A review by mariekