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Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother's Life
A mesmerizing and hauntingly beautiful memoir about a Hmong family’s epic journey to safety told from the perspective of the author’s incredible mother who survived, and helped her family escape, against all odds.
Born in 1961 in war-torn Laos, Tswb’s childhood was marked by the violence of America’s Secret War and the CIA recruitment of the Hmong and other ethnic minorities into the lost cause. By the time Tswb was a teenager, the US had completely vacated Laos, and the country erupted into genocidal attacks on the Hmong people, who were labeled as traitors. Fearing for their lives, Tswb and her family left everything they knew behind and fled their village for the jungle.
Perpetually on the run and on the brink of starvation, Tswb eventually crossed paths with the man who would become her future husband. Leaving her own mother behind, she joined his family at a refugee camp, a choice that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Eventually becoming a mother herself, Tswb raised her daughters in a state of constant fear and hunger until they were able to emigrate to the US, where the determined couple enrolled in high school even though they were both nearly thirty, and worked grueling jobs to provide for their children.
Now, her daughter, Kao Kalia Yang, reveals her mother’s astonishing saga with tenderness and unvarnished clarity, giving voice to the countless resilient refugees who are often overlooked as one of the essential foundations of this country. Evocative, stirring, and unforgettable, Where Rivers Part is destined to become a classic.
Born in 1961 in war-torn Laos, Tswb’s childhood was marked by the violence of America’s Secret War and the CIA recruitment of the Hmong and other ethnic minorities into the lost cause. By the time Tswb was a teenager, the US had completely vacated Laos, and the country erupted into genocidal attacks on the Hmong people, who were labeled as traitors. Fearing for their lives, Tswb and her family left everything they knew behind and fled their village for the jungle.
Perpetually on the run and on the brink of starvation, Tswb eventually crossed paths with the man who would become her future husband. Leaving her own mother behind, she joined his family at a refugee camp, a choice that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Eventually becoming a mother herself, Tswb raised her daughters in a state of constant fear and hunger until they were able to emigrate to the US, where the determined couple enrolled in high school even though they were both nearly thirty, and worked grueling jobs to provide for their children.
Now, her daughter, Kao Kalia Yang, reveals her mother’s astonishing saga with tenderness and unvarnished clarity, giving voice to the countless resilient refugees who are often overlooked as one of the essential foundations of this country. Evocative, stirring, and unforgettable, Where Rivers Part is destined to become a classic.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published March 19, 2024
About the author
Kao Kalia Yang
28 books427 followersKao Kalia Yang is an award-winning Hmong-American writer. She is a graduate of Carleton College and Columbia University. Yang is the author of the memoirs The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir and The Song Poet. The Latehomecomer is the first Asian American authored and centered book to be added to the roster of the Literature to Life Program and a National Endowment for the Arts Big Read title. The Song Poet has been commissioned as a youth opera by the Minnesota Opera and will premiere in the spring of 2021. Yang is also the author of the children’s books, A Map Into the World, The Shared Room, and The Most Beautiful Thing. She co-edited the ground-breaking collection What God is Honored Here?: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss By and For Indigenous Women and Women of Color. Her newest title is Somewhere in the Unknown World, a collective memoir of refugee experiences. Yang’s literary nonfiction work has been recognized by the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the PEN USA literary awards, the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize, and garnered three Minnesota Book awards. Her children’s books have been listed as an American Library Association Notable Book, a Zolotow Honor, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, a finalist for the Midwest Independent Bookseller’s Award, and winner of a Minnesota Book Award in Children’s Literature. Kao Kalia Yang is a recipient of the International Institute of Minnesota’s Olga Zoltai Award for her community leadership and service to New Americans and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts’ 2019 Sally Award for Social Impact.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
September 20, 2023
Kao Kalia Yang's memoir about her mother's life, Where Rivers Part, is one of the best memoirs that I have ever read. Yang's lyrical prose is so well written that I had to confirm that this beautiful book was indeed a memoir and not a novel.
