EINTY - Chapters 1-4 (Sep 2017)

[Caroline]

This thread is for discussing the first four chapters (or about 100 pages of this month's moderator pick, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. Feel free to discuss spoilers from these chapters here but please use spoiler tags or comment in the Whole Book discussion thread to discuss anything from chapters 5-12.

In these first chapters, we are introduced to the members of the Lee family: James (Chinese-American history professor), Marilyn (white American woman who dreams of becoming a doctor but has stayed home to watch the kids), Nath (oldest son, bound for Harvard), Lydia (middle and favorite child, now dead), and Hannah (the youngest and quietest of the Lee children). We've also learned a bit about the Lee family's background - how Marilyn and James met, what Marilyn thinks of her home economics and advocate mother, and how each of the family members are handling Lydia's sudden death.

What do you think of the book so far? What about each of the characters and their relationships with each other?

Do you like how each chapter switches back and forth between Lydia's story and the past?

Do you have thoughts on what might have happened to Lydia?

What other elements of the story have jumped out to you so far? Or is there anything that's not working for you?

[Hugh]

I read the first half of the book yesterday, and found it quite compelling but rather sad. The characters are all quite believable and I did like the style - it was interesting to see the Chinese-American perspective on the old American family story novel.