Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Everything I Never Told You

This book is straightforward in its mystery: you find out in the beginning what happened, and spend the rest of the book trying to figure out the ‘how’s and ‘why’s of it all. (I listened to the audiobook on Libby.) I enjoyed the way the author tackled topics of race/ethnicity, family, love, and relationships, creating a story for everyone to get invested in. Will definitely be looking into more of Ng’s work.

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rpaule93's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

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michaelion's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

Heartbreaking in a way that makes you smile? Or maybe I'm just a little skewed. It's so real. The beauty of the writing style alone hooked me but the story? Too real.

There's a paragraph where mom is thinking about Lydia and how she can mold her future and everything her daughter is going to be that she couldn't and in the middle Hannah is mentioned, as mom is pregnant, and so quickly is she forgotten. She is sandwiched between Marilyn and Lydia, in story and in sentence, just barely acknowledged, but nothing more. That's only ONE example of the writing that had me hooked much earlier than that scene.

So painful. And despite everything that happens the family loves each other so much, in a bad, terrible, abusive and abused way, but as the title shows, none of them know how to tell each other that. None of them know how to be better to each other, but they all want to. I fucking love it.

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microbemom's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is one sad family!

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quietlex's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I don’t know, I found this read pretty boring. The main struggles really all result from Marilyn running away, which in turn soiled her children’s relationships with each other and herself. The beloved middle child put on a pedestal, the eldest tolerated, and the youngest completely overlooked and forgotten. I enjoyed getting to know each character more, but there was so little to find out, in reality. It seems the reoccurring theme is running away:

Marilyn from her old life being a housewife instead of a doctor, James from constant racism and his sad wife who never seems satisfied with what he can offer, Nath from being at home and disappointing his parents, and Lydia from the crushing weight her parents put on her to be exactly what the other didn’t want, being popular/fitting in vs standing out/ being different. Lydia took on the responsibility of holding her parents relationship together, trying to be everything her mother wanted, as long as she wouldn’t abandon them again. Marilyn became obsessive once she lost her chance at medical school, forcing Lydia to become everything she wanted to be and more. I cannot believe the treatment of Hannah, the poor youngest. Literally and figuratively pushed away at every turn, just trying to find her place in the family and in the world. She is the magnum opus of the family, the one reason why Marilyn was forced to come back home, the one mistake that cost her her last chance of becoming a doctor. She is the real victim in the story. The infidelity is wrapped up rather hastily, with James swearing to never speak to Louisa again, making it seem like it was purely physical, like he was only cheating because his wife wasn’t putting out. There was so much more there, with her being the literal only other Asian in town, or baking handmade treats from James’s childhood. They had been close for so long, the emotional and sexual tension was downplayed a lot. And then the reveal of how Lydia actually died, I think sums up this book overall. Drawn out, not very exciting, just a bit of a let down.

Overall, disappointing and predictable. You’re left with a hollow ending, like, “Welp, bad things happen, life goes on and then you die.”

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