Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - All That's Left Unsaid

Really great exploration of 1990s Cabramatta, the impacts of intergenerational trauma, and the toxicity of perfectionism. I liked how each chapter was from a different character's perspective - you really developed so much empathy for each person's situation, and how their own world view / personality etc motivated their behaviour. Having previously worked in the Cabramatta/ Fairfield area myself for a number of years, it was personally really interesting to understand more about what Cabramatta was like 20 years ago (and that some of the struggles of that time are still likely impacting people today).

Content Warnings

jayisreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

It’s so nice to read stories that focus on the diaspora outside of the United States. In this case, All That’s Left Unsaid focuses on the Vietnamese diaspora in Cabramatta, a suburb outside of Sydney. This is a heartbreaking story in many ways, drawing attention to the difficulties that shaped the Vietnamese community of this suburb, as well as the life of the protagonist, Ky. While this seems to be marketed as a mystery (which it technically is, since Ky is trying to find out who murdered her brother), this didn’t really read to me as a mystery book. To me, it was more a contemplation on the struggles of this Vietnamese community dealing with unchecked racism, immigration, drug abuse and addiction, the traumas of war which, inevitably, leads to generational trauma. In other words, if you’re hoping for a standard murder mystery, this book won’t meet that expectation.

All things considered, I thought Lien addressed these topics quite well, in the sense that none of them read as superficial or an afterthought. That being said, I think the pacing and execution of the story itself was a bit rough. It took some time to get used to the jumping back and forth between the past and present, which I felt disrupted the overall flow of the book. As a result, this affected the pacing. I didn’t feel engaged during some parts of the book, while other moments were gripping.

Ultimately, though, I think it is worth picking up this book, especially if you’re interested in reading diasporic literature that doesn’t center USians.

Content Warnings