EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU
by
Celeste Ng
--BOOK REVIEW--
๐ฅThe things that go unsaid are often the things that eat at us—whether because we didn't get to have our say, or because the other person never got to hear us and really wanted to. And sometimes this facts and inner turmoil are even ignore by us they creates huge unheard turbulence in our mind which sometimes may become a fatal one too.
๐ฅEVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU is a gripping page-turner, about secrets, love, longing, lies and race.
Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee; a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue - in Marilyn's case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James's case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the centre of every party. But Lydia is under pressures that have nothing to do with growing up in 1970s small town Ohio. Her father is an American born of first-generation Chinese immigrants, and his ethnicity, and hers, make them conspicuous in any setting.
//" Before that she hadn’t realized how fragile happiness was, how if you were careless, you could knock it over and shatter it."//
๐ฅWhen lydia body is found in a local lake and is suspected as a suicide, James is consumed by guilt and sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to make someone accountable, no matter what the cost. Lydia's older brother, Nathan, is convinced that local bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it's the youngest in the family - Hannah - who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows what really happened.
The whole family is thrown into conflict and must confront some uncomfortable truths
๐ฅA gripping narration which jumps back and forth between the time before Lydia’s death and the time after.
The way of writing is beautiful and the way she has woven a tragedy and suspense, is amazing. She with her flawless narration makes the readers to sense the feelings Lydia was undergoing
and givesin the sense that we were given an intimate view of their mental mechanisms and why they acted the way they did. It’s a harrowing experience
//"People decide what you're like before they even get to know you"//
Ng tackles some truly difficult theme
While the story is rooted in racial and gender inequality, most readers will identify with the kind of family dynamics where one child is favoured over another; where pushy parents make unreasonable demands; or where siblings close ranks against their parents
☄️This is a novel where the gradual revelation of character is key