Everything I Never Told You: 'a taut tale of ever deepening and quickening suspense' O, the Oprah Magazine

Everything I Never Told You is Celeste Ng's first novel, and it's an exceptionally accomplished one. Set in 1970s Ohio and beginning with the disappearance and death of Lydia, the teenage middle child in the mixed race Lee family, Everything I Never Told You is a delicately crafted story of the expectations and regrets of parents and children, about being different and wanting to fit in, and about fitting in and wanting to be different. The story is partly told in flashback and partly in the present during the aftermath of Lydia's death, from the points of view of each family member, including Lydia herself. Lydia, it's acknowledged by her siblings Nathan and Hannah, is their parents' favourite, and as such, has become a sort of conduit through which both her father and mother are determined to see their own regrets and mistakes put right. It's essential for James, her Chinese-American father, that she will fit in, have friends, be accepted socially in a way he never has been. Marilyn, her white mother - disowned by her own mother in turn for choosing a Chinese husband - is desperate for Lydia to fulfil her own thwarted dreams of becoming a doctor, rejecting the path of marriage and children that is still traditional in the novel's 1970s setting. I have seen Everything I Never Told You described as a literary thriller, but I wouldn't really classify it as that. It's true that Lydia was last seen before her mysterious disappearance with Jack Wolff, well-known as the local bad boy, and that Nathan is convinced this must be significant, but the actual explanation of Lydia's death is secondary to the sensitively-written exploration of the Lee family's troubled states of mind. Objects acquire deep significance, symbolising the family's unspoken resentments and anxieties: an all-American Betty Crocker Cookbook, for instance, or a broken locket. Hannah's room is full of small belongings stolen and hidden from the rest of the family, as if she - almost entirely ignored - has become the curator of their repressed concerns. Lydia's shelves are full of diaries, and yet when they are opened in the days following her death, they prove to be completely blank. Not only can the Lee family not be open with each each other, it seems that they can't even bear to be honest with themselves. Everything I Never Told You is an understated, quiet sort of novel, primarily introspective. Tensions are buried and resentment unexpressed - none of the Lees ever seem able to confront each other, and neither do they ever seem to confront anyone for the constant racism they face, at school, at work, on holiday. I found this book almost painfully sad at times - yet there is, as it draws to a conclusion, a sense of hope for the future that comes as something of a relief.

Celeste Ng’s impressive debut novel is an absorbing and emotionally resonant study on the fragility of family life, the burden of expectation and the suffocating pressure when a child is forced to inherit their parents’ dreams. Well-observed and refreshing unsentimental, Ng’s poignant take on one families disintegration and turmoil following the death of their favoured child is unflinchingly honest and never shies away from confronting the painful and enunciating the more unpalatable topic of race and gender discrimination. The story is as much one of the mysterious circumstances surrounding sixteen-year-old Lydia Lee’s death as it is about the meeting and marriage of Marilyn Walker, a studious white Virginian with ambitions of being a doctor and James Lee a first-generation Chinese-American graduate student hoping to secure a position amongst the teaching staff of his alma mater, Harvard. The pivotal moment takes place within the opening pages and what follow is an unravelling of the unspoken truths, insecurities and parental expectations as the narrative weaves back and forth in time to chronicle the Lee’s marriage and their individual insecurities. Set in 1977 in the tiny college town of Middlewood in Northwest Ohio and evoking the small-mindedness of a community where mixed-race marriages and their offspring are still a novelty and never expected to anything, the scrutiny on the family is intense. For academically gifted Marilyn whose aspirations to be a doctor gives way to domesticity and motherhood, her dismay at her unfulfilled potential has never quite receded. Having reluctantly come to terms with her career failure after a self-enforced exile from her family, her eventual return home sees Lydia make a silent promise to please her mother and ensure she never has a reason to leave again. Meanwhile for James who longs to fit in and eschew his deep-rooted fears of feelings like an outcast or imposter that have blighted him from junior school to graduate student his biggest wish is for his children and family to be seen as equal and no longer starred at or marked out by their parentage. From popularity amongst their peers to reaching lofty academic heights, being seen as an all American success story is his greatest desire. The marital pact of the Lee’s to look to the future and forget the struggles they have each overcome is admirable, but with neither having shared their deepest emotions and the baggage of their past, the impact on their children is quite profound with Nath observing first-hand his sister’s stoicism. Crumbling under the weight of her parents expectations and her mothers rigorous study schedule to allow Lydia to fulfil her own ambition of becoming a doctor, only brother Nath knows of her loneliness, lack of friends and misery. As the circumstances of Lydia’s death remain shrouded in doubt and Marilyn struggles to accept the possibility of suicide, the family quickly unravels with bitterness and secrets on all sides. Forcing both Marilyn and James to recognise how they have failed their daughter and Nath to accept his guilt at being grateful to have escaped the pressures on Lydia, the novel is a cathartic exploration of a family in turmoil. But is there anyway past the death of Lydia for the devastated Lee family? A haunting portrait of the complexities of family life and the decisive moment that brings it all crashing down for a mixed-race family in small town Northwest Ohio in the late 1970s. Not only does the period setting make the prejudice surrounding the interracial relationship of Marilyn and James far more distinct but the pre mobile phone/social media advent is a necessity in enabling Celeste Ng to convey a credible snapshot of Lydia’s loneliness and social isolation.

