The acclaimed debut novel by the author of Little Fires Everywhere. “A taut tale of ever deepening and quickening suspense.” —O, the Oprah Magazine“Explosive . . . Both a propulsive mystery and a profound examination of a mixed-race family.” —Entertainment Weekly“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town … exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
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Celeste Ng created characters who are flawed, human, ambitious, real, striving, hurting, loving, and who, most of all, have stuck with me. I read this book years ago, and when asked recently to recommend a book, I scrolled through the many titles I have read since then, and this is the one that stood out. It is unforgettable.
Celeste Ng is an excellent writer and I recommend both her books. I’m anxiously waiting for her to write more.
I am hovering between rating this book a 3 1/2 and a 4. I enjoyed the book – the writing was lovely, not overgrown with verbiage or unnecessary vocabulary. I enjoyed the beginning but toward the middle I just could not buy the portrayal of the characters. They were just too extreme. A mixed marriage where the Asian father is so busy trying to fit in that he missed what was going on in his own family (a professor that only taught cowboy classes – a bit odd to say the least). A Caucasian mother who lives vicariously through her eldest daughter. And a son and daughter who don’t quite fit into the picture. I felt the characters were more symbols or allegories for societal issues such as prejudice, women’s rights, and human inequalities. At times this seemingly normal and very intelligent family was unnaturally dysfunctional. The ending has a nice spin to it – I had already surmised most of what had occurred, but I did enjoy Ng’s presentation and ending. A good read nevertheless, but too obvious to be very thought-provoking.
One of the best books I’ve ever read.
It made me question everything my parents did to me growing up and everything I did to my child and foster child. The story of this family’s relationship to their parents and each other and the tragic results are riveting.
Even the shifts back and forth in time was not confusing. This author knows her characters and they are not predictable.
Being or feeling different, in this case, Chinese, could be any character trait as well. I can’t wait to read more of Celeste Ng’s works.
I thought this book did a great job of describing the aftermath of an unexplainable tragedy.
well written and though provoking but still entertaining
I loved the depth that each character had. You could feel each of their struggles, hopes, and dreams. When you realize that they each hold individual pieces to a puzzle that would have made the outcome so different, it had me in tears. This book left a mark on me and is an excellent story.
I didn’t like the adult characters. The parents were both flawed. The mother was particularly unlikable. I didn’t find some situations believable. The kids didn’t have a chance.
awful.
Four and a half for this one. We are told in the first line of the book that sixteen year old Lydia is dead. The tableau of the 1977 suburban breakfast table in which her absence is first discovered appears to be very normal and uncomplicated, middle aged couple, working dad, stay at home mom, 3 children. One thing that sits on that table clues the reader that something may be off kilter in the home is Lydia’s corrected physics homework sitting next to her breakfast plate.
What follows in the novel is a gradual examination of the family, starting all the way back to the parents’ respective childhoods, eventual courtship and early marriage. Along the way we get to know oldest child, Nathan, Lydia, and 10 year old Hannah. One event about 7 years into the young couple’s marriage shifts the family dynamic irretrievably, and the effects on all three children are quietly devastating. Although the novel is set in the late 1970s, I found a lot of parallels in the parenting styles I see now in 2017. Helicopter parenting, relentless focus on academics to the exclusion of all else. These parents project all of their prior young hopes and dreams on their child, who is helpless to refuse and doomed to pretend that everything that they want for her is what she wants as well.
I really loved this book. It was very sad but gave you an inside look of what different family members do to deal with grief. Also the perspective of the deceased was given.
Wonderful, heart rending writing. The family was so real, and I loved each one for their very human flaws and foibles.
Fabulous
Not my favorite book.
Easily the best book I’ve read this year. Strong, colorful writing. The multiethnic cast is amazing.
I couldn’t put it down, so good!!!!
Unpredictable twists and the ending was incredible…. sad I was finished!
Simply haunting.
I purchased the book, really not knowing what to expect. Shows a story of a family that holds back too much, pays for it and seems to right itself for the better.
It was interesting. I wanted to know how it ended!