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Everything I Never Told You

Celeste Ng

Start date: December 12, 2015

Finish date: December 31, 2015

Discussion: Books of the Month

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What Members Thought

Jan 20, 2018 Kirsten rated it really liked it

I just saw the other day where this book is being turned into a film. I can totally see how this could be a great film.

This book is incredibly intense. Issues of grief, racism, unrequited love, infidelity, sibling rivalry, depression, stress, etc. So many things. All encompassed in one multiracial family. All set in the days of the Carter Administration.

A wonderful book. Not to be read lightly.

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Oct 21, 2015 Rachel N. rated it liked it

Lydia is dead, found in a lake near her home. The book then travels back and forth showing the events that led up to Lydia's death and the aftermath. Lydia is the middle child of a family with a father whose parents were from China and whose mother is white. Lydia is pushed by her mother to excel in school and be a doctor and by her father to be popular and fit in. Lydia's older brother Nath and younger sister Hannah are both ignored while all the parents attention is focused on Lydia. I really ...more

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May 05, 2017 Judy rated it really liked it

When Lydia Lee, the favorite daughter of a Chinese-American family living in Ohio is found dead in a local lake, her family begins to come undone. In the process of a family unraveling, the pressures facing immigrants become evident, their secrets are laid bare, and their understanding, or lack of understanding, of each other within their family unit are revealed.

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Jan 07, 2017 Sarah rated it it was ok

This is more like a 2.5 star read for me. Somewhere between "it was ok" and "I liked it", because I'm not quite sure that I actually did like it. A little heavy handed on the misery and melancholy for my tastes at the moment. I have nothing bad to say about the writing. It's just that the mood of the story is not what I am looking for at the moment. ...more

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Feb 03, 2017 Jen Ifer's Inklings rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-books, library, popsugar-2017-reading-challenge, read-in-2017

I'm really wavering on my rating for this book. I'm going to say that it probably more of a 3.5 star book for me. The story was good. The characters were okay/good. I really had issues with the voice the book was written in. It seemed to be told in a narration, but sometimes felt like it switched to first person and back in the same paragraph. ...more

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Nov 16, 2015 Rebekah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-book-club, genre-contemporary, genre-historical-fiction, genre-novels, genre-adult, genre-adult-fiction, rating-4, genre-literary-fiction, genre-mystery, genre-family

This was a very moving book about a biracial family growing up in the Midwest US in the 1970s. It is hard to read because it is so realistic and powerful, and that made it at times gut-wrenching without being maudlin or melodramatic. It is tragic how some people do not communicate honestly with each other. And how society tries to force us into certain specific roles and expectations, even if we do not want to fit in. This one will definitely stay with me awhile.

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Nov 28, 2020 Kelly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Heart wrenching

Celeste Ng is amazing at examining raw humanity. The things we tell ourselves, the things that we pretend we aren’t aware of, the unspoken things that we suddenly realize we are looking at all wrong. Family dynamics are tricky and while we think that we pay attention to the ones we love, we see everything through our own lens, our own past, our own experiences. Excellent read that brought tears to my eyes.

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