culturally in Laos. Damn if I would come back and feed all these people and still be last to eat! Her younger brother was also a dick who expected her to fund his whole life while he laid around barely doing anything. Her farming in the US was also frustrating because she used SO MANY chemicals because the area was not really suited for farming at all - especially rice. She often would source illegal chemicals because they "worked better." I wouldn't be surprised if the health issues she and her husband both suffered from were 50% from the trauma they endured before coming to the US and 50% the chemicals they were exposing themselves to in their farming.

I think this book does a great job of highlighting just how hard being an immigrant is. Ia and Chou Lor escaped a war zone, lived for 15 years in a refugee camp (they had to wait for his father to die because he didn't want to come to the US where men weren't at the top of the social/cultural hierarchy), and very much struggled to acclimate to living in the US. Ia lives in two worlds - she still believed the Laotian customs and continued to live by those cultural standards in many ways but she was also almost single-handedly pulling her huge family out of poverty in the US by finding ways for all of them to work together and make it. Overall, I do think she is an interesting and inspirational person but this was not a fun read by any stretch.

Some quotes I liked:

"There was a postal service of sorts, but neither Ia nor her mother knew how to read or write. Now, with the purchase of these recorders, there would be a delicate magnetic tape like an umbilical cord pulsing across the Mekong...Her mother was too poor to buy new cassettes; each time, she would record over her daughter's message and send the tape back that way. But Ia bought a new one every time, so that she could keep the recordings her mother had sent. On days when Ia missed her the most, she would play back an old cassette." (p. 94-95)

"In fact, they had received their initial clearance for resettlement as soon as they arrived at Ban Vinai [the Thai refugee camp], in 1979. Because Ia's father-in-law refused to go - and no one dared defy him - they gave their registration materials to a relative...For older men, not the least important of these elements was the accepted hierarchy that placed them at the top of an immovable pyramid...without translatable skills, these men who had always been self-sufficient farmers became financially dependent on government handouts. How without English, they became socially dependent on their grandchildren to communicate with the larger world. Should those men sign the resettlement papers and board a plane, what remained of the traditional power structure would crumble, and they would be lost in the rubble." (p. 105-106)

"After roughly a year [of adult school for refugees], he was deemed work-ready and placed at a McDonald's. He washed dishes, cleaned the deep fryer, scrubbed the bathrooms, and mopped the floors. For the first three months, the state paid his wages. After that, the paychecks stopped, even as Chou Lor continued working five days a week and was transferred to a new location across town. He didn't understand the system well enough to know this was not right, much less to protest or ask for his back pay. Instead, assuming that working for free was the requirement so that his family of eleven could continue to receive public assistance, he just kept showing up. This went on for a year, until one day the manager called him into the office. No one had taught Chou Lor how to use the time clock, and since there was no record of his having punched in and out for his shifts, the manager accused him of having skipped work. He was fired." (p. 115) [Even though Chou Lor was a dick this makes me hate McDonald's even more - he worked for free for a year and you think they didn't know?!]

"The rice was a medium for memory, a spiritual bridge on which her heart could walk across all that longing and return to when she was with them both in person. It happened when the first green shoots poked through the soil, then when the leaves grew thick and the wind rushed through them. When the plants miraculously flowered and then fill out the stomach of each little grain, the past that felt so far away came surging back...At the farm, she could touch them again - almost. And there was the bittersweetness: the rice brought her closer to them, while at the same time clarifying just how far away each of them really was." (p. 130)

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long maintained that immigrants to this country are far stronger than the average American. They have endured countless heartaches from situations like poverty, war and loss that by and large we know nothing about. For the chance of a safer life they uproot from their communities and undertake perilous journeys fraught with danger and complexity. Many of them become bilingual, something many of us do not have. And yet they are relegated to the lowest paying jobs when they arrive.