We know right from the beginning of this story that sixteen-year-old Lydia Lee has died and, by the end of the story, we know how her death came about - but does the story in between explain fully Lydia’s journey from life to death? The mixed race daughter of a blonde American mother and a Chinese American father, Lydia, with her long, black hair and her unusual blue eyes, has never really fitted in with the other girls at her school (all of whom appear to be white Americans). Still suffering from her mother’s temporary abandonment of her when she was a small child, Lydia tries her best to be the daughter her mother wants her to be, especially when it comes to achieving good grades at school. But when Lydia’s grades begin to fall and she starts spending time with Jack Wolff, the local ‘heartthrob’, her life quietly begins to unravel. Her parents, meanwhile, with problems of their own, fail to see that Lydia is in difficulty, and when her body is discovered in the local lake, they each deal with the aftermath in ways that cause them even more problems and heartache. And then there are the Lees' two other children, Nath and Hannah, who have to try to navigate their way around the death of their sister and also the backlash of their parents’ grief. Set in the 1970s in small-town Ohio, this story of a Chinese-American family is one that looks at the difficulties encountered in a mixed-race marriage and of the problems experienced by the children of that marriage. It also looks at the the dangers of parents living their lives through their children and of wanting their offspring to achieve what they have been unable to achieve for themselves. As a debut novel, this is a good one, but I do feel that the proliferation of plaudits on the book’s cover (“This ghostly novel calls to mind ‘The Lovely Bones”; “A page-tuning literary thriller” etc.) leads the reader to expect something different to that which is actually delivered and I feel this is more of a story that looks at dysfunctional families, racial barriers, parental expectations and the need to belong, rather than a “page-turning literary thriller.” There is more I should like to discuss about this novel, for instance how could the parents, as two intelligent people, be so blind as to what was happening within their family? Or did they just prefer not to see what they didn’t feel capable of facing? However to discuss this further would risk revealing spoilers, so I shall just add that despite this book being not quite what I expected, parts of the story are beautifully written, if poignant to read, and reading this has made me interested in looking at the author’s second novel ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ which has been recommended to me.

When I first bought this book, I didn’t want to read it. But when I actually got into it, I really enjoyed it. I felt like it explored family dynamics in a good level of depth, which of course for this particular novel is completely necessary, and I felt like it was very easy to understand the characters (not that they were basic by any means, but in the sense that they were explained perfectly). I also think there was a real sense of mystery about Lydia, which was finally revealed and I must admit, I did not anticipate it. The ending, whilst rather bittersweet, was somewhat a denouement and I think the exploration of family in the novel whilst tragic, was really beautiful.

This novel begins with the stark words that Lydia Lee is already dead. From this we are drawn skilfully into the lives of Marilyn and their three children: Lydia - frustrated, struggling and insecure; Nath - overshadowed and desperate to escape; and poor, unwanted, ignored Hannah who craves attention and whose silent presence hides a deep knowledge and understanding of the dynamics at work in this troubled family. James is Chinese, Marilyn American. They marry at a time when such things were rare and controversial. Marilyn, stifled by a mother who fails to see the promise in her daughter, strives to succeed, to make a career and a life for herself. Then she marries James and her dreams are buried. She lives vicariously through Lydia, in who see sees the fulfilment of her own frustrated ambitions. But Lydia is hiding her true feelings; they seethe away inside and eventually lead her on a path that brings tragedy to everyone. This is beautifully written and engaging. It isn’t a mystery or a crime thriller, but rather a deep and intriguing look at the dynamics of family and society and at how our expectations, our love and hope for our children can have consequences we never wished for. The characters are well-developed and complex. Marilyn and James mess things up, make the wrong decisions for what they think are the right reasons, and, despite their best intentions, manage to completely misunderstand all three of their children. In short, they are human. My only criticism is that I felt many aspects of this novel could have been developed further. There was more to be discovered in both Marilyn’s and James’ backgrounds. I also wanted to know more about Lydia - how things were at school for example. And more could have been made of Marilyn’s struggle to be recognised as more than ‘just’ a mother and a wife, and of her frustrations at the way her life has turned out. Aside from that though, this is a great read and an impressive debut novel.

