Everything I Never Told You Review

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Read: January 2, 2019 - January 7, 2019

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 stars)

Buy from Indigo and Amazon

Borrow from the Toronto Public Library

Summary:

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.

When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it’s the youngest of the family—Hannah—who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened.

A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

My Thoughts:

Everything I Never Told You is sad and haunting story that shows how love can come with great expectations and how these expectations can result in one feeling suffocated all their life. 

The way the story is told through the past and present takes readers back to the very beginning and catalyst of everything that follows. It highlights a family that is desperately trying to piece together what and where everything went wrong while each dealing with their own deep-rooted struggles. 

Ng’s immersive storytelling allows readers to delve into the minds of these characters and their emotions in an effort to understand the tragic event that takes place. I’m amazed that this is a debut novel and incredibly intrigued to read her sophomore novel, Little Fires Everywhere. 

Quotes I Loved:

“What made something precious? Losing it and finding it.” 

“The things that go unsaid are often the things that eat at you--whether because you didn't get to have your say, or because the other person never got to hear you and really wanted to.”

love, xena