Through years of conversations with a Hmong rice farmer, the author tells a rich story.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled on this one playing a bit of Kindle-roulette when choosing my next read early last week. This is a non-fiction story is about the Hmong people from Laos who are forced to flee their country following the American withdrawl of military support shortly after the end of the Vietnam War. After forced conscription under a previous leader, the Hmong people find themselves on the wrong side of the new leader and it is proving to be a very dangerous time to live in Laos. The story follows the life of Ai (also named Ia) who grows up as one of the youngest in her family and female, but is also a very efficient and effective business person, even from her first business venture, farming opium, at age 11. Unfortunately, due to her gender and status, she must figure out how to avoid becoming the third wife to a much older man she is arranged to marry, and in the end regrets who she quickly elopes with as a young teen. Somehow Ia and her husband survive (as does their rocky relationship) first, an escape to Thailand, then decades in an under-equipped and over crowded refugee camp, and finally to the United States where they manage to raise 11 children. All through the story we see Ia's persistent resiliency and motivation for a better future in everything she does, despite almost killing herself in many dangerous situations. It's a gruelling story but also a remarkable one!

This book is described as reading like a novel, and at times I would agree, but at others it very much feels like a historical text. I appreciated the background about the history, culture, geography and political information, as I went into this with almost no prior knowledge, but at times it was a bit excessive. I also felt like the first 1/3 or so of the book was the most interesting, her time trying to survive in Laos and Thailand. When I was about 35% in I thought, "what could the rest of this book even be about? It's already 2016!" I'm not sure if it was that the book was too long, if the second half of the book just was dragged out, or if there was just too much detail throughout, but I did find that my interest in the book dropped off as I went through it. I am glad I read it though, as I learned a lot about a time in history and a culture that I know very little about. The writing is extremely detailed and easy to follow and the author clearly is well researched and created a thorough retelling of this incredible woman's story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this book!

[Ameena Goodine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, intimate and powerful story of one womans journey through life.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story about an immigrant family from Laos and the struggles they face.

[Rose Perron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book, deep elotionà and raw. Loved it.

[Kaolee Anwar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up not knowing the spiritual side and the true understanding of what my parents and my people went through in the motherland. This was a well researched book and gives me a better appreciation to my parents who fought their way here to the U.S.

[Sharon Dene · Rating 5 out of 5]

One amazing book this woman went through so much at a very young age and handle it very well and she kept herself going somehow. LA Was part of the HMO. N. G. Society in laos. She had to do a lot of the work. And she was a girl and not a boy. So she had a lot of struggles and she was determined to get on with her life. When she turned thirteen, her family tried to marry her off to a man who is much older. But she won't against the green and married. A man who was not very good for her or very kind to her, but she did it anyway.. So she was forced to leave Her clan and move in with his family. There was a lot of war going on during this time. So eventually they had to make their way to thailand. She had to leave her family behind. And they survived in a cave until they could get to thailand. She was very resourceful and trying to keep her family alive. She was a very strong woman because she also gave birth to her baby in an alleyway. When she reached Thailand they had practically no money. Because she had to sell her gold bars to keep her child alive. She did everything to keep everybody going And she Did embroidery on fabrics and this bought Some money into the family. She also found a way to make tofu to sell to the hospitals. Her husband beat her the second time. She wanted to get a divorce but she stayed on one condition if he did not hit her again then. She somehow got to America with her all her family and she tried really hard. It was a struggle but she found a way to make money again. She started to grow Rice little-by-little By little-by-little, she made the special rice. And these people really respected her for. This type of Rice was put aside and it was a special time in October, and this was to get through the winter and they would get dressed app in their clothes and it was a happy time for them.. She showed a lot of courage and how she got through all this. I have no idea. I learned a lot about their culture. And it's very interesting how they're very spiritual and how they talk to people in the dead.. She was also ashamed so people would come to her for advice and what to do if people got sick. This book would be a great book for history class. Because then you could understand what these people went through and how they had to leave a lot behind.

[Donia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is one of the most difficult books for which I have attempted to write a review. I believe it is well written and very well researched too but the Vietnam "conflict" affected much of my life, my parents and siblings and basically everything happening in my younger years. What I am trying to question is whether or not I am too saturated with the topic to appreciate a large part of this book. Never the less, I shall attempt a review. Here are my thoughts. Had the story of Ia been told without all the history of the various armed invasions I believe it would have been easier to read but I got bogged down in certain sections. Additionally though I understand the causes and had nothing to do with the author's writing it irritated me all while I read that the woman whom this story is about kept producing a new baby every year. All while she and her children are starving to death while hiding in the forest she and her husband keep producing a new baby every year. As a native of California I participated in many anti war protests in the 1960's and 1970's and as a local I also was involved in helping with the resettlement of refugee families that the US took in following the decades of war that took place in Southeast Asia. My next door neighbors were hard working Vietnam refugees.

