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

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

70 reviews

michaelion's review against another edition

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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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.

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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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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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vedpears's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I think I have become a Celeste Ng fan girl now. The writing is beautiful and mesmerizing - such great storytelling! I disliked every character except Nathan and Hannah (spelling? I consumed this book via audiobook). Narcissists all around. I recognized so many scenarios from my own family dynamics and those of my friends'. I find it interesting that some reviews I have read said these characters weren't believable. I whole-heartedly disagree with that sentiment and am certain that those reviewers aren't paying attention to others in their lives, are like one of the parents in the book themselves, or live very fortunately charmed lives.

I think Celeste Ng does a great job threading context/ characters' histories into the current narrative. That story telling tool often irritates me but she does it so well that it doesn't feel like an interruption.

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dkmons's review against another edition

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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad 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

4.0

A novel about missed opportunities and words that were never said, this book is sad and thoughtful. It makes you question what you might do differently if the people you love were suddenly no longer here with us. Ng’s books are well-crafted — full of beautiful prose. I can’t wait for her newest novel.

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midnightmarauder's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

3.5

This book was a real page-turner for me. It was so hard to put it down! Every time I tried, I just kept picking it up and telling myself, "just one more chapter."

I liked how it explored each character's relationship with the protagonist and what lead up to her death. Though, there were a couple things that I didn't like:

Louisa's ending. The book wrote Louisa and James' affair ending as, "James never spoke to Louisa again." That didn't make sense to me, as she was his teaching assistant. Did he just go back to work after the summer ended and give her the cold shoulder the entire time until she got the hint and quit? Or did she get the hint before the summer was over and resign? Their affair was covered quite a bit in the book, so I found it strange that the author didn't give her a better ending. Another thing I didn't like was Jack's ending. The author made it clear that he had feelings for Nathan all this time, but never touched on them. Did he ever tell Nathan how he felt? Did he ever come out to anyone else? That was also never specified. After him and Nathan's fight, he's never mentioned again. I didn't like that.

Otherwise, the book was a great read. Celeste Ng really told this story well, even if the end was a bit lazy.

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ruisquared's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

3.75

The main themes and tropes were approached in a way that felt authentic to reality and the characters. While some less familiar with these situations might find the family's (especially James and Marilyn) struggles and demands of each other to be unrealistic or outright ridiculous, they are most assuredly quite accurate as well.

However, my main issue was not with the content or characters but the style of prose. This may be a matter of preference but I prefer a more lyrical approach with ambiguity left for the reader to make their own interpretations.

Here, there is a much more 'tell' approach as opposed to 'show' – again, a matter of opinion as to which you'd prefer, but I think especially for such a character-centric book the latter could perhaps be better suited.

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ameliaflint's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I did enjoy this book, it was definitely a good and powerful read. However, I rate it a little lower because I was a little disappointed after reading Little Fires Everywhere. However, still an excellent book that delves into themes like interracial marriage in the 70s, Asian-American identity, and parental pressure.

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