Through the book's poems, the speaker explicates childhood trauma from the violence inflicted by the "master" and charts his path toward healing and liberation.

[4] Shieh named "Eduardo C. Corral, Jenny Xie, J. Michael Martinez, Richard Siken, Mai Der Vang, Taylor Johnson, Natalie Diaz, Sally Wen Mao, Thomas James, Ocean Vuong, Ilya Kaminsky, Sylvia Plath, and Jenny George" as his inspirations for how to write a first book.

He also mentioned Derek Walcott, James Wright, Jericho Brown, Lucie Brock-Broido, Carl Phillips, Louise Glück, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, and Jean Valentine, as well as Hayes and the poets from the Tang dynasty.

"[1] Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, calling it a "phenomenal debut" that showed "how writing may serve as both a refuge and a form of resistance, acknowledging the power of language to transform and heal.

[6] Poets & Writers Magazine said Shieh "presents a poetics of emancipation, grappling with and deconstructing the memory of a master figure’s misused power.