Author Hamilton does a very good job describing how the protagonist "IA" perseveres through the many decades of famine, terror of war and the death of loved ones loss as well as the pain of eventually being forced to leave her beloved country and clansmen.

There is much explanation highlighting "Ia's" religious beliefs in animism and the author explains in great detail the absolutely incredible drive found in this uneducated peasant to overcome adversity and make something for herself and her children.

I think my overall issue with the book is that the book provides too much detail about the history of war in South East Asia. I found the "lectures" interspersed with the story annoyed me but that is simply my bias. Others may not find this so. And last, though it has nothing to do with the author maybe my issue with this book is the fact that all the time I was reading it I wanted to scream and yell "why don't you stop having babies?!?!?!" I understand why but it still bugs me. So that is my fractured review.

[Laura Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the biography of a Hmong woman — Ai — born in Laos in 1964. It covers her life journey from Laotian hill dweller through years of war to a Thai refugee camp to a (more or less) successful rice farmer in Fresno. Told in a memoir style, Hamilton does a decent job of telling the story the way she hears it from Ai (through an interpreter as Ai cannot read or write in any language, or speak any English). There is no novel-like narrative arc that makes sense of the various pieces, and the reader is left with many questions about basic aspects of her life — like what happened to her eleven children?? But this is what makes it more interesting — this really is Ai’s story the way she thinks about it — not the way Hamilton might have framed it. Therefore there is no agenda, no political commentary, and no call to action. On the one hand, I was left with the question of “What am I supposed to do with this information?” But, on the other hand, I realized I’m not supposed to do anything with it: It’s a recollection of a specific woman’s life as she told it. Specifically, the memoir of an illiterate woman who would not be penning one of her own. It’s rare to be able to encounter that kind of verisimilitude.

I learned a lot about the huge impact of the Vietnam War on Laos, quite a bit about the Hmong — their culture, sense of identity and belonging and utter disassociation with the countries they live in — and quite a bit about rice farming. In Ai’s personal story is plenty of matter-of-fact detail about what it is like for a girl to grow up in what I would call a primitive and truly patriarchal society as well as the personal and confusing experience of immigration bureaucracy. I have no idea how similar Ai’s story is to stories from other Hmong refugees, but Ai was driven and the various ways she seized opportunities when others did not was very telling. I was fascinated by the way she viewed the different people in her life. Both alien and intriguing.

I found it surprisingly easy to read, even though it didn’t appear at first to be something that would hold my interest. The style was a bit dry, but utterly authentic.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a disappointing finish after a really strong start. I would easily rate the portion of the book set in Laos a 5, but after Ia arrived in the US the story was crazily skewed to a very limited portion of her life. She had either 10 or 11 children, but only a few are even mentioned in the book. I’m not sure why all the details of their school lives was missing . Ia’s older daughter was 15 when she immigrated. Did she learn to read & write in either Thailand or the US? Where did her kids go to school? Did she go to conferences and have her kids translate? She has (lots) of grandchildren, but only the one her son took away from his Laotian wife is mentioned by name. There was excruciating detail about one son and his Matt to a Laotian cousin and about the rice harvest, but so many details were missing the story seemed incomplete. Ia’s friends came to help her harvest rice, but where did she even meet them or interact with the during the rest of the year. One trip back to Laos has too much detail and another one Ia took with 4(all?) of her daughters was only mentioned in passing and we get no idea of how any of them felt. Multiple farm lunches are detailed, but I don’t think one family mean is even reference.
This book could have been a much more complete picture of Ia’s life. It just seemed like the reported showed up a few days every year and wrote about those days and forgot about the rest of Ia’s life.So much promise….
To compare this book to Katherine Boo’s BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS , which is one of my favorites is ridiculous. This book in no way compares.