The dangers of Laos to the Hmong people in the wake of the Laotian Civil War are explained through the lives of Yang's family centered around her mother Tswb. The love between mother and children is an inspiring theme that runs throughout the entire book. The heroic lengths that Tswb goes through to support her family and the love returned by her family are heartwarming.
I loved that this book was a combination of history, family bonds and stories of overcoming great adversity. Where Rivers Part is an absolute must read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am looking forward to reading all of Kao Kalia Yang's books to learn more about her remarkable family.
The dangers of Laos to the Hmong people in the wake of the Laotian Civil War are explained through the lives of Yang's family centered around her mother Tswb. The love between mother and children is an inspiring theme that runs throughout the entire book. The heroic lengths that Tswb goes through to support her family and the love returned by her family are heartwarming.
I loved that this book was a combination of history, family bonds and stories of overcoming great adversity. Where Rivers Part is an absolute must read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am looking forward to reading all of Kao Kalia Yang's books to learn more about her remarkable family.
April 1, 2024
Thank you to @simon.audio for the gifted audiobook.
A daughter tells the story of her mothers life (in first person) as she is born in Laos in the 1960's, during their escape, life in a refugee camp in Thailand and their journey to the US. At about the half way mark we then follow her life in the US.
I found this story really well done with a few specific markers of what were pivotal aspects in her mothers life. The trials and struggles of refugee parents are so real but in the end it benefits their children greatly. What a gift this daughter gave her mother by writing her memoir/biography.
A daughter tells the story of her mothers life (in first person) as she is born in Laos in the 1960's, during their escape, life in a refugee camp in Thailand and their journey to the US. At about the half way mark we then follow her life in the US.
I found this story really well done with a few specific markers of what were pivotal aspects in her mothers life. The trials and struggles of refugee parents are so real but in the end it benefits their children greatly. What a gift this daughter gave her mother by writing her memoir/biography.
April 5, 2024
This Hmong author has chosen to present the the story of her mother's life starting in the mountains of Laos in 1970s in her mother's voice. Thus, the book reads like a memoir. Her mother's name is Tswb (Chew). she was very close to her father as a little girl. She was the first daughter of his 3rd and final wife. He owned a citrus orchard near the base of the mountains where two rivers merged. She was quite young when he died. In 1975 when the U.S. pulled out of the war with Vietnam, the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao soldiers were searching for those people they saw as American collaborators (or just disliked) and were re-locating or killing whole families. Tswb's family - mother, adult siblings with wives and children, and younger siblings all packed a few valuables and evacuated into the mountain jungle. While in the jungle, Tswb met the young man she would marry. She was 17 and he was 18. She fled with his family to a Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand and later to Minnesota in the U.S. This detailed and and fact-filled story gives a very touching account of this refugee woman's life.
March 28, 2024
What a very interesting book about this WONAN. Called KAO KALL. LYANS.. She wrote this book.
