Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Author : Celeste Ng
Title : Everything I Never Told You
Published : 2014
Publisher : Abacus
Pages : 320
Genre : Historical Fiction

     Lydia is the favorite 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 becomes a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James's case, that Lydia is popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party. But Lydia is under pressures that have nothing to do with growing up in 1970's small-town Ohio. When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, 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.

     This is the second time I have come to this author the first was with Little Fires Everywhere. It was a book that left me with mixed feeling. I'm not sure if my expectations with that one where set too high before going into it, so I thought I would give this author another go. It must be difficult to live in a country where you don't look like the majority of people, Even if you were born there people will look at you like an outsider. No matter how hard you try people judge and there is nothing you can do about it. But this is only a small part of this tale, in looking at this Again American family the author tackles a great many issues faced in their everyday lives.

    In some ways, the disappearance of there daughter works as a backdrop to the struggles of one family. The author masterfully crafts her story bring many questions to mind that people still face to this day. For many of us, we think we know those closest to us, we spend so much time with our family members how could we not. But here lies the crux of the matter, they all have rich lives away from what we see and have lived full story's before we come to know them as mum, dad or brother, and sister. The struggles they fight every day tend to be hidden behind walls and berried in deep holes. It is this family dynamic that Ng shines her spotlight on. Pulling apart the years of built-up frustrations that run very deep in these peoples lives. 

     Much like the title would suggest she overs all these unsaid words to try and get to the bottom of this mystery. This time around it really worked for me she sunk her claws into my brain and made me care about this family. She has a way of turning the mundane into a captivating insight into all of our lives. Despite all that takes place in this book I flew through it as I looked into every nook and cranny.  With each page, I was looking for clues as to what happened to Lydia but also why these people became the ones they did. These two plot lines mess together to provide an epic story of life in America.  It is both a beautiful and devastating look into the American dream how to often when you pour all your hopes and dreams into your children that it will never live up to what you hope. It is asking way too much of someone else to carry that on their shoulders. How we should all live for our own ideas and hopes. 

     At times I found it hard to put into words how this book made me feel. These people fell off the page and stuck in my mind. Like any family, they feel so familiar in a lot of ways, but they also face struggles I will never know. Racism is something I will never be on the other side of and despite what people will tell you words have power and they can cut you to the bone. And this is what the book does as it makes its way to its heartbreaking conclusion.