The Latehomecommer by Kao Kalia Yang

The Latehomecomer Kao Kalia Yang

In her book The Latehomcomer, Kao Kalia Yang tells her own family's story of being forced to hide for years in the jungle for fear of being killed. They were constantly on the move, running away from the ruthless communist forces in Laos. Eventually, they crossed the Mekong River and the family lived in refugee camps for several years. The author was born at the refugee camp in Thailand in 1980 (Ban Vinai Refugee Camp). They left (Phanat Nikhom Transition Camp) when the Thai government refused to support them anymore and threatened to repatriate them to Laos, for the U.S. 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 closed down. Yang and her family, along with scores of other Hmong, left the jungles of Thailand for America. The Yang’s ended up in St. Paul, where they struggled for years, first on welfare, and then with the parents working two jobs while trying to raise several children in a succession of housing projects and, finally, a run-down two-bedroom mold-ridden house they called their very own. The author tells of her struggles to learn English and feelings of always being an outsider. She also tells of how her parents did their best to instill values and emphasize the importance of family in all of their children. She writes of the challenges of adapting to a new place, a new language, and people. She gives voice to the dreams, wisdom, and traditions passed down from her grandmother and shared by an entire community to a world that hardly knew or understood them in the form of The Latehomecomer.

This story is told with a lot of grace; Kao Kalia Yang narrates their struggles, punctuating with Hmong folklore and culture. By the end of this moving, fascinating book, as Yang describes the death of her beloved grandmother, we realize how familiar/close they have become part of this formerly strange culture. The Latehomecomer is also an insightful narrative of Yang's own transformation into becoming an American and a silent,shy child becoming a writer of with wisdom.
The author recounts the traumatic journey of her family from Laos to a refugee camp in Thailand then to America. The plot is systematic, from one point to another accompanied with their experiences. The struggles they face are clearly written and they do not end even after settling in St. Paul, Minnesota. She walks the reader through their struggles to adapt to a new community that often did not understand nor want them and vice versa.

Kao Kalia Yang’s style of writing is unique; she tells a lot of stories about her family and people. She candidly gives an account of the historical events including legendary material to show the immigration experience from the Hmong point of view. The language used is reader friendly, very simple and captivating. Kao Kalia Yang says she "discovered the shapes of stories, how to remember them, and how to tell them," as a young child in a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand. The Latehomecomer gives account of those stories, from her parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings. These people had no means/opportunity to write their stories but to pass them on by word of mouth.

The author uses time to develop her characters. She clearly demonstrates their appearance and displays their action to the reader in a very vivid manner. The characters thoughts are expressed to the reader and she lets her characters speak and we are able to see the reactions of the other characters. Yang's grandmother, who struggles to keep her family together in the camp but, must ultimately surrender to the inevitability of their parting.

Through Yang and her family, we are connected to the challenges, pains, joys, and triumphs of the refugee/immigrant experience and the love and dedication of a family unlike any we have met before, yet as familiar and comfortable as any we are likely to know. The author develops the theme of struggle which runs all through her book. The family is called upon to be patient and endure their sufferings with a hope/dream of a better life one day and none of them knows when this will happen.

This is a book I would read with my students, some would learn from it and others would be able to identify with it. Students would read of the author’s tough times in school and still be able to become a scholar. Personally I identify with this book and some of the experiences this family went through especially after arriving in America, I too am an immigrant. The Latehomecomer is a triumph testimony to the most beautiful and the most terrible of our humanity. Yang writes with the confidence something our students should copy and have no fear of errors. Her story is compelling and students should be encouraged to write about their own experiences