Everything I Never Told You in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

May 06, 2015 alana rated it liked it

Shelves: intercultural-china, immigration, audiobook, crime

Everything I Never Told You came highly praised from the Book Riot crew and is actually a fairly lovely book. As with several books recently, I found it rather depressing (hence the lower rating).

I am a sucker for stories about white girls falling for Asian guys (hello, Eleanor & Park), because I love to see how authors address some of the same issues/concerns/awesomeness that I've had in regards to my marriage and family. I just forgot that some of those explorations of struggles (especially t ...more

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Jul 24, 2015 Abby Johnson rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, diverse, historical_fiction, grownup_books

I really enjoyed this character-driven novel about all the things you don't know that you don't know about the ones you love the most. The pacing was spot on for me, changing viewpoints or revealing a twist that kept the plot moving forward. Cassandra Campbell is an experienced narrator who gave this story the quiet respect it deserves. ...more

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Sep 11, 2015 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: recommended-books, fiction

Beautifully written. The prose, setting, and sense of suspension in the 1970s reminded me of The Virgin Suicides. A fast, absorbing, sad read leaves you feeling a bit hollow - as you imagine all the characters themselves must feel.

Definitely recommended - and I hope to read more by Celeste Ng.

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May 10, 2018 Dina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Took me a while to finish it but I did enjoy it.

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Apr 15, 2016 Linda Parker rated it liked it

The writing is descriptive and I liked the parent's back stories and the challenges of an Asian/Caucasian interracial marriage in the 60's and 70's BUT the family's dysfunction seemed too extreme and the core mystery wasn't very interesting. A true case of not caring about any of the main characters and the tidy and rapid finish didn't make me care much about the ending. ...more

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Apr 23, 2016 Mary rated it really liked it

Lydia is an outsider who is also the bearer of her parents highest hopes and expectations. Her brother and sister are shunted aside as the parents spend everything on the favorite child. The intense pressure of living up to her parents high hopes and losing her brother to college is just too much.

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May 21, 2015 Kate McCartney rated it liked it

Shelves: adult-fiction, 2015

I feel as if I should have been more emotional reading this. I felt so much anger and disappointment at the parents. I felt like this was such a messed up family. I wonder if all families are like this? Holding so much back, so afraid to be themselves and except who everyone else is.

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Apr 27, 2016 Shayla rated it liked it

Shelves: library-book-club

The pacing of this novel is very good and I think she does a great job of capturing the things that were left unsaid in the Lee family. But I couldn't help but feel sad for most of these characters and so it wasn't necessarily pleasant for me to read.

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