Celeste Ng | EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU

Plot (via Goodreads):

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.

So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. 

A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

Review:

Naturally, I finished this novel about a week ago. I want to preface this review with the fact that for me, this was not an easy read to review and I'll tell you why; I couldn't fully wrap my head around how I was feeling the minute I completed the last page of this beautifully crafted novel. I was elated, emotional, and exhausted from this family and the lives they led. Thank you, Celeste Ng. 

Celeste Ng's writing is spellbinding, articulate, and sensational. I'll admit, when I initially picked up this one, I was looking for answers to what happened to Lydia Lee. I wasn't focused on the aftermath of her death, but the reasons we got to where the first chapter started. I was immediately catapulted into a world of unfamiliarity where the stakes were high with emotion. This is a domestic drama with a glimpse into the world of mystery. Ng writes about a family that has dealt with hardship, heartache, and sorrow in such a stunning way that there were times I was so focused on the characters at hand that I had forgotten that I had no idea what happened to Lydia. I wasn't obsessed with mystery or a whodunnit, I was taken on a long and sentimental journey following a family wrecked with loss. 

The plot to this novel is rather generic to the naked eye, but prepare yourself for writing unlike anything else out there that permeates with glorious detail, echoes with emotion, and stuns in its prose. I was absolutely submerged in this story and astonished with how quickly I found myself mesmerized by Ng's writing. Not only can she write a story that is blissfully morose, but did so while intertwining this plot with characters that are pragmatic and brutally honest. It's hard to describe the last quarter of this novel, but I can say that Ng exquisitely delivers revelations to an emotionally charged and heavenly ending. I cannot get enough of her writing and eagerly look forward to what comes next. 

Rating: 4.5/5