EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU (REISSUE)

'Lies and secrets, Tessa, they are like a cancer in the soul. They eat away what is good and leave only destruction behind.'----Cassandra ClareCeleste Ng, the New York Times bestselling author, has penned an entrancing tale about a Chinese-American family set in the 70s America, Everything I Never Told You. This story opens with the eldest daughter's death but her parents and her siblings are not aware of it, and from there the story shifts from one family member's past life and secrets to another and on the background, the police are looking for the missing daughter.Synopsis:'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.Lydia Lee, the apple of her parents', Marilyn and James, eyes, who will fulfill all their dreams that they could not achieve. She will become a doctor and will not settle down for marriage at a younger age unlike her mother, Marilyn, who fell for the professor, James, a first generation Chinese immigrant in America, and married him, thus putting an end in becoming a doctor. As for James, Lydia will become a social butterfly. But when her body is found at the nearby lake, the whole family is left devastated with her loss. Lydia's elder brother, Nathan, with whom Lydia shared the strongest bond of trust in the family, is in doubt that the badass playboy, Jack, from their school, has something to do with her death. James treads on a dangerous path that will jeopardize his marriage to Marilyn. Whereas Marilyn needs absolution to her precious daughter's death as according to her Lydia is not capable of killing herself as the police suggests. Hannah, the youngest daughter of the family, knows a lot about what was going on with Lydia, how she was burdened under her parent's pressure to excel well in every subjects and to be the center of every event.We have all heard about the term "peer pressure" and how it affects one. But there is another kind of pressure called "parent pressure" that is even more dangerous than the peer pressure, as it silently affects the mind of a child. Lydia is constantly pressurized especially by her own mother to become a doctor and for that she was asked to excel in all the science subjects, unfortunately she failed in Physics, no matter how hard she tried. And to keep her mother pleased, she used to constantly say yes to each and every one of her demands. Lydia tried to be good but she had no friends.The author's writing style is excellent and thoroughly exquisite and is laced with all kinds of heart-felt and deep emotions right from the very beginning. The story is arresting from the very first page itself, as it will immediately pull the readers into the lives of these complex characters. The narrative is engaging as well as evocative enough to make the readers feel and comprehend with the story line. The author has trod the path to this story with vivid details, emotions and enough back story, thus making it simpler for the readers to move along with it. The pacing is quite fast, compared to the fact that this is a mystery laced with family drama.The characters are the highlight of this story thus making ti enriching as well as fascinating to read. All the characters are very layered and are depicted under two dimensions. They are flawed, yet they held a beauty in their not so inspiring demeanor. There is no main character, each and every member of Lee family plays an equally important role. The marital bond between Marilyn and James becomes weakened due to their loss and how they try hard to hold on to each other in those difficult times is strikingly portrayed by the author. The characters of both Nathan and Hannah are very much well-developed and Nathan's determination to find out what happened with his sister and Hannah's knowledge about her sister's late-night escapades will make the readers fall for them and root for them till the very end.The timeline of the 70s which is not so evident from the story line, yet at times the readers are introduced with the then society by vividly portraying it into the story. But the setting is captured strikingly by the author as the author mentions about the summers spent by the Lee family in the lake.In a nutshell, this is a poignant family drama that is layered with suspense and some unpredictable twists that will keep the readers turning the pages of this book till the very end.

I am kind of torn after reading this book. At first, it starts out really boring. Almost halfway through the story, it gets interesting and I finished the last 60% of the book at one go.The story revolves around Lydia's death, but it is a lot more than a murder mystery. It talks about racism, family issues, parental problems, bullying, over expectations, etc. The author has written this story in two timelines, the present and the past (till Lydia's death). But I would still give this book a 4/5 because it takes time to build up the characters and the story.However, a lovely book. Please read it, if you're looking for a new perspective.

It's a sad and a depressing story till the end. I thought something interesting will happen towards the end of the book but there was none. Not my cup of tea, but to people who love sadness, depression and despair, please go ahead.