About her mother and was called p.S w b m u s h. It starts out In L a s. When she is growing up she has a very good childhood. Her mother was the second wife because the othe a wife l Die. Family was very interesting because there are a lot of different ways, please. Her sister kept getting married and kept coming back. Because She divorced her husbands. Things went south when the americans left and i' Vietnamese we're coming in. They had to leave their homes and Fl ED. Through the jungles. TS WB met her husband this way and she was only 16. When they marry. It was hard at first for her because she had a baby and almost died but it lived. They settle in a r The refugee camp. It was hard living there and they had a lot of problems in their marriage because he was not what she expected. She kept losing babies as well. Finally had a little girl. She made the decision to come to america because her some of her family was already here. Her husband didn't really want to go because he wanted to stay with His mother. When they came to America it was very difficult because they had a lot of problems.There as well. But they made a life for themselves in america.. They did. They did well for themselves. And the children who've done with their lives and pursued education, which is amazing. I finally had two B o y s.. One time and I went to the Mall of America in Minneapolis, where they lived.This was a big treat For them. The 2 oldest girls We're born over seas. The younger children were born here in the united states and they had a different perspective online. Children married And had great careers. The 2 rivers is where the mother was born In village Call AS. There was a river in minneapolis which And two Rivers as well. The daughter did an excellent job explaining about their lives and triumphs.Great book
About her mother and was called p.S w b m u s h. It starts out In L a s. When she is growing up she has a very good childhood. Her mother was the second wife because the othe a wife l Die. Family was very interesting because there are a lot of different ways, please. Her sister kept getting married and kept coming back. Because She divorced her husbands. Things went south when the americans left and i' Vietnamese we're coming in. They had to leave their homes and Fl ED. Through the jungles. TS WB met her husband this way and she was only 16. When they marry. It was hard at first for her because she had a baby and almost died but it lived. They settle in a r The refugee camp. It was hard living there and they had a lot of problems in their marriage because he was not what she expected. She kept losing babies as well. Finally had a little girl. She made the decision to come to america because her some of her family was already here. Her husband didn't really want to go because he wanted to stay with His mother. When they came to America it was very difficult because they had a lot of problems.There as well. But they made a life for themselves in america.. They did. They did well for themselves. And the children who've done with their lives and pursued education, which is amazing. I finally had two B o y s.. One time and I went to the Mall of America in Minneapolis, where they lived.This was a big treat For them. The 2 oldest girls We're born over seas. The younger children were born here in the united states and they had a different perspective online. Children married And had great careers. The 2 rivers is where the mother was born In village Call AS. There was a river in minneapolis which And two Rivers as well. The daughter did an excellent job explaining about their lives and triumphs.Great book
April 16, 2024
This is a must read. It is a beautifully written story of history, resilience, and love of family. Kao Kalia Yang's memoir of her mother takes us from the mountains of Laos, to a refugee camp in Thailand and finally to resettlement in Minnesota.
November 6, 2023
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria for this ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Where Rivers Part is Kaokalia’s mother, Tswb,’s story but is also the story of so many Hmong refugees. We follow Tswb’s life: growing up in Dej Tshuam, fleeing into the jungles during the Secret War, life in the Thai refugee camps, and finally adapting to life in America.
This story tugged at my heartstrings. Like Tswb, many people I know and love faced the same challenges and traumas of war. The first half of this book read like a historical fiction; I often forgot I was reading a memoir.
However, I wish this story was told with more emotion. While Kaokalia’s prose is undoubtedly beautiful, her writing is very linear, “I did this, then that. This happened, then that.” But this story, like many refugee stories, is extremely emotional and I wish that shined through. I also wish we were given more context on the war. While I don’t think it’s necessary for authors to give history lessons, I think it is important in this instance because the Hmong’s history is still largely unfamilar to the general public.
That said, I also hope that this book is still deep in editing because there were so many inconsistencies: Npis vs Bee, Xieng Khouang vs Xiengkhouang, etc. At around the 60% mark, the prose started to feel very sloppy with details that didn’t add much to Tswb’s story.
All in all, I really enjoyed Where Rivers Part. I’m excited for a broader audience to learn about the Hmong people and our history. If you enjoyed The Mountains Sing, Dust Child, and The Latehomecomer, you’ll enjoy this one.
Where Rivers Part is Kaokalia’s mother, Tswb,’s story but is also the story of so many Hmong refugees. We follow Tswb’s life: growing up in Dej Tshuam, fleeing into the jungles during the Secret War, life in the Thai refugee camps, and finally adapting to life in America.
This story tugged at my heartstrings. Like Tswb, many people I know and love faced the same challenges and traumas of war. The first half of this book read like a historical fiction; I often forgot I was reading a memoir.
However, I wish this story was told with more emotion. While Kaokalia’s prose is undoubtedly beautiful, her writing is very linear, “I did this, then that. This happened, then that.” But this story, like many refugee stories, is extremely emotional and I wish that shined through. I also wish we were given more context on the war. While I don’t think it’s necessary for authors to give history lessons, I think it is important in this instance because the Hmong’s history is still largely unfamilar to the general public.