[T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received ARC for honest review

The first few pages immediately got my attention. To be someone of similar background, I felt that this hit close to home. With immigrant parents, it’s hard to not imagine them in the same situation – searching and surviving for the sake of building a better tomorrow for your family. I would say not many people know about the Hmong people and this showcases just a few of the struggles this group of people had to endured. Being plucked from your home in the midst of war wasn’t ever what anyone wanted to happen to them, but the war in Vietnam brough about many refugees marching on foot to reach Thailand in hopes of securing their future. If you have met any of the older Hmong generation, you know their story all share one goal: escape the war. Whether they were soldiers, victims, or refugees, war changed the course of their lives forever. For Ia, it was in many different ways but coming to California and building her own life was what seemingly became her constant. But even if California has more life to offer, it definitely isn’t short of life challenges. From here on, we see a community laboring to put food on the table. Conversations about everything and anything are shared from person to person as well as reminiscing old memories, but one that often comes up are the struggles of surviving daily life. Nonetheless, we get a glimpse of Ia’s world as it paints a bigger picture of what life is – past and present.

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waffling between a 3.5-4* rating.

This was an interesting listen, from the perspective that I did not know much about the war in Laos, and people fleeing to Thailand as a result. I know of the Hmong people, but not much about their traditions, customs, social order, socio-economics, hierarchy within the family, social expectations amongst their people, managing the spirit world, etc.

Ia has an incredible survival spirit - surviving as an orphan (as she calls it), deciding to pick a husband vs one being chosen for her (in hindsight maybe not the best choice), integrating into a new clan once she got married, making her way to a new country knowing she'll most likely never see her parents again, always figuring out how to make money, trying to figure out what happened to her parents, and later her clever way to stay in contact with her mom through cassette tapes since neither learned how to read. All while delivering a total of eleven children over the years. Ia has to start over in Laos, again in a Thai refugee camp, and then once again in California, being subjected to racism along the way. I admire her tenacity - and responsibility (a lot of it imposed) - to make life better for everyone.

Admittingly, I was surprised by the constant demand for money from her family, including her children, but especially her brother. The book at times was repetitive. I listened to the audio book, read by the author, and found Hamilton's voice soothing and words well spoken.

[Farinosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Hungry Season: A Journey of War, Love, and Survival" is a poignant and heartfelt narrative that intricately weaves the personal struggles of Ia, a child born amidst the chaos of a brutal civil war in Vietnam and Laos. The author's labor of love is evident in the meticulous detailing of Ia's upbringing and the harrowing experiences that uprooted her family. The first half of the book reads like an epic bildungsroman, providing not only a deep dive into Ia's formative years but also shedding light on a lesser-known history of the Vietnam War, offering insights that were previously vague to an American audience born during this period.

The second half of the book shifts gears, revealing a California that is more hidden, exploring the challenges of assimilation and the search for identity in a foreign land. The narrative seamlessly blends the past and present, as Ia navigates through cultural barriers, personal loss, and the quest for a sense of belonging. Hamilton’s storytelling prowess is on full display, as she skillfully depicts the resilience of Ia’s exceptional spirit in the face of constant struggle. Overall, "The Hungry Season" is a compelling read that not only educates about a collective and forgotten history but the personal power of persistence and reinvention.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A monumental piece of admirable reporting on a most admirable person. This book makes the travels and travails of the fictional Joad family look like a holiday vacation. Besides telling about Ia's life, it taught me a lot about rice-farming, the politics of southeast Asia and the recent experience of immigrants to the US. The goodreads bookjacket refers aptly to Katherine Boo and to Tracy Kidder's Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness Another comparable is Theodore Rosengarten's All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers the entire lifespan of a woman, across war, cultures, and continents. Having done so, I felt it kept pace each step of the way, almost finding myself bewildered when we reached Trump and Biden so fluently.

The author did an excellent job of explaining what was happening through a cultural lens to a Millennial Westerner like me who would not culturally grasp concepts otherwise. The impact of marriage in Laos, what the death of a father means to a child, spiritual practices, etc. All of the cultural education given along the way felt perfectly interwoven to each situation, not scholastic and unnecessarily dense.

I felt Ia's story was served simply, without judgement, and made me feel as if it could be one of hundreds of stories to be told that might not be so different. And most of all- it's not over.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's quite impressive that the author, Lisa Hamilton, set out to write a book about rice and ended up with the in-depth narrative of Ia Moua, a Hmong woman, her family, and the Diaspora of the Hmong people. It is a fascinating and intimate telling of this history that she researched over 7 years and almost entirely through an interpreter! The Hmong are a farming people. Rice holds a particular importance for them - nutritionally and spiritually. Having traveled in Laos and SE Asia and having taught Hmong students during my career, I appreciated the opportunity to know more in depth of their struggle. Immigrants to this country do not an easy go of it. So many roadblocks - language, culture, the political machine. My heart is so grateful for the hard work that many immigrants contribute to our society. Highly recommend!

