Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

87 reviews

im_just_vidu's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Here I am grieving for the life that Lydia could never lived up to. Here I am loss of words because of how heart wrenching this was.
The first line of the book is "Lydia is dead. They don't know this yet" & you would think it's such an obvious thing, so you wouldn't cry over this book. Bold of me to assume the same cuz I did not expect THAT at all. I thought this would be end up being a murder mystery, but instead it just pulled all the heart strings of mine & made me feel so heartbroken. Maybe being relatable to the characters & their situations made things way worse. At the end, I didn't get the ending I wanted. I didn't get the answers for the questions I had. Most of the things I expected didn't end up happening. But that was the beautiful thing about this. Because life is like that. Life doesn't gives you the perfect ending & the closure to everything. Most of the time we just end up with bunch of questions we don't even know what to do with. I love that. It makes this story feel so close to the heart. I didn't cry yet but my heart feels so heavy so I might end up crying after finish writing this. Who knows? However read the trigger warnings & be prepared with a tissue box beforehand.
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sqacedvst's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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megancortez's review

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. A literary masterpiece of the modern era. A harrowing story about a cataclysm of grief and tragedy, and the quiet resilience that precipitates at the bottom of heartbreak.
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brynniek's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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katharina90's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

The characters are unlikeable with zero redeeming qualities, there's so much abuse and trauma being inflicted that was triggering for me, and in the end it feels like there's no real resolution and no accountability for what these people did to one another. 
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adriennegg's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Beautiful storytelling by Celeste Ng that takes you inside the world of each of the Lee family members as their story unfolds. Her writing included accurate depictions of racism, relationships, hidden desires, finding one’s place, love and self-loathing. I loved that the book shared each member’s perspective on the events that unfolded and allowed you to see the family’s unraveling from different views. It’s a great study on the pressures parents put on children and the sometimes unrealistic expectations we groom them to live up to. It’s tough to love due to the themes but hard not to in Ng’s portrayal of them. It’s a well-written piece that I’d recommend.
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dowleyrachel's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

honestly still trying to find my thoughts with this one. I like Ng’s storytelling style, how it jumps in time and weaves threads together. I found the parts about her mother having to give up her dreams and putting them on her daughter as very compelling. The generational storytelling also did a good job of reminding the reader how much things have changed and progress has moved forward in just a couple generations. Sometimes the lack of communication in these books frustrate me. I can see how it captures real family dynamics, especially in indirect family cultures. But I wish for more of a payout ending where words are shared. Like I wanted Nath and Jack to have a much more real conversation. I honestly don’t know what to think of Lydia’s suicide. Like, was it suicide or did she actually think she could reach the doc if she tried hard enough? I suppose her logic was the product of mental illness all the same. I just don’t know what to think of it being accidental and I’m curious what those who have either attempted suicide or experienced the suicide of a loved one think of this.
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fancyjess_party's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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frey's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely devastating read, in the best way possible. Not the genre i usually read but by the quarter-way point i was unable to put it down for long. Even as a non-American it was such a beautiful read with beautifully believable characters. The way of telling the story was so well done and my heart hurt so much for Hannah the longer I read.
Not to mention, finding out at the very end that Lydia didn't actually mean to kill herself broke my heart. The last chapter of the book was so beautifully sorrowful that it nearly broke me. The line from Nath's point of view at the very end of the book: "When, a long, long time later, he stares down at the silent blue marble of the earth and thinks of his sister, as he will at every important moment in his life." I still think about this line weeks later. Nothing encapsulates grief better I think in the book than this line. I will never get over it: "I will always think of you in the most important moments of my life" is grief in its most beautiful form.
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schlady's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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