That said, I also hope that this book is still deep in editing because there were so many inconsistencies: Npis vs Bee, Xieng Khouang vs Xiengkhouang, etc. At around the 60% mark, the prose started to feel very sloppy with details that didn’t add much to Tswb’s story.
All in all, I really enjoyed Where Rivers Part. I’m excited for a broader audience to learn about the Hmong people and our history. If you enjoyed The Mountains Sing, Dust Child, and The Latehomecomer, you’ll enjoy this one.
December 4, 2023
Where Rivers Part is a beautifully written, gripping memoir about Twsb (Bee), a Hmong woman who is forced from her homeland of Laos during the Laotian Civil War. The story follows Twsb and her husband as they flee Laos to a Thailand refugee camp and eventually to America. Together the couple must find their way in a strange country with all the odds against them.
I knew nothing about this time in history or the Hmong people when I started this book…not even a little bit. I found myself googling to learn more.
I was impressed with Twsb’s ability to persevere and fight for her children and at the success her children ended up achieving in America. I love that Yang portrayed her mother’s story so honestly, not hiding her marriage issues or depression.
Twsb’s recollection of her family in Laos and especially her mother were so heartbreaking and relatable.
I really wanted an authors note that detailed how Yang compiled her mother’s story and how much Yang remembered from her early childhood. After so many births and miscarriages, I was also curious why Twsb didn’t use birth control whether it was due to cultural or personal reasons, or lack of availability/education.
Thank you to Goodreads for this ARC. I was a Goodreads giveaway winner.
I knew nothing about this time in history or the Hmong people when I started this book…not even a little bit. I found myself googling to learn more.
I was impressed with Twsb’s ability to persevere and fight for her children and at the success her children ended up achieving in America. I love that Yang portrayed her mother’s story so honestly, not hiding her marriage issues or depression.
Twsb’s recollection of her family in Laos and especially her mother were so heartbreaking and relatable.
I really wanted an authors note that detailed how Yang compiled her mother’s story and how much Yang remembered from her early childhood. After so many births and miscarriages, I was also curious why Twsb didn’t use birth control whether it was due to cultural or personal reasons, or lack of availability/education.
Thank you to Goodreads for this ARC. I was a Goodreads giveaway winner.
December 18, 2023
I received a copy of this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.
This memoir that recounts the author's mother's journey fleeing Laos to Thailand and then eventually America is full of harrowing scenes of terrible conditions in refugee camps and struggling to survive in America, but it also feels like it glosses over some important details and feels curiously detached. The author writes this memoir in the first person from the perspective of her mother, Tswb, which was slightly confusing at first, and also later since the author herself is one of the narrator's daughters. The book spends its first half detailing the mother's family when she was a child, how she meets her husband Npis, and how they escape Laos to arrive at a refugee camp in Thailand. This part describes the terrible conditions they had to endure in both Laos and Thailand vividly, and it does a good job capturing how difficult life must have been for the Tswb. There really isn't much background on the Laotian Civil War, however, so I was missing a lot of context around why things were the way they were and why the family had to escape. I would have appreciated some more background information on the history. The family with their two children then make their way to America, where there's a whole new set of problems, from the language barrier to racism to getting by on a limited income. This second half in America felt oddly paced, with years sometimes flying by with barely a mention, while at other times going into great detail about minor parts of American life. There were details that I wished had been explored more, like the reasons why Tswb and Apis decided to have seven children, or what it was like actually doing these jobs they had. The book doesn't really go into Tswb and Npis's day-to-day life at work, even though they spend quite a lot of time there, and instead the book only talks about how tiring it is working these long hours while also taking care of so many kids. I don't know if it's because the author is writing from someone else's perspective that she can never fully understand, but it just felt like it was a lot of recounting of events without a lot of introspection, making it feel weirdly detached instead of personal. But it was effective in showing the kinds of things Hmong refugees had to endure in their journeys.
