Summary

In an interview, Li is asked if she was ever haunted by a book for having read it too young. This prompts her to reflect on some of her childhood memories. She recalls that her real introduction to literature occurred when she was chosen as a librarian’s assistant at school. She remembers being captivated by the drama in a book by an eighteenth-century poetess and remembers reading Prose Poems by Ivan Turgenev. Now she wonders if she did in fact read Turgenev too early, or if the encounter happened at just the right time.

During her acute depression and hospitalization, Li is consumed by reading and unable to write. Reading so much caused “a small shift in [her] mind” (88). Influenced by the writings of Turgenev once again, she contemplates how a person can feel both that life is over and has never...