Author Wei Ming-Yi is a counseling psychologist and social work supervisor with decades of experience serving on the front lines of mental health and shuttling between various decision-making bodies in the public sector. This has granted her in-depth knowledge of both the on-the-ground realities of psychological suffering, and the institutional processes used to combat it. The stories she tells in this book are mostly vignettes composed of brief snapshots, free of melodrama and heart-wrenching displays of tears and anguish. Instead, the emotional climaxes occupy but a moment, leaving readers space to contemplate their meaning. The author’s flowing prose is a display of technical prowess, approaching the emotional depths of its subject with steady-handed discretion. Readers will have the sense of treading a well-graveled road, assessing the terrain with every step, ruminating on every word.
“How can it be like this? What should we do?” From start to finish, these questions will continually circle in the sensitive reader’s mind, and the author is reluctant to provide easy answers. Suffering is not resolved via dichotomies; there is no black and white here. Even less distinct are the bounds of the authority to intervene in the lives of others. What is given to readers is a larger space for contemplation. They are brought closer to the heart of the problem, without issuing any judgement, and the pleasure of reading this book is the appreciation of the freedom that this provides.