This memoir that recounts the author's mother's journey fleeing Laos to Thailand and then eventually America is full of harrowing scenes of terrible conditions in refugee camps and struggling to survive in America, but it also feels like it glosses over some important details and feels curiously detached. The author writes this memoir in the first person from the perspective of her mother, Tswb, which was slightly confusing at first, and also later since the author herself is one of the narrator's daughters. The book spends its first half detailing the mother's family when she was a child, how she meets her husband Npis, and how they escape Laos to arrive at a refugee camp in Thailand. This part describes the terrible conditions they had to endure in both Laos and Thailand vividly, and it does a good job capturing how difficult life must have been for the Tswb. There really isn't much background on the Laotian Civil War, however, so I was missing a lot of context around why things were the way they were and why the family had to escape. I would have appreciated some more background information on the history. The family with their two children then make their way to America, where there's a whole new set of problems, from the language barrier to racism to getting by on a limited income. This second half in America felt oddly paced, with years sometimes flying by with barely a mention, while at other times going into great detail about minor parts of American life. There were details that I wished had been explored more, like the reasons why Tswb and Apis decided to have seven children, or what it was like actually doing these jobs they had. The book doesn't really go into Tswb and Npis's day-to-day life at work, even though they spend quite a lot of time there, and instead the book only talks about how tiring it is working these long hours while also taking care of so many kids. I don't know if it's because the author is writing from someone else's perspective that she can never fully understand, but it just felt like it was a lot of recounting of events without a lot of introspection, making it feel weirdly detached instead of personal. But it was effective in showing the kinds of things Hmong refugees had to endure in their journeys.
March 15, 2024
Yang was six when she came with her family to the US. Born in a refugee camp in Thailand—where her parents lived for almost a decade—she did not know her family's native Laos, but she is clearly determined to not let her family's Hmong history be forgotten. She's previously told her father's story and more broadly her family's (as well as other books about refugee and immigrant life); now, in Where Rivers Part, Yang turns her lens to her mother, Tswb's, story.
My mom is afraid that no one will be interested in a story about her life. She and my father tell me that just because they have lived hard lives doesn't mean they are incredible; they both remind me that the hardness in their lives is nothing more than the sorrow they share with those who have been through wars, who know poverty, who understand what it's like to live without power or belonging on your side. My mom is afraid that I have wasted my time in writing the story of her life. (loc. 28*)
And, well. I'm glad Yang didn't listen. Her mother's story might be similar to that of other refugees, but if anything that makes it more powerful rather than less. It's a hell of a book, with a hell of a through-line: in the wilds of Laos, fleeing the violence that had turned their quiet lives upside-down, Tswb made the decision to marry, to leave her family for another. The act of leaving her mother would haunt her for decades to come.
By the light of the moon, I [Tswb] dug a hole big enough to bury the photographs I had kept with me of my mother, my father, myself, my sisters, and my brothers. I wished I had a plastic bag to keep the photographs in. One day, I wanted to return for the photographs, old black-and-white images that blossomed and bloomed with color in my memories of what we had shared. (loc. 1679)
Either Yang and her mother had some incredibly detailed conversations and interviews about Tswb's life, or Yang has an incredibly empathetic imagination; either way, the complexity of emotion and experience that Tswb goes through in the course of this book is devastating. (I'd love to know more about the process of writing the book, because even if Tswb didn't think her story worth telling, she clearly trusted her daughter to do it right.) It's not just the obvious losses—home and homeland, deaths, loss of a known or at least expected future—but things like having to leave behind the graves of loved ones; having to leave behind the only pictures you have of those loved ones; not knowing when or if you'll ever see any of those people and things again. And: the moment Twsb says I had known your [her children's] father's mother for longer than I had known mine. (loc. 3575) There are moments of beauty in here too, and of joy, but it's the wrestling with loss and grief that hits the hardest.
