"As it turned out, the encounters were messy but rarely frontal." p. viii

"She invented the precise day of the month, like the year, in order to satisfy the many Americans who have evinced an abhorrence of unfilled blanks on the innumerable forms the Lees have encountered since their admission to the United States in 1980." p. 7

"It took the Lee family about a month to save enough money from their welfare checks, and from their relatives' welfare checks, to finance a soul-calling party for Lia." p. 10

"The Hmong have a phrase, 'ais cuaj txub kaum txub, which means 'to speak of all kinds of things.'" p. 12

"Not only were they fed up with being persecuted, but their soil was also getting depleted, there was a rash of epidemics, and taxes were rising." p. 16

"Despite the careful installation of Lia's soul during the hu plig ceremony, the noise...