Everything I Never Told You

I've rarely read anything that covered such personal topics that was as superficial and hollow as this novel. The only character who is even remotely believable as a real human being is the younger daughter, Hannah. Everyone else–from the robotic father James to the dissatisfied mother Marilyn, from the dead daughter Lydia to the invisible son Nath–is a cardboard cut out of a TV-movie cliche person. The book has no depth, no felt emotion, no events that even feel anything other than contrived for the purposes of making the reader feel this is a moving story. It isn't. It's a mish-mosh of adolescent angst, feminist frustration and second hand resentment of bigotry towards Chinese people in the US. The author was born three years after the latest event in the story, so everything about it is second hand, and feels it. I have her second novel, but I will not read it. This was a huge disappointment.