A review by kinta
All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien

challenging emotional mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

looking at the premise of this book you’d think its just an average mystery - but oh my goodness it is so much more than that. it’s a story of belonging, loss, culture, addiction and family.

set in the 90’s in Australia’s heroin capital, Cabramatta, the novel primarily follows Kay and her uncovering of details and events that occurred on the night her younger brother Denny was murdered. straight-a student and quiet, his peers are baffled by his sudden and gruesome death on the night of his formal. this book is perfectly paced and dips into the perspectives of witnesses of the murder. 

my favourite excerpt: 
There is no way for me to tell her that we’ve lost so much more - more than time with our parents, more than time with each other. There is no way for me to tell her that the loss began well before we were born, that our parents had loss, and our ancestors had loss - loss of home, loss of place, loss of self, loss of life - and we were born with that loss, carried it, burdened by it, part of it. 
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