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.

I loved this book!! Celest Ng is a fantastic writer. I usually read at night and this book, l was still reading at 3 AM !! This story was awesome, hard to put down ❤️❤️ Thank You for writing another stunning story 🩶💜

EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOUBY: CELESTE NGI first read, "Everything I Never Told You," when it was first published in 2014. I wanted to re-read it to see if it still was worthy of the five stars that I had rated it back then and it was. I have read "Little Fires Everywhere," and watched its miniseries produced by Hulu. In both novels Celeste Ng captures beautifully dysfunctional family dynamics. I loved both books and I would encourage you to watch the miniseries of "Little Fires Everywhere," because it is excellent and varies a little from the book. The acting is incredible. In both novels Celeste Ng explores how parents expectations of their children is the catalyst for a tragic outcome that they never expected. Also, in both novels that unexpected heartbreak is told to the reader in the very beginning. Since this is a review for "Everything I Never Told You," I will focus on that one.The setting is during the 1970's which makes, "Everything I Never Told You," a historical novel, but I still think that the themes within that are so expertly explored are still relevant today. Celeste Ng crafted a realistic depiction of the discrimination that Asian Americans still face today. This novel in my humble opinion is even more heartbreaking because the beginning lines tell the story of every parents' worst nightmare. The title is pitch perfect for what ensues during flashbacks of how the Chinese American family of the Lee's ended up in the incredibly sad position that they now face.It is not a spoiler to say that the beginning sentence tells that the middle child of three in this family is dead. The reason why I have included it in this review is because it is stated in the synopsis of this novel. Over the course of reading you will discover how this happened. Was it murder? By reading you will easily figure out what happened to Lydia. This one remains my favorite perhaps because of how it does a great job of the character development and the question of what if? You will not be disappointed in this deep dive of how it examines the cost of weighing what can result if you want a better life for your child and you pick a favorite child who you want to do and have all of the things that you didn't have. Is being the favorite more helpful or harmful to the child who you as a parent pin all of your hopes and dreams that you in your own life didn't achieve? If only? It is a question that will haunt you as you read this UNFORGETTABLE, but realistic story that centers on one family's struggles to reconcile one of life's toughest consequences. It did affect me just as powerfully as the first time I read it and I would rate it Five sparkling and bright stars and it is absolutely perfectly written. I wouldn't change a thing. Highly, Highly Recommended!

Inhalt: Ohio, 70er Jahre. Die scheinbar wohlgeordnete Welt der Familie Lee gerät aus den Angel, als die sechzehnjährige Lydia verschwindet und zwei Tage später tot aufgefunden wird. Mord oder Selbstmord? Ihre Mutter und ihr Bruder glauben an ein Fremdverschulden. Ihrem Vater, Sohn chinesischer Einwanderer, bricht vor Trauer das Herz. Nur die jüngere Schwester ahnt etwas von Lydias Problemen. Was bedeutet es, sein Leben in die Hand zu nehmen? Welche Kraft hat all das Ungesagte, das Menschen oft in einem inneren Abgrund gefangen hält?Schreibstil: bildhaft – verschiedene Perspektiven und ZeitformenMeine Meinung: Die Story ist vielschichtig, berührend und gefühlvoll, ohne pathetisch zu sein. Erzählt aus den Perspektiven der einzelnen Familienmitglieder, inkl. der verstorbenen Lydia, taucht der Leser in die jeweilige Gefühlswelt ein und entwickelt Verständnis für die Figuren sowie ein tiefes Mitgefühl für Lydia, die zur Projektionsfläche der unerfüllten Wünsche ihrer Eltern wird. Der Vater James, mit chinesischen Wurzeln, wünscht sich für seine Kinder nichts sehnlicher als soziale Integration. Die Mutter Marilyn, aus der ethnischen Mehrheit, möchte verhindern, dass Lydia wie sie in einem Leben als Hausfrau (ver)endet. Dabei fragte niemand nach Lydias Lebensträumen. Hinzu kommen die Probleme einer Familie, die aus verschiedenen ethnischen Wurzeln erwächst. Denn auch wenn alle in der Familie so tun, als wäre dieses Anderssein normal und kein Problem, spricht das gesellschaftliche Umfeld eine komplett andere Sprache.Gefangen zwischen elterlichen Wünschen und gesellschaftlicher Ablehnung bleibt vieles unausgesprochen und nur der Leser erfährt von Lydia, was sie nicht erzählte.Fazit: Ein eindringliches Familienporträt und tiefsinniges Sittengemälde der amerikanischen GesellschaftEine Empfehlung für Leser mit einer Vorliebe für Familien- und Entwicklungsromane

I really enjoyed this book and found its subject very interesting and highlighting the problems young people have inthis world in particular intheir relationships with others. I had already read "Little Fires Everywhere! and was curious to read this book which was written first. Underlying it all was once again the question of racism, but this time with Asian Americans and it was exremely interesting to learn of the problems they had fitting into American society.

Erg mooi geschreven boek over familie en afkomst. Racisme zit in alle mensen en richt veel aan! Lezen, dit ware maar niet waargebeurde verhaal dat een vreselijk verhaal vertelt, maar niet vreselijk is.