Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Everything I Never Told You

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - Review (🇬🇧 + 🇩🇪)

[Several content warnings]

This is a family novel with a great mystery and lots of tragedy. On less than 300 pages Ng lets the reader be part of a fully fleshed out family. Fascinating! Every family member gets to tell their piece of the story.

It takes place in the 1970s in Ohio. Marilyn is a white woman with great ambition. She absolutely doesn’t want to be like her mother: “just” a wife and mother. But as soon as she sets out to college, she meets James Lee. They marry, despite all the frowning on mixed-race families.

About a mother, who wants to stand out. About a father, who finally wants to fit in. Of three children, all neglected in their own way. And Lydia, their favorite, their golden child, who is now dead. But they don’t know this yet…

Highly recommend! This was such a page turner.
_____

🇩🇪 Was ich euch nicht erzählte von Celeste Ng

[Diverse Inhaltswarnungen]

Eine Familiengeschichte mit vielen Geheimnissen und Tragödien. Auf weniger als 300 Seiten lässt Ng tief in das Vorgehen einer sehr ausschattierten Familie blicken. Faszinierend! Jedes Familienmitglied erzählt einen Teil der Geschichte.

Diese spielt in den 1970er in Ohio. Marilyn ist eine weiße Frau mit vielen Ambitionen: Sie möchte Ärztin werden und auf gar keinen Fall auf ihre Mutter hören und einen schmucken Havard-Mann heiraten. Doch genau das passiert. Sie trifft James Lee und sie heiraten - trotz all der hochgezogenen Augenbrauen, denn James ist Sohn chinesischer Einwanderer.

Es geht also um eine Mutter, die herausstechen wollte. Um einen Vater, der sich nichts anderes als das genaue Gegenteil wünschte. Es geht um drei Kinder, die mit Erwartungen zugepackt schwer zu tragen hatten. Und um so viele Geheimnisse! Und Lydia, ihre liebste Tochter, ist nun tot. Doch das wissen sie noch nicht…

Große Empfehlung! Eine Familiengeschichte gepaart mit einer Mystery-Erzählung. Ein echter Page Turner.

Content Warnings

daniellemjoyce's review against another edition

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mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

meg__13's review against another edition

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emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

bobbyheddy's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

clomoney's review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

5.0

This is such a powerful story and I love the third person omniscient POV writing style, I think it flows beautifully.

I am surprised by some negative reviews but I think that this story isn’t for everyone- If you are expecting a murder mystery then you may be disappointed. You have to be very open minded when reading. This is a book about character flaws, family trauma and generational trauma. The characters are not perfect but you have to be open minded enough to understand why.

I cannot wait to read more by Celeste Ng

Content Warnings

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.

Content Warnings

bek_p87's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This was a gorgeous and haunting read. Sixteen year old Lydia is the glue that holds her family together, and when, shortly after her 16th birthday, she is found dead, her family - father James, mother Marilyn, older brother Nathan, and younger sister Hannah - fall apart. This is not a murder mystery, but a character study of a family through the decades, what made them and what threatens to destroy them. Some may not like the ending, but I found it fitting and realistic.

Content Warnings

sophia2203's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

2.75

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