This book is exquisitely written and an absolute joy to read. A book about a dead child is a book I would normally avoid but strangely I didn’t find this book harrowing. Perhaps this was because the journey to discover why Lydia drowned was so absorbing but also, for me anyway, I felt little sympathy for her parents and couldn’t feel their grief as a result. The expectations of Lydia Lee’s parents were diametrically opposed and fired solely at Lydia, the blue eyed girl. Her mother wanted her to be different from other girls and her father desperately wanted her to fit in. No wonder she imploded. They repeated the mistakes of their parents which I can understand but their coldness towards Nathan and Hannah made me dislike them. I think that Ng brilliantly, in a very understated way, describes the relationship between Lydia and Nathan; the unspoken things between siblings, the knowledge that Lydia had all the love and expectations focused on her, and the understanding that this was both wonderful and terrifying. Lydia spoiling Nathan’s moment of glory when he is accepted into Harvard is frightening. The portrait of little Hannah was heart wrenching and I so wanted to give her a cuddle. I was curious as to how old she was meant to be. She felt timeless and was the most functioning person in the family, although ignored and forgotten. I did wonder how she could be so loving when she obviously hadn’t really mattered to her parents or her brother and sister.

I enjoyed reading this book and found the family and time period intriguing. I would say almost nobody in the family is likeable or for that matter detestable, apart from the youngest child who only wants people around her to be happy. She turns out to be one of the smartest characters which is subtly shown in the book, like the voice of good that tries to call out against the din. There is a death very early on in the book, but this story to me is not some murder mystery or even thriller. Just a series of character portraits that tries to unpick the backgrounds of the central cast, to show why they behave how they do, including irrationally and disreputably. I was a little hooked to read through this book, wondering what the author might reveal next. The ending could be more satisfying and well-rounded, but it was decent and realistic to the framework of the story. Well-written and setting up a very good atmosphere. I didn't like though that seemingly everyone had a purpose, everything had a reason or meaning behind it. This read like a formulaic writing-style, that a teacher might suggest to follow for creative writing.

I am immensely grateful that when I sat down with this book, I had an empty calendar for the day, as I literally could not put it down and read it in one sitting. It is one of the most beautifully constructed novels of functional-yet-failing family life I have read in a long time, if ever. The story focuses around the Lee family as they struggle to come to terms with the death of their daughter, and although the hook at the beginning is paramount - wondering how Lydia died - this soon becomes subsidiary, as you focus more and more on the relationships within in the family. How have they come to this point of dysfunction, and if they will ever recover. The point of view slips effortlessly between the remaining family members and Lydia herself, and flows seamless between past and present. The strength in this book lies in the very human flaws of each of the characters, particularly the parents and how these in turn are imprinted on the children. As someone about to become a parent for the first time it is a truly terrifying, yet utterly convincing narrative as to how one's best intensions can go so very, very wrong. It wasn't a book that brought me to tears, but left me numb with heart ache. Fabulous.

J'ai beaucoup aimé la lecture de ce livre sur une famille qui n'est pas heureuse, dont on suit le parcours sur deux lignes temportelles. C'est facile à lire, on s'attache aux personnages même ceux les moins aimables, on veut connaitre la fin.. Après little fires everywhere, encore un bon livre. J'attends le 3eme de Celeste Ng, que je commanderai avec plaisir.

As a reader, you want so desperately to turn back time for the Lee family, you get pulled into their world and wish for them to finally open their hearts and say what they are thinking....this is what a good writer can do.

Qualidade excelente e entrega rápida.

tesekkur ederim ok

It's a well written book, poetic and mesmerising. It's true that the characters are obviously far from perfect. The book actually talks about people that are outsiders in their own community and lack any kind of social interaction with the others, They basically live in their own world and have no idea of how to communicate their feelings with the others and even their own family. It's true that we may not like them as people, that we wouldn't like to have them in our family. However, people like this exist, we all probably have something deep inside us that may make us identify a little with some of their reactions or behaviours, even when we are really different from them. I like how the story develops and how the characters develop, the ending is full of hope.