Sang Linh opens with a vivid por­tray­al of the pro­tag­o­nist as she reflects on her life while prepar­ing for the exhi­bi­tion titled “Why We Put Mir­rors in Bird­cages” in New York, 1997. The atmos­phere is filled with the hec­tic ener­gy of set­ting up the gallery, and the pro­tag­o­nist is at the heart of it all. Despite the demand­ing nature of her art career, she bal­ances this with the respon­si­bil­i­ties of moth­er­hood, find­ing joy in the moments spent with her eldest son, Duy. Duy, a help­ful and respon­si­ble com­pan­ion, assists with the intri­cate instal­la­tion process, and his pres­ence becomes invalu­able to the pro­tag­o­nist. In a ges­ture of affec­tion and recog­ni­tion for his help, she com­pen­sates him with $50 a day. This act, although met with play­ful com­plaints from his younger broth­ers, under­scores the unique and sup­port­ive bond between moth­er and son, high­light­ing the har­mo­ny between her artis­tic ambi­tions and her role as a moth­er, despite the con­stant hus­tle.

As the prepa­ra­tion for the exhi­bi­tion pro­gress­es, the protagonist’s part­ner, Roya, works along­side her with equal ded­i­ca­tion and focus. The shared goal of pre­sent­ing a cohe­sive and mean­ing­ful exhib­it infus­es the air with a sense of pur­pose, while the back­drop of a pop radio sta­tion cre­ates a live­ly envi­ron­ment. When a paint­ing titled “Odi et Amo” arrives, it trig­gers a flood of mem­o­ries and reflec­tions for the nar­ra­tor. The paint­ing, rich with emo­tion­al sig­nif­i­cance, evokes a sense of nos­tal­gia and bit­ter­sweet long­ing, pulling her back into the com­plex­i­ties of her rela­tion­ship with Roya. This moment of reflec­tion, fueled by the art­work, is filled with both appre­ci­a­tion for what has been and sad­ness for the inevitable pas­sage of time. The com­plex­i­ty of the protagonist’s feel­ings toward this paint­ing serves as a poignant reminder of the inter­twined nature of love and loss, cre­at­ing a del­i­cate bal­ance between joy and melan­choly in her life.

The dynam­ic between the pro­tag­o­nist and Roya becomes even more lay­ered as their inter­ac­tions con­tin­ue, marked by both moments of ten­sion and humor. Roya, with her char­ac­ter­is­tic light­heart­ed­ness, jok­ing­ly fan­ta­sizes about what she would buy with the exhibition’s pro­ceeds. She whim­si­cal­ly declares that she would pur­chase a Cadil­lac car door “for prac­ti­cal rea­sons” when the world ends, and this out­landish com­ment sparks uncon­trol­lable laugh­ter between the two. The absur­di­ty of this state­ment high­lights the strength of their bond, as they are able to find humor in even the most chal­leng­ing cir­cum­stances. This laugh­ter, shared between them, reflects their abil­i­ty to cope with the pres­sures of their lives and the dif­fi­cul­ties they face in the art world. The light­heart­ed­ness and gen­uine affec­tion they share reveal a part­ner­ship built on love, resilience, and the abil­i­ty to enjoy the small, absurd moments in life, despite the broad­er uncer­tain­ties they must nav­i­gate.

The chap­ter then tran­si­tions to a deep­er under­stand­ing of the protagonist’s evolv­ing rela­tion­ship with her fam­i­ly, par­tic­u­lar­ly with her son, Duy. His matu­ri­ty and respon­si­bil­i­ty shine through as he con­tin­ues to assist his moth­er while also attend­ing to his younger sib­lings, bal­anc­ing the demands of both fam­i­ly and art. His involve­ment in the artis­tic process becomes a sym­bol of how the fam­i­ly unit works togeth­er, each mem­ber con­tribut­ing in their own way to the shared suc­cess. The protagonist’s abil­i­ty to jug­gle the com­plex­i­ties of her career in the art world while still being a ded­i­cat­ed moth­er reveals her inner strength and resilience. As the fam­i­ly nav­i­gates the chaot­ic yet beau­ti­ful mess of life, they find solace in their shared moments of togeth­er­ness, humor, and love. The chap­ter, through the lens of the protagonist’s rela­tion­ship with her fam­i­ly, reveals the pro­found impor­tance of con­nec­tion, show­ing how, despite the pres­sures of the out­side world, it is the sup­port and bond of those we love that ulti­mate­ly sus­tains us through the strug­gles of life. Through this intri­cate dance of art, fam­i­ly, and per­son­al growth, the pro­tag­o­nist learns to bal­ance the weight of her ambi­tions with the impor­tance of famil­ial sup­port, ground­ing her in the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ties of love and shared expe­ri­ence.