Yang Reflects on The Latehomecomer

Did you know about the new common read the incoming class at Viterbo received this year? Did you also know that each incoming class at Viterbo will receive a common read from now on?

This year’s common read was The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang. Yang is a Hmong-American writer and winner of the 2009 Minnesota Book Awards in Creative nonfiction and memoir. She is also a finalist for the PEN USA Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Asian Literary Award in Nonfiction. More importantly, she carries a perspective different from a lot of other Americans. She is part of a family and culture that holds experiences and beliefs close to the heart.

The Latehomecomer is a family memoir that explains a gripping truth of an identity sought deeper than just the breaking of skin and seeks the refuge of a people. Yang’s words capture memories of a culture that, if not discussed, may have otherwise been forgotten.

Yang presented her book on September 13 in Viterbo’s Fine Arts Center building. Students of all majors attended the presentation and got to hear the real voice behind the words of Yang’s book.

Throughout her presentation, Yang is described as innocent, thoughtful, emotional, and thorough. In both her book and presentation, Yang expressed the innocent and loving way she admires her family, especially her grandmother.

“I had a great deal of emotion when she spoke of her grandma,” says Kayla Kaczorowski, a biopsychology major who attended the presentation. “I spend lots of time with my grandma who is still alive and look up to her just like Kao Kalia.”

Before seeing Yang in person, many had different reactions.

“It made me want to learn more about what has happened in Laos and Vietnam,” explains Kaczorowski, referring to the instances in the book that discuss the time Yang’s family spent in one or the other.

The book is not only a great read, but it is also a tool to use to think critically.

“There’s such a difference between our beliefs and hers and the way that she lived in her childhood,” says Kaczorowski.

Yang, who is also a columnist, shares a theme of ideas that portray suffering as powerful and sometimes necessary.

“I am learning now about the things we go through, we survive, do to us and our relationships with others,” says Yang in her column Suffering Is Both a Barrier and a Bridge. “Going through hardships gives us strength in places we’d never thought to develop.”

While this is a blip of Yang’s feelings and wisdom, The Latehomecomer is a plethora of feelings, wisdom, and strength unleashed all at once. The memoir captures not only a look into an entire culture, but also a unique perspective.

Yang also has a second book titled The Song Poet. She ended the evening by signing books and chatting with audience members.