Pages: 292
Published: 26th June 2014
Genre: General Fiction
Content warnings: Suicide, child death, sexual references, racism
Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.
Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee; a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue – in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the centre of every party. But Lydia is under pressures that have nothing to do with growing up in 1970s small town Ohio. Her father is an American born of first-generation Chinese immigrants, and his ethnicity, and hers, make them conspicuous in any setting.
When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, James is consumed by guilt and sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to make someone accountable, no matter what the cost. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is convinced that local bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it’s the youngest in the family – Hannah – who observes far more than anyone realises and who may be the only one who knows what really happened.
This is a deeply thoughtful book that uses the theme of a family tragedy to powerfully portray a range of social issues of the not too distant past. With a slowly unravelling plot which flits between different timelines, it acts as a forensic portrait that skilfully explores the weaknesses of the human psyche, taking us through the many complex emotions and decisions of a group of characters caught in the middle of societal attitudes.
Running through the heart of it is the sad death of Lydia, a seemingly inexplicable event that shatters the already fragile foundations of those closest to her. This story is not a mystery despite occasional hints to the contrary, but rather a family drama that takes a sophisticated approach to uncovering the events that lead to it and how each of them struggle to deal with its aftermath.
What the author does so well is to convey how the Wongs are accepted as a part of their community in some small ways, but are not in some other, quite sizeable ways. A lot of the discrimination that comes their way takes the form of exclusion, such as the heart-rending way Louise pretends she has friends. It results in James’ sad but understandable attempts to get his children to follow all the latest trends, and Marilyn aggressively encouraging Lydia to study medicine.
The attitude of others towards their Chinese heritage is most compellingly shown in the case of Marilyn, who was a difficult character to work out and like the rest of her family, has her flaws. At first there was big respect for the way she defies her mother by marrying James, but some of her later actions are extremely odd even though they are meaningful to read. It is as if she cannot shake off the dark thoughts at the back of her mind and it creates a distance between her and James.
As for James himself, there are aspects of his character that you can truly connect with such as his desire for he and his family to fit in despite the prejudices that exist around them. He certainly has a dignified demeanour, but his guilt and grief stricken actions after Lydia’s death are weak and reprehensible, and it is hard to see everything fall apart.
It was hard not to feel incredibly sad for their children, who also find themselves shunned by others due to their ethnicity. Louise was the favourite child but just could not handle the attention and the pressure it placed her under. Nathan is a tragic, lonely and smart boy who is looking for someone to blame, a sub-plot which leads to some surprising results. Meanwhile, Hannah is the quiet one who is largely ignored by her parents but sees everything that is going on.
The writing is introspective and understated, placing the reader beside the characters as if we are watching them in a fly on the wall documentary. As such, it is relatively light on serious plot development and patient in terms of pace, using the weight of every word to real effect. Each family member is full of emotional depth, so much so that anyone who picks up this book will likely identify with at least one of them.
Overall, this is not a story you would turn to if you are looking for thrills, but something that ticks a lot of boxes if you want something thought-provoking and character driven. The plot is quite sad for the most part, but it leaves its mark on you with a nuanced depiction of the many real world issues this fictional family has to face. From a literary point of view, there is plenty to admire here.
Celeste Ng grew up in the US states of Pennsylvania and Ohio before graduating from Harvard and the University of Michigan. Her fiction has appeared in various publications and she has received numerous awards, with her three novels released to similar acclaim.
Everything I Never Told You was her debut, published in 2014. It was a New York Times bestseller and was named as Amazon’s top book of that year. Her second novel Little Fires Everywhere was published in 2017 and later adapted for television, and then came Our Missing Hearts some five years later.
This was not the kind of book I usually read and so a hard one to review. I certainly appreciated it though, especially how it explored the many sensitive topics so powerfully. It just did not grab me the whole way through.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐
