I Begin My Life All Over: The Hmong and the American Immigrant Experience

by Lillian Faderman

I Begin My Life All Over is an oral history of 36 real-life strangers in a strange land, an intimate study of the immigrant experience in contemporary America.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, History, Anthropology, Sociology, Asian American

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 1998

About the author

Lillian Faderman is an internationally known scholar of lesbian history and literature, as well as ethnic history and literature. Among her many honors are six Lambda Literary Awards, two American Library Association Awards, and several lifetime achievement awards for scholarship. She is the author of The Gay Revolution and the New York Times Notable Books, Surpassing the Love of Men and Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers. (photo by Donn R. Nottage)

Reviews

[Pa Houa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book and learning more about how Hmong people felt trying to start over in the US and also learning about how Hmong people got here in the USA. It was an excellent book, very well written and lots of interviews from many different Hmong people. I highly recommend it to others who would want to know more about the Hmong people and how they think, and what they went through to get here as well as how they learned to adapt to the new culture in the US.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book about the Hmong people and their lives in Laos and in the USA. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty good. Author could have looked into the history of the Hmong more and not put her own history in the book. She seems to have used the refugees oral history rather than looked a little more deeply.

[Dioscita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is dovetailing nicely with Kao Kalia Yang's family memoir, The Latehomecomer which I also enjoyed. Faderman's book is a collection of narratives (also very appealing to me) that are engaging and fast. My only complaint and the reason for 4 stars and not 5 is that Faderman doesn't seem to be very thoughtful about her assumptions or the ways she takes certain things for granted as "normal" when her narrators don't. Her lack of care in this area tends to "other" her storytellers, make them foreign, when it could as easily be seen that her views are just as foreign depending on the context (or the viewer). Otherwise, a delight.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was kind of slow, but then with some topics it picked up. It's set in a narrative tone, meaning Hmong people were interviewed and they have short stories about certain topics. It was interesting and sad to learn how one generation of Hmong, when they came to America, how they felt trapped because they never learned English so they were afraid to even leave their houses because they couldn't understand street signs and their children who were born in America, wanted to be a part of the American lifestyle, but their parents were fearful of their children losing their Hmong background. A very interesting read.

[Jkl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have easily ranked as a "5" if there had not been the frequent interjections - often pages of ramblings- of the authors' personL experiences totally unrelated Hmong people.
Skip the authors personal experiences and stay with personal the anecdotes and the book is fascinating; the intimate expressions of life before and after moving to the U. S. Is extraordinary and enlightening.

[Selvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this for an Hmong American book now in 2018, shows how different the Hmong culture was back in the 1990's. This book goes through out many series of people who are Hmong which varies from ages to young to old. Continuing they explain their struggles coming and going to America from Thailand,Laos or Vietnam. Explaining who they are and how they ended up in America and their living conditions, they elaborate on their situations/challenges throughout the book for being a Hmong person whether male or female. As for me because me as Hmong American I can relate because I understand how the Hmong culture is and the process of it encouraging myself to learn more about the older ages of time of the Hmong people and who the Hmong people really are and etc.. Many things are said about but one major thing was religion and in the book from the early ages in America has now change because we start to lose the form of how the old generation is. But because we as the newer generation started to adapt to the lives of the American culture the old religious ceremonies it starts to fall out of shape and turn its toes because nowadays we differ in religion cause there is so many different types and understanding who we define as Hmong Americans and do things totally different. Although this book is interesting and educates us about former relationships situations, who we are and where we come from and our struggles of getting here there are some times in the chapters where other types of race plays it role and i think it shouldn't be in here because it leaves the reader sidetracked and maybe even confused about what's going on because over time it will be on one topic of the Hmong people then lead another to different race or person who isn't Hmong. Of course they explain the relation of how their situation is similar but this book is about the Hmong people who've come to America and their shape shifting experiences.

Over all this is a very good book for people who don't understand who the Hmong people are and where we come from and why we are in America for and the facts it gives from many different people's perspectives all in one go. Another leading for this book you have to remember who the characters are and their ages, its role play affects for every different chapter cause each story has their blessings, adventures and their downfalls.

[Katina · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading (and loving) "The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down" pretty recently I was excited to see this book, which focused on first person narratives from the Hmong community in Fresno.

I was not impressed. Faderman inserts comparisons to her personal history and does very little to tie the narratives together in any cohesive fashion. While I realize that her purpose may have been to let the narrators speak for themselves, it was distracting and scattered.

Frogged!

[Ms. Wayne]

From the Publisher

I Begin My Life All Over records the story of 36 Hmong immigrants to California, tracing their journey from the subsistence farms of Laos, through their harrowing escape into the camps of Thailand, and to relocation to a new continent, and to a new century. Interspersed throughout these first-person narratives, Lillian Faderman provides historical and cultural context, and draws rich comparisons between the experience of the Hmong in the 1990s and her mother's immigration from Eastern European shtetls in the 1930s.

[Xia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. Such an inspirational book.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

ESL Master's book. Would like to see a more updated look at Hmong in America.

[Jaena4 Beadling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating reading! Another good read from Faderman!