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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 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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All I want to do is hug Hannah, poor thing didn't deserve anything that happened with her family's strange dynamic
0they find their daughter has drowned in the lake, and their whole world gets turned upside down. as the book unfolds and the family tries to piece together the story of what happened and how Lydia ended up in the bottom of the lake, you see the family grapple with even larger questions of race (a biracial family in the 70s), parents setting overly high expectations, and when kids are the 'favorite' in a family.
the title is so fitting, 'everything i never told you' and the heartache that follows such a tragedy, but also the constant replaying of those last days and moments together and wondering if anything you might have said or did might have changed the outcomes in some way.
i recently read little fires everywhere, also by celeste ng, and her writing is just so captivating. it just pulls you into the world she is creating and you can't help but keep reading.
0Definitely an interesting and suspenseful story--a result of the weaving in and out of past and present events, and learning slightly heart breaking things about each person that explain their behavior today. Maybe a book doesn't have to have real characters in order to be good, but this book definitely did not add enough dimension to its characters. It gave the characters "back stories" and "motivations" but at the end of the day, I can only describe each person with one word. Hannah is observant. James is seeking validation. etc.
This novel uses its characters as a vessel to tell an extremely engaging story. But didn't treat its characters enough like humans. As a result, I felt uncommitted to the characters. I was very interested in the conflicts resolving, though! Anyway, 3 stars!
//edit: I also want to add that, Ng's writing technique became very predictable and present while I was reading the novel, to the point I couldn't enter the world of the characters, because I could feel her technique breathing down on my neck. The technique I'm referring to...hard to describe...is the foreshadowy "[example] James had no idea that tomorrow everything would change" tidbits she'd add in everywhere!! I only realized this was something I was tired of when I started reading her other novel, Little Fires Everywhere, and couldn't finish it because I was bored of that technique.
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