Summary

In Chapter V, Li reveals that she was concerned about the possibility of Vincent committing suicide for six years before it actually happened. She recalls writing an essay as a child growing up in Communist China in which she was supposed to praise the country. Instead, she wrote about the ugliness of children being forced to lie about their experiences. She was publicly shamed for the essay at school, including by her mother her worked there as a teacher, and was later subjected to her mother’s anger in private at home. She reveals that Vincent only saw her cry two or three times in his life and James only saw her cry once, after Vincent’s death. She recalls that Vincent’s therapist had been worried about the possibility of him committing suicide and warned that if he decided to...