The Latehomecomer was already on my TBR, but I'm even more eager to read it now...and then I may have to add The Song Poet to the mix as well.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
My mom is afraid that no one will be interested in a story about her life. She and my father tell me that just because they have lived hard lives doesn't mean they are incredible; they both remind me that the hardness in their lives is nothing more than the sorrow they share with those who have been through wars, who know poverty, who understand what it's like to live without power or belonging on your side. My mom is afraid that I have wasted my time in writing the story of her life. (loc. 28*)
And, well. I'm glad Yang didn't listen. Her mother's story might be similar to that of other refugees, but if anything that makes it more powerful rather than less. It's a hell of a book, with a hell of a through-line: in the wilds of Laos, fleeing the violence that had turned their quiet lives upside-down, Tswb made the decision to marry, to leave her family for another. The act of leaving her mother would haunt her for decades to come.
By the light of the moon, I [Tswb] dug a hole big enough to bury the photographs I had kept with me of my mother, my father, myself, my sisters, and my brothers. I wished I had a plastic bag to keep the photographs in. One day, I wanted to return for the photographs, old black-and-white images that blossomed and bloomed with color in my memories of what we had shared. (loc. 1679)
Either Yang and her mother had some incredibly detailed conversations and interviews about Tswb's life, or Yang has an incredibly empathetic imagination; either way, the complexity of emotion and experience that Tswb goes through in the course of this book is devastating. (I'd love to know more about the process of writing the book, because even if Tswb didn't think her story worth telling, she clearly trusted her daughter to do it right.) It's not just the obvious losses—home and homeland, deaths, loss of a known or at least expected future—but things like having to leave behind the graves of loved ones; having to leave behind the only pictures you have of those loved ones; not knowing when or if you'll ever see any of those people and things again. And: the moment Twsb says I had known your [her children's] father's mother for longer than I had known mine. (loc. 3575) There are moments of beauty in here too, and of joy, but it's the wrestling with loss and grief that hits the hardest.
The Latehomecomer was already on my TBR, but I'm even more eager to read it now...and then I may have to add The Song Poet to the mix as well.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
November 21, 2023
[ 3.5/5 stars ]
This is a memoir which Yang tells the story of her mother's life, Tswb Muas - from when communism takes power to the wars in Southeast Asia, the Hmong family leaves Laos (and her own mother) as refugees.
Imprinted by war trauma, this is a journey full of survival. The author details the pain and fear of a refugee's life. However, this book also offers hope from those who are resilient, and one has the chance to know courage though Tswb's story.
This book captures the way Hmong people survived the dangers in war-torn Laos and, even though this memoir doesn't need to educate ones, I wish there was a deeper dive into the historical context. Regardless, I found very interesting the glimpse at some differences between Hmong Americans x Hmong Lao.
This memoir felt distant at times and it took me a while to be emotionally invested into it. Also, some parts were a bit repetitive and I think that this book could use a better editing.
This book is, ultimately, a love letter to all mothers - Yang learns the truth about her own situation as a daughter, and being a daughter and mother myself, Tswb's experiences mostly spoke to my heart. With straightforward prose, grief, marriage, family and immigration are channeled in the pages.
Raw, inspiring and full of tenderness, WHERE RIVERS PART is a refugee story of a Hmong family. I learned about Hmong people and definitely need to know more. Quite an important memoir that people should read.
[ I received an ARC from the publisher - Atria books . All opinions are my own ]
This is a memoir which Yang tells the story of her mother's life, Tswb Muas - from when communism takes power to the wars in Southeast Asia, the Hmong family leaves Laos (and her own mother) as refugees.
Imprinted by war trauma, this is a journey full of survival. The author details the pain and fear of a refugee's life. However, this book also offers hope from those who are resilient, and one has the chance to know courage though Tswb's story.
