EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU - BOOK REVIEW
- Kátia 💘
- Mar 28, 2019
- 6 min read
Title: Everything I Never Told You
Author: Celeste Ng
Format: Paperback | Hardcover | Audio Book | E-Book
Pages: 292
Length: 10h2m
Published: 26 May 2015
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐.5
"Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet." Hold the phone... what!? When I read this at the back of the book, I literally got chills. Imagine to my surprise, when the very opening of Everything I Never Told You were these exact words.
This book has been sitting on my to-be-read shelf for a little over a year now, and I still hadn't gotten around to reading it. Which, is surprising, because I immediately purchased it after having read Little Fires Everywhere nearly two years ago. I remember opening it on a flight to London, and never putting it down again until it was finished—which made getting off the plane a little difficult. However, I did manage to finish it while standing in the Customs line at Heathrow—can't say I'd ever been so thankful to be stuck in a queue before. Needless to say, as soon as I'd settled in, I went straight to my Indigo account and looked up the author to see what else she'd written—and without thinking twice, put an order in for Everything I Never Told You.
By the time I landed back in Toronto, I opened the little Indigo box, put the book on my Must-Read shelf, and continuously forgot about it or overlooked it for another (yes, I know, I'm the worst, and should be ashamed!). This month, one of the amazing ladies in one of my book clubs picked it for our March read - I literally smiled ear-to-ear. Not only did I not have to run out to go find and get our newest book at 8:30PM on the 28th of February, but I finally was no longer overlooking a book I'd originally been so eager to buy and read.
I think, when I originally bought this book, I had somehow put into my mind that this was going to be some high-profile, fast-paced, sitting-at-the-edge-of-your-seat, crime-enticed suspense thriller. At least, it wasn't until I reached about page 40 and realized as captivating as the story was going, it wasn't what I'd somehow imagined it was going to be either, that I immediately turned the book around to reread the back, wondering if I'd mistaken it for another book. Well, it's certainly a possibility, and I wouldn't put it past me either—my TBR shelf is ridiculously overfilled. But that was also around the time when I realized this book was taking me by surprise. Completely. And in the most incredible way. This was not some overly done thriller, where someone goes missing, someone winds up dead, and there's a haunting story behind it needing to bring the murdered to justice. This was, however, a deftly told story, with a heart breaking conclusion that filled me with such an array of emotions - honestly, I think I may have gotten a bit of whiplash the way I went from angry to sad to happy to bewildered. Side note to publishers: Some books should come with emotional seatbelts for emotional whiplash—this was one of them.
Setting the story in the 1970's, Ng really captured struggles that went on behind closed doors for families that stood out during this time period. In a time when being different was still not necessarily fully accepted, and instead, was unequivocally difficult, picking a mixed-race family as the main character focus was genius. She captured it so well when she spoke about how the Lee's were the only oriental family living in Middlewood. The only people, who were "different", and with that, made it difficult to fit in, when all you do is stand out. This factor all on its own—incredible writing aside—really gave me a look into the unbound struggles of the characters personal, professional, and social lives. Which made me divulge deeply into an unspoken understanding of just how difficult a time it must have been for many people across the United States at this point in time. If you think about it, especially in a post World War Two United States—after war against Japan, war against Korea, war against Vietnam—being of oriental background, likely wasn't the most friendly scenario at this point in time.
Something this novel has a lot of, is characterizations—each family member has their own personalities and traits that make them all different from each other, but interestingly enough, more similar than may be understood. Each ones struggles are all so unique and interesting to read about because of how dynamic they all are, and it really brings each of them to life in their own way. The silent relationship that Lydia and Nath hold, Hannah's deep longing and misunderstood intellect and observances, Marilyn and James' unspoken dynamic which spun a silent web, Jack's misinterpreted shortcomings—each piece together a little piece of the puzzle that goes far deeper than imaginable. Each flashback that Ng gave us, slowly pieced together every secret left untold, and how it at one point, ultimately tore them apart unwillingly.
While I loved the back and forth between characters, especially as it really helped portray the truth behind what was so long awaited—Lydia's death, for example—it also did get a little confusing at times. Sometimes, the story would interchange from one character to the next without my even realizing it. I sometimes found myself having to go back and reread a previous paragraph or sentence to understand when and where the change took place. But, just like the whole novel from beginning to end—if you blinked, you could miss an important piece of the puzzle. So paying attention to every little piece of information divulged—it's all extremely important.
At the the same time, one of the things that makes this book so strong, and powerful, is how quiet it is—there's very little bombast within the story, both in plot and the way it's rendered. Each twist and turn hits you silently and entices a new emotion within you. It's quiet, but very, very powerful. And it takes an incredible writer in order to pull off something so moving in that way.
Giving Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You a 4.5 star rating. She and her story about the Lee's truly blew me away.
Seeing as this gem was one my favourite Book Club picks for March, I thought what better than sharing the discussion for anyone else currently reading, or going to be reading Everything I Never Told You with a buddy or club! Want your very own Readers Guide featuring a message from the author for you and your book club? Got you covered, boo! Drop a "ME PLEASE 🙋🏻♀️" below, and I'll get it to your inbox!
Questions and Topics for Discussion
1. Discuss the relationships between Nath, Lydia, and Hannah. How do the siblings both understand and mystify one another?
2. Why do you think Lydia is the favorite child of James and Marilyn? How does this pressure affect Lydia, and what kind of impact do you think it has on Nath and Hannah? Do you think it is more difficult for Lydia to be the favorite, or for Nath and Hannah, who are often overlooked by their parents?
3. “So part of him wanted to tell Nath that he knew: what it was like to be teased, what it was like to never fit in. The other part of him wanted to shake his son, to slap him. To shape him into something different. . . . When Marilyn asked what happened, James said merely, with a wave of the hand, ‘Some kids teased him at the pool yesterday. He needs to learn to take a joke.’”
How did you react to the “Marco Polo” pool scene with James and Nath? What do you think of James’s decision?
4. Discuss a situation in which you’ve felt like an outsider. How do the members of the Lee family deal with being measured against stereotypes and others’ perceptions?
5. What is the meaning of the novel’s title? To whom do the “I” and “you” refer?
6. What would have happened if Lydia had reached the dock? Do you think she would have been able to change her parents’ views and expectations of her?
7. This novel says a great deal about the influence our parents can have on us. Do you think the same issues will affect the next generation of Lees? How did your parents influence your childhood?
8. “It struck her then, as if someone had said it aloud: her mother was dead, and the only thing worth remembering about her, in the end, was that she cooked. Marilyn thought uneasily of her own life, of hours spent making breakfasts, serving dinners, packing lunches into neat paper bags.”
Discuss the relationship Marilyn and her mother have to cooking and their roles as stay-at-home mothers. Do you think one is happier or more satisfied?
9. The footprint on the ceiling brings Nath and Lydia closer when they are young, and later, Hannah and James discover it together and laugh. What other objects bring the characters closer together or drive them further apart?
10. There’s so much that the characters keep to themselves. What do you wish they had shared with one another? Do you think an ability to better express themselves would have changed the outcome of the book?