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up for the initiative and various endurance quotients. Well done. But still a chore to read as so much wartime logistics and SW Asian history of those exact periods lead to intermittent factual lecturing. Cruel and stark reality abounds in this voice. Not at all a fan of the chopped writing style which also left quite a few voids while also at the same time was loaded with repetitions and redundancy of the same exact information. Narrator voice seemed murky too for some sections and the prose flow is poor. Maybe 1.5 stars. It makes you question to yourself while reading- why not "this or that" told? These voids make this book closer to 2 stars at various points.

What truly came across is the devotion and group think of Hmong culture/ family identity too. Rice farming cored Hmong cognition. That is superbly demonstrated in each period and place.

[Jane Considine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story follows in great detail the life of a young girl in Laos as she matures, marries and has a large family. It is a story of heartbreak, but also of courage, love and loyalty. Moua was born in the mountainous highlands of Laos where she was at the bottom of the ladder: poor, uneducated and female. She and her family and new husband fled for Thailand and it was there she lived in a refuge camp. Eventually she was able to get to the U.S. and worked in the San Joaquin valley packing chicken. Eventually she was able to start growing, harvesting and selling rice, roasted to such perfection that loyal customers brought a level of financial success she had only dreamed possible. The book provided great insight into the world that faced refugees from Vietnam and Laos.

[Eugenie Ma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was well written and I loved how Lisa provided political context within the narrative. However, some parts of the story became a bit repetitive. This is a solid read for those who enjoy imagery. I would prefer to learn more about all of IA's kids + other clan members. However, I can understand that it's difficult for people to share their most vulnerable parts of themselves. Lisa might've also ran into difficulties with tracking down clan members.

For what it's worth, it was a fun read but keep in mind that Lisa (probably) had no prior connection with the Hmong community before writing this book. Would love to see how these stories would turn out if it wasn't written by a Caucasian woman.

[Janeel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps it's common, but I find it quite self serving and ridiculous that the author would publish the book before having it translated for the individual whom the entire book treads on. It took the author over 7 years to write it, so there was clearly no rush. She may have represented Ia satisfactorily to Ia, but the point is that Ia should have been able to have the opportunities to know what was written about her BEFORE the entire country did. Hamilton pointed the finger at funds, or lack thereof, which makes no sense, as she publicly boasts having paid the book's transcriber a very generous amount to have the information translated into English. Should it not be just as important to have it translated into the main characters' language?

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the story of Ia Moua, a Hmong woman, as told to the author. Ia Moua cannot read or write in any language and cannot speak English well. Her story was told to the author via translation. Ia was born in northern Laos in 1964, so she endured many phases of the wars in Indochina (Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia). Her family lived in the mountains and grew rice for subsistence rather than for sale. When they became refugees - forced to leave their mountain home and then forced to leave Laos and go to a Thai refugee camp, it was rice growing that helped save Ia's life. Even in Fresno, California, she farmed rice.
This is an exceptional story of survival and has been excellently researched and written. I highly recommend it.

[Boston64329 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well written biography. It could be considered a tragedy but it is more the life of a woman from Laos who learned to overcome obstacles. She is an inspiration for her determination to succeed. This in a society, Laotian, where women are considered to be subservient. It seems oxymoronic that in her subservience she prepared meals, created clothing and earned a living in support of her family spread throughout the world. I wondered why the others in her family couldn't make it on their own.
A great read.

[Knewmyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Ia was born in the same year as me, 1964, and our lives could not have been more different: when she was 12 years old she was farming opium, when I was 12 I was babysitting so I could buy records. I don't think I would have survived what she want through. I hate to make this all about me, but I couldn't help comparing myself to her. I also learned so much about the war in Laos, which I am ignorant about. Also learned so much about farming and Hmong immigrants. I was struck by the plight of the Hmong as they sought refuge in Thailand. Their story is eerily similar to the current genocide in Gaza.