This book captures the way Hmong people survived the dangers in war-torn Laos and, even though this memoir doesn't need to educate ones, I wish there was a deeper dive into the historical context. Regardless, I found very interesting the glimpse at some differences between Hmong Americans x Hmong Lao.
This memoir felt distant at times and it took me a while to be emotionally invested into it. Also, some parts were a bit repetitive and I think that this book could use a better editing.
This book is, ultimately, a love letter to all mothers - Yang learns the truth about her own situation as a daughter, and being a daughter and mother myself, Tswb's experiences mostly spoke to my heart. With straightforward prose, grief, marriage, family and immigration are channeled in the pages.
Raw, inspiring and full of tenderness, WHERE RIVERS PART is a refugee story of a Hmong family. I learned about Hmong people and definitely need to know more. Quite an important memoir that people should read.
[ I received an ARC from the publisher - Atria books . All opinions are my own ]
October 23, 2023
An exceptionally well-written book about the author's mother told in her voice. From a young age growing up in a small village in Laos, Tswb escapes the genocide with her family by hiding in the jungle. She meets her husband there, marries, and leaves her own mother behind while eventually relocating with his family to a refugee camp in Thailand. Tswb survives many miscarriages throughout the years, but gives birth to two daughters and the family ends up in the state of Minnesota where they expand their family and learn a whole new way of life.
Where Rivers Part is an incredible story about Hmong refugees and what they had to endure. After helping the U.S. during the Vietnam War, they were left behind only to be hunted down and killed for helping the enemy. The author's style of writing is honest, heartfelt, and compelling. I've read the author's other books and even met her in person. I truly enjoy her writing and learning about the Hmong people and their culture.
Thank you Kao Kalia Yang, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC
Where Rivers Part is an incredible story about Hmong refugees and what they had to endure. After helping the U.S. during the Vietnam War, they were left behind only to be hunted down and killed for helping the enemy. The author's style of writing is honest, heartfelt, and compelling. I've read the author's other books and even met her in person. I truly enjoy her writing and learning about the Hmong people and their culture.
Thank you Kao Kalia Yang, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC
November 18, 2023
Where Rivers Part: A Story Of My Mother's Life is a moving, heartbreaking, inspiring, honest, emotional, raw, and needed story! This author tells her mother's life story with such transparency and beauty that it is impossible to put down. We need more stories like this in the world and we need more women like Tswb in the world. Tswb's refugee story and life story need to be nationally known. I hope this book becomes a widely known best seller! If you are someone who seeks understanding, perspective shifts, increased compassion, and truth than this book is for you. I hope whoever reads this book will see the world a bit differently after reading it. Thank you to Goodreads for the ARC! This is a new favorite!
April 2, 2024
So impressive.
Kao Kalia Yang is a powerful storyteller. In this memoir, she tells her mom’s story.
I wish people who distrust immigrants would read this story and Yang’s others as well. It is not easy to be an immigrant. Leaving everything familiar? Never seeing your mother again? Seeing your siblings again only when you are all old and tired?
Immigrants do not live lives of luxury. And the Hmong are a special case because they helped us during the Vietnam War. Hmong people faced retribution for their help. Some of them ended up here as they ran from war
A book well worth reading
Kao Kalia Yang is a powerful storyteller. In this memoir, she tells her mom’s story.
I wish people who distrust immigrants would read this story and Yang’s others as well. It is not easy to be an immigrant. Leaving everything familiar? Never seeing your mother again? Seeing your siblings again only when you are all old and tired?
Immigrants do not live lives of luxury. And the Hmong are a special case because they helped us during the Vietnam War. Hmong people faced retribution for their help. Some of them ended up here as they ran from war
A book well worth reading
April 15, 2024
This is the second of Ms Yang's books I've read and it won't be the last. Her memoirs are pure poetry in prose. I'm made to see the injustices and atrocities we as Americans have committed on an unwilling country and its people, without regard. Continuing is the racism and injury they have encountered as refugees in this country. I was a young teenager when the Vietnam war began and so ignorant of the atrocities committed in the name of face and pride. Ms Yang brought the war to a most personal and basic level. Thank you, Ms Yang for sharing your family's journey.
