The Preface provides some background information about Athy, both the text’s subject and author. A refugee from Cambodia who came to the United States as a teenager, Athy works with the Khmer Adolescent Project, a federal study exploring post-traumatic stress disorder in teens who grew up under the Khmer Rouge.

Interviewing those who had suffered under the Khmer Rouge brings back many painful memories for Athy. She suffered the loss of her parents and siblings, as well as “starvation, disease, forced labor, and refugee camps” (14). However, Athy feels it is her duty to assist in this project, just as she feels it is her duty to become a doctor, a promise she made after her oldest sister died at only 22.

Athy tries to repress her memories as she works on the project, and again as she studies to get into medical school. Telling herself “[t]here would always be time to grieve,” she “pushed down memories in pursuit of important things. Education. Medical school,” driven by her desire to “make a difference in the world, to do good deeds, to fulfill a child’s wish” (26). However, it is now time for her to grieve and share that grief through this