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

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

70 reviews

dowsa's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

“You never got what you wanted; you just learned to get by without it.”

On the surface this book is about grief but underneath that, it’s about so much more. It’s a study on families and expectations and what it means to love unconditionally. How fair is it to want more for your children than what you had? I saw myself in so many of the characters and the way their dynamics were so warped due to insecurities and things left unspoken. A really wonderful read.

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avasbookmark's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

This book is very similar in tone and content to Ng’s sophomore novel “Little Fires Everywhere”. Like “Little Fires”, it explores family dynamics and themes of race and belonging. It takes place in small-town Ohio and revolves around a mystery, introduced on page one that unfolds and reveals itself as the book progresses.

I love the way Celeste Ng writes from the perspectives of different characters, always with such empathy and depth. As an author, she places you inside a family’s life, zooming in to individual family members, then back out, seamlessly, to reveal the impact of each character’s experiences and thoughts on the others.

What knocked it down from 5 stars for me, was the almost disappointing lack of a thrilling, mystery element. This was hinted at and touched upon at times, but never really explored. What happened to Lydia could have been delved into a little more. The queer storyline with Jack was also barely developed. Jack’s character was fairly one-dimensional and his queerness/relationship with Nath could have been treated with as much care and detail as the rest of the story.

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daeadevil's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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

4.25

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shane_delier's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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megmccreery's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This story opens with Lydia Lee, a 16 year old, in a small Ohio town, being found dead in a lake. The story explores everything that got Lydia and her family to this point, and how their whole family unit implodes with Lydia's death. There's generational trauma with the Lee parents projecting their wants, dreams, and desires that were never realized onto their favorite child, Lydia. There's two other kids in the Lee family, Nath and Hannah, and they have always been backburner children to Lydia. They have to find where they fit in in the family now that the star is gone.

I loved the discussion of not fitting in and being "different." James Lee was born from Chinese immigrants and has been the butt of racist jokes in all the Midwest towns he has lived in throughout his life. He dreams to fit in and have his kids fit in. Marilyn Lee is a woman who has always wanted to be different. She never wanted to have the husband, family, and white-picket home that her mother force-fed her her whole life. She wanted to become a rare female doctor in the 1960s.

The big question is: What happens when you just can't do it anymore? "It" meaning anything, a culmination of things, something you can't describe but only feel. The feeling of something suffocating you, holding you back, or maybe even the absence of feeling or feelings.

It did take me a minute to get into this book because Celeste Ng's writing is more complex and deeper than I'm used to reading, but it was such a heartbreaking, thought-provoking story. My heart hurt so much for all of the characters; I didn't think anyone's feelings or actions in reaction to their feelings were invalid. In conclusion, ouch my heart. Read this book.

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