Summary

In Chapter I, Li recalls both times when she received the news that one of her sons had died. First, her son Vincent had committed suicide. Then, six years later, her son James took his own life. She dwells on the sentence used by police officers before the news was delivered, “There is no good way to say this” (3) and reflects that it is an especially apt phrase. She reflects that the phrase is also fitting for her attempt to write a book in the wake of James’s death. She recalls the book she wrote in the wake of Vincent’s death, six years earlier. She completed the book within the space of two months after he died. She finds writing a book for James more difficult. Her admission, “There’s no good way to say this” (8), applies to her...