Everything I Never Told You, is without doubt one of the best out of the 11 books I read in May. It’s an exquisite novel about the Lee family, in 1970s Ohio, and how the apparent suicide of their eldest daughter Lydia, affects the relations among the rest. It’s been a profound and revealing experience- reading this moving story of family, love, longing and secrets, and how delicate the equilibrium that balances them are.I finished this book within 3 days while I do believe that it would have taken me less than a day, should I have not been in the middle of my finals. This novel is not just revolving around the crime itself; in a way it follows the stream-of-consciousness method when it jumps back and forth in time giving us a view of the world through not only Lydia’s but also the other characters’ eyes as well, until it culminates in that one point where the story really ends.The plotline was very well thought out- and the execution, flawless. This is my first Celeste Ng book and I am looking forward to reading the rest. Like I have stated before, the way of writing is beautiful and the magic she has woven in this tragic yet hopeful tale, is astounding. As I read and flipped the pages, I could almost sense the feelings Lydia was undergoing as if it was truly happening to me. The characters were very round and well-developed, in the sense that we were given an intimate view of their mental mechanisms and why they acted the way they did. It’s a harrowing experience and boggled my mind as I reached towards the end. Everybody has a story- this novel is not simply concerned with the suicide and the whys behind it. It also deals with the hows, whens and whys in the lives of the other characters as well- dissecting the events in their own life that had shaped them into their true selves.I have truly enjoyed this piece of literature and I rate it a 5/5 stars for making not only me- laugh and cry, but my mother as well. When asked, her rating was also, not surprisingly, a 5/5 stars!

Wow. Just wow. Anybody who is a parent and is reading this book will be mesmerized and terrorized in equal measure. It makes you think about child psychology and the impact of parents' actions on their children's minds.The book is well written, and the author's style is easy on the mind. Definitely an author to watch out for.

Te mantiene enganchado hasta el final, me gustó

I loved this book!! Celest Ng is a fantastic writer. I usually read at night and this book, l was still reading at 3 AM !! This story was awesome, hard to put down ❤️❤️ Thank You for writing another stunning story 🩶💜

EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOUBY: CELESTE NGI first read, "Everything I Never Told You," when it was first published in 2014. I wanted to re-read it to see if it still was worthy of the five stars that I had rated it back then and it was. I have read "Little Fires Everywhere," and watched its miniseries produced by Hulu. In both novels Celeste Ng captures beautifully dysfunctional family dynamics. I loved both books and I would encourage you to watch the miniseries of "Little Fires Everywhere," because it is excellent and varies a little from the book. The acting is incredible. In both novels Celeste Ng explores how parents expectations of their children is the catalyst for a tragic outcome that they never expected. Also, in both novels that unexpected heartbreak is told to the reader in the very beginning. Since this is a review for "Everything I Never Told You," I will focus on that one.The setting is during the 1970's which makes, "Everything I Never Told You," a historical novel, but I still think that the themes within that are so expertly explored are still relevant today. Celeste Ng crafted a realistic depiction of the discrimination that Asian Americans still face today. This novel in my humble opinion is even more heartbreaking because the beginning lines tell the story of every parents' worst nightmare. The title is pitch perfect for what ensues during flashbacks of how the Chinese American family of the Lee's ended up in the incredibly sad position that they now face.It is not a spoiler to say that the beginning sentence tells that the middle child of three in this family is dead. The reason why I have included it in this review is because it is stated in the synopsis of this novel. Over the course of reading you will discover how this happened. Was it murder? By reading you will easily figure out what happened to Lydia. This one remains my favorite perhaps because of how it does a great job of the character development and the question of what if? You will not be disappointed in this deep dive of how it examines the cost of weighing what can result if you want a better life for your child and you pick a favorite child who you want to do and have all of the things that you didn't have. Is being the favorite more helpful or harmful to the child who you as a parent pin all of your hopes and dreams that you in your own life didn't achieve? If only? It is a question that will haunt you as you read this UNFORGETTABLE, but realistic story that centers on one family's struggles to reconcile one of life's toughest consequences. It did affect me just as powerfully as the first time I read it and I would rate it Five sparkling and bright stars and it is absolutely perfectly written. I wouldn't change a thing. Highly, Highly Recommended!

J'ai beaucoup aimé la lecture de ce livre sur une famille qui n'est pas heureuse, dont on suit le parcours sur deux lignes temportelles. C'est facile à lire, on s'attache aux personnages même ceux les moins aimables, on veut connaitre la fin..Après little fires everywhere, encore un bon livre. J'attends le 3eme de Celeste Ng, que je commanderai avec plaisir.

Ich bin noch ganz ausser Atem, eben habe ich das Buch fertig gelesen. Ich fand es extrem eindrücklich, eine Familie Anfang 70er, welche mit diversen Problemen zu kämpfen hat. Vieles ist extrem gut nachvollziehbar, der Wunsch, dass die Tochter etwas aus sich macht/die eigenen Träume lebt. Es sind ganz normale Menschen und es zeigt sich, wie viel man auch in bester Absicht falsch machen kann. Der Schluss hat mich nicht vollständig überzeugt, dennoch ein starkes, intensives Buch. 4.8 Sterne.