October 6, 2023
This book had me WEEPING from page one. It's lyrical, important, and sheds light on the forgotten history of the Hmong people and what they've sacrificed. The writing is stunning. It's a hard book to get through (because of the content and subject matter), but as the daughter of immigrant refugees, I see this book, I see the author, and I see Tswb's life. Thank you for writing this book, Kao Kalia Yang.
November 15, 2023
I received this book via Goodreads Giveaway program and it did not disappoint. Another wonderful memoir by Ms Yang. She writes beautifully of the struggles living in a country at war, moving place to place in order to survive, and the hardships of coming to a foreign country. Her story is compelling and uplifting, as well as inspiring to those that are coming here. Highly recommend to those interested in memoir, Asian Studies, and immigrants, and those who love lyrical writing.
March 29, 2024
Beautiful and breathtaking, with a lyrical prose that reminds me of the opening lines in Paulo Coelho's earlier titles, By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept. The memoir was honest and thought- provoking - a book that I'll never forget.
How beautiful it was to accompany the author's mother on her journey as she became of age, to her transition as a mother, and a grandmother, and all of the life lessons in between. I wish that I saw more photographs! Thank you, to the author.
How beautiful it was to accompany the author's mother on her journey as she became of age, to her transition as a mother, and a grandmother, and all of the life lessons in between. I wish that I saw more photographs! Thank you, to the author.
December 8, 2023
An unforgettable memoir about a hard but beautiful life of a Hmong woman. Her experiences are well defined through relationships and her struggles.
Told beautifully through survival, accomplishments, and respect of family and what a refugees life can be like.
Some people's history needs to be heard, and this is one person's history who should be heard.
Would recommend to family and friends.
Told beautifully through survival, accomplishments, and respect of family and what a refugees life can be like.
Some people's history needs to be heard, and this is one person's history who should be heard.
Would recommend to family and friends.
January 16, 2024
Universal threads tie us all together even when stories are so far beyond our own experience of life. Knowing this woman and her family now lives close to me yet we come from world apart makes me remember to love everyone you come across. You don’t know what they have been through. This story was simply heartbreaking and beautiful all at once.
March 26, 2024
I read this memoir through a spring blizzard with Kaila’s voice in my head, reading aloud from her children’s book, Rock in My Throat, at an event the day the snow began. The connection to land and family, the enduring love through decades and miles is beautifully shared anew, 16 years after The Latehomecomer.
November 14, 2023
Loved reading this book! I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the events of this time period. Gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because at times the story stayed at the surface level and I wished it had gone more in-depth.
March 30, 2024
Kao Kalia Yang is my favorite writer. I have loved each of her books because they are all filled with love. This memoir about her mom is devastatingly filled with love. I hope that this book reaches so many people—no one will be able to put it down.
April 11, 2024
Beautiful and heartbreaking memoir--beautiful because it's the exquisitely told story of a mother's strength and enduring love, heartbreaking because of Tswb's losses and her longing for a homecoming that can never happen in this life. Keep the tissues handy as you read.
April 12, 2024
It is beyond most peoples imagination what these people went thru. From running for their lives in Laos to discrimination and poverty here in the U.S. Love of family keeps them going. What they deserve is a paradise.
April 4, 2024
I loved this book, and could hardly put it down. Lives full of unbelievable struggles, but the human spirit drives people onward.
Outstanding.
Outstanding.
April 8, 2024
Loved it! Incredibly well written story of family love and strength, resilience, heartache, loss and rebirth.
April 11, 2024
Ms. Yang is an extraordinary storyteller. I am grateful that she has shared her family's stories with us.
April 12, 2024
Such a beautiful and moving book about the strength and resiliency of a a loving daughter, mother, sister, and wife. Beautifully and honestly written through her mother’s eyes.
April 17, 2024
a courageous woman and immersive storyteller
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