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A review by serenityofbooks
All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien
5.0
“An unforgettable debut, utterly compelling from start to finish. Original. Heartbreaking. Gripping. I just loved it.” This is the quote attributed to Liane Moriarty on the cover of All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien. She’s perfectly summed up my thoughts on this book – probably why she’s a bestselling author & I am not!
Set in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta in 1996, 16 year old student Denny Tran is murdered in front of a restaurant full of people yet apparently none of the witnesses saw anything. In a town gripped by violent crime and a heroin epidemic, the police force is not showing much interest in investigating the murder so when Denny’s sister Ky returns for the funeral, she decides to use her journalistic skills and get to the bottom of why her brother was killed.
The main narrator is grief-stricken Ky but through the multiple points of view of the witnesses, we can see how the predominately Vietnamese-Australian community have been shaped by their experiences, both their own and inherited from their parents in Vietnam and Australia. And this for me, is where the story really opens up and the complex layers & themes make it a 5 star read!
The themes of intergenerational trauma, trying to assimilate to a new country and culture and the pressure to be perfect for your parents when they have made life changing sacrifices to give you a “better life” were interesting and thought provoking for me and to be honest, this book opened my eyes to experiences I hadn’t put much thought into before.
This is a must-read book for anyone who enjoys their reading to stay with them long after they finish. Tracey Lien’s debut book is a powerful original story that had me absolutely gripped from the first page until the very end and I’m so glad I read it.
Set in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta in 1996, 16 year old student Denny Tran is murdered in front of a restaurant full of people yet apparently none of the witnesses saw anything. In a town gripped by violent crime and a heroin epidemic, the police force is not showing much interest in investigating the murder so when Denny’s sister Ky returns for the funeral, she decides to use her journalistic skills and get to the bottom of why her brother was killed.
The main narrator is grief-stricken Ky but through the multiple points of view of the witnesses, we can see how the predominately Vietnamese-Australian community have been shaped by their experiences, both their own and inherited from their parents in Vietnam and Australia. And this for me, is where the story really opens up and the complex layers & themes make it a 5 star read!
The themes of intergenerational trauma, trying to assimilate to a new country and culture and the pressure to be perfect for your parents when they have made life changing sacrifices to give you a “better life” were interesting and thought provoking for me and to be honest, this book opened my eyes to experiences I hadn’t put much thought into before.
This is a must-read book for anyone who enjoys their reading to stay with them long after they finish. Tracey Lien’s debut book is a powerful original story that had me absolutely gripped from the first page until the very end and I’m so glad I read it.