In the chap­ter from “Sang Linh,” the nar­ra­tive unfolds in a gallery set­ting in New York, 1997, dur­ing the set­up for the exhi­bi­tion “Why We Put Mir­rors in Bird­cages.” The pro­tag­o­nist, who nar­rates with rich, intro­spec­tive thoughts, reflects on a suc­cess­ful career while bal­anc­ing fam­i­ly life. Her two younger sons are with a babysit­ter, and she cher­ish­es moments spent with her eldest son, Duy, who helps her with instal­la­tions. Duy is seen as an essen­tial com­pan­ion, and she pays him a seem­ing­ly out­ra­geous fifty dol­lars a day, a rate that elic­its com­plaints from his broth­ers but under­scores the bond they share dur­ing this busy time.

As they pre­pare the gallery, Roya, the protagonist’s part­ner, par­tic­i­pates ener­get­i­cal­ly, ded­i­cat­ed to the integri­ty of her art­work. The atmos­phere is infused with music from a pop radio sta­tion, cre­at­ing a back­drop for their col­lab­o­ra­tive effort in trans­form­ing the gallery. The arrival of a par­tic­u­lar paint­ing, “Odi et Amo,” evokes mem­o­ries for the nar­ra­tor, whose nos­tal­gia inter­twines with a bit­ter­sweet acknowl­edg­ment of past pains and present joys, par­tic­u­lar­ly in her rela­tion­ship with Roya.

Ten­sion and humor blos­som in their exchanges, show­cas­ing a lov­ing part­ner­ship marked by teas­ing and affec­tion­ate ban­ter. Roya dreams humor­ous­ly about what to buy with pro­ceeds from the show, declar­ing she’ll get a Cadil­lac car door for prac­ti­cal rea­sons once the world ends. This procla­ma­tion sends them into a fit of laugh­ter, a moment filled with absur­di­ty that encap­su­lates their joy despite loom­ing chal­lenges.

The scene cul­mi­nates in a vivid depic­tion of famil­ial bonds and the art world’s pres­sures, with Duy’s respon­si­ble nature high­light­ed as he nav­i­gates his sib­lings’ needs. This chap­ter reveals the narrator’s resilience against her past strug­gles, under­scor­ing themes of love, suc­cess, and the beau­ty found in shared laugh­ter amidst the chaos of life and art.

Through­out the nar­ra­tive, the pro­tag­o­nist’s evolv­ing per­spec­tive on her fam­i­ly’s hap­pi­ness and sup­port becomes a poignant reminder of what tru­ly mat­ters, blend­ing both the chaos of their work and the sim­plic­i­ty of shared joy in an evolv­ing world. The nar­ra­tive cap­tures a del­i­cate­ly woven sense of grat­i­tude, sol­i­dar­i­ty, and the bit­ter­sweet com­plex­i­ties of their artis­tic endeav­or.

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