Everything I Never Told You
Ratings396
Average rating3.9
Wow, this was incredible. It's safe to say I have a new favorite author! I was enthralled with this book. I thought about it when I wasn't reading it, and almost wanted to slow down and savor it, but I couldn't. I needed to know what happened next. It's just the perfect storm of a family not communicating, not connecting, parent projecting their own selves onto their children.
Full review to come soon on http://www.literaryquicksand.com.
I remember being all over this one when I was finished but after thinking back on it, so much of this feels just...I don't know it feels pretty lame, man. sometimes the characters feel very realistic, but there are other times where there's no actual motive for the shit they pull (how james met his wife...come on man...also the whole thing with his assistant...like...) and then they just feel like caricatures. it really took me out of the whole experience. although I loved reading about lydia and her relationship to her brother, two whole stars to that! and the tragic reveal I guess.
The characters seem so oblivious to what's going on in each other's lives. There is so much going on in the story that seems so improbable. For me, this is not a memorable book.
so so so very tragic and sad.
also absolutely shocking and infuriating (but not surprised) how awful racism was less than 100 years ago (and how little has changed both in the US & other western countries).
It's rare that a book has me actually crying, but this book is just heartbreaking. Layer upon layer of family members quietly neglecting the simplest showings of care and recognition in each other, who are starved for the smallest gesture of empathy. It is lovingly written and worth reading. My heart breaks for Hannah most of all. What guts you is how true it feels to families you've known in life.
sách rất là thật lun, mô tả một căn nhà châu Á điển hình khi phụ huynh và con cái không biết cách nói chuyện và tìm hiểu nhau nhiều hơn, để dẫn đến một kết cục đau thương.
3/5 stars
Original rating : 3.5 stars rounded up
New rating: 3 stars
I was conflicted about what rating to give this book. While this is a book I would definitely recommend it It definitely felt as if there were many factors that affected me while reading this.
This book seems to have little plot. It is more character driven in the sense that we get to analyze not only them but also the family dynamics as a whole. This isn't my particular favorite trope/mechanism (not really sure if either of those are the correct terms for this). I almost always leave with the feeling that I'm missing a good chunk of the book because I lack understanding
Migration, female oppression, racial oppression...so much in this written around a mystery, I love it
3.5/5 stars
Rounded down to 3 stars
The real magic of this book is the beautiful writing and the perspectives and relationships between the characters. I loved the repetition and connection to the title where you realize that family and relationships are complicated.
What are the things that we never tell the people around us? Are we struggling? Are we happy? Do we wish things were different? It definitely invites the reader to think about these things.
“Everything I Never Told You” unfolds beautifully. There are a lot of elements to this book that affect me in a personal way as a half-Asian person who grew up in the United States. The family dynamic is fascinating and somehow familiar. If I could give this more than five stars, I would. The word that comes to mind that sums up the whole book for me is “devastating”. While reading scenes within which my own feelings as teenager were clearly remembered and depicted, I felt actual pain. In my chest, in my eyes. There are casual lines throughout that hit me with the full weight of memory. Identity is the critical component of what propels this drama and, by the end of the book, I could only identify myself as a sobbing mess.
I enjoyed this book a lot- it did not feel rushed or rly slow and had a very consistent pace. I loved how obvious Lydia's death was and yet I still sadly teared up when we finally got to find out what happened. Seeing every family member's mental and physical struggles and how their family was breaking apart was truly disheartening to read, especially having related to some of the issues the family faced :/
It rly teaches you how to not raise your kids lmao but yeah anyway good book- will 100% read Celeste Ng's other works
It happened so quickly that if she were a different person, Hannah might have wondered if she'd imagined it. No one else saw. Nath was still turned away; Lydia had her eyes shut now against the sun. But the moment flashed lightning-bright to Hannah. Years of yearning had made her sensitive, the way a starving dog twitches its nostrils at the faintest scent of food. She could not mistake it. She recognized it at once: love, one-way deep adoration that bounced off and did not bounce back; careful, quiet love that didn't care and went on anyway. It was too familiar to be surprising.
i dont even know what to say... celeste ng has cemented herself as one of my favorite authors now and im just in awe and enamored with the way she writes, the multilayered stories she weaves that are all dealt with equal amounts of care, the characters she constructs who are so human and so humanly flawed that i find parts of myself reflected back in all of them. i love this one even more than Little Fires Everywhere, this book feels like a part of me. very few books give me this feeling after i finish, like im walking on clouds... this is one of my favorites of the year for sure
I enjoyed this story very much but was not amazed by the plot line and felt I wanted more from it.
This story is about the struggles families of mixed races endures and especially in the 60's and 70's, the story revolves around the Lee family and their children who suffer in such silence which eventually leads to the end of life for one of them. I'm not of Asian decent but I can relate to the struggles of not fitting in as I grew up a Mexican child in a predominately Caucasian education system. The Lee's have three children Nath, Lydia, and Hannah who endure so much racism in their every day life without their parents even realizing their struggles. Their mother Marilyn, who is Caucasian, wants them to be successful whether that means they have a social life or not. Lydia can no longer take the pressure and starts to make questionable decisions that the parents have no clue about. This really resonated with me, as a child and teen I was able to keep my life pretty private from my family because I did not want to disappoint them. If I would have gone missing, such as Lydia does in this story, my parents would have had a difficult time accepting the life I was leading outside our home. In the end the Lee family has to come to grips with the truth whether they want to accept it or not.
Again, this story was good but I wanted more from Lydia's point of view. I felt the truth of her disappearance was rushed and really didn't give me the ending I wanted and really needed.
I feel that this is one of these books that should come with a read at your own risks warning.
3.75/5 stars
Almost everything about this book deserves four stars, at the very least. But I just can't round up my rating when there was a cheating plotline.
Wow, this is a tear-jerker. I found this book so very moving. The author does an amazing job of showing the POV of the family members who endure this tragedy. I'm glad I read this... but I didn't enjoy it.
I love the way this author writes. It's beautiful and devastating at the same time. It starts out pretty slow, setting up what's to come, but picks up and keeps you engaged. Digging into Lydia's personality, and who she really is when isn't hiding her true self, is hard to read.
It makes you wonder how well we know our loved ones and what they struggle with inside. It also makes me want to grab my children and grandchildren and hug them tight and keep them close.
Sometimes a smile, a hug, even a kind word can completely change someone's day. We don't know what people are struggling with...be kind.
So well done. The author masterfully captures grief and the longing, searching, and targetless anger that goes with it. It's a beautiful and painful story of loss and a family unraveling. I love how you care about the characters, then hate them, they are complicated and flawed, but you love them.
This book made me cry in the best way. I love the way each character's flaws build into the bigger picture of the family dynamic and I really loved each of the family members despite their mistakes. I thought it was a really beautiful look at grief and the way it breaks us down. Definitely recommend.
This story is dark and complex. While seemingly centered around the death of the daughter (Lydia) of a Chinese-American family in the late 1970s, it's about so much more. You learn about the mother and father's upbringing and the baggage they bring to marriage and parenthood. Then there's the baggage of being Chinese-American in a predominantly white community. You spend time seeing through the eyes of Lydia's older brother Nath who can never quite garner the affection of his parents the way Lydia can. Lydia's younger sister Hannah sees and understands so much but is often forgotten and unnoticed. Readers also hear from Lydia who serves as the vicarious fulfillment for her parents' lost opportunities and unrealized dreams.
The family is dysfunctional, and uncomfortably so. Perhaps the discomfort comes from how relatable their dysfunction is. The Lee family is broken in ways I witnessed growing up and have experienced as an adult as well. They hide. They say the wrong things. They hold back from saying what they really want to or what they actually mean. They are selfish. They have regrets. Who isn't able to relate to this kind of brokenness?
Through flashbacks, foreshadowing, fast forwarding, shifting perspectives, and some questions left unanswered, Ng presents a fascinating exploration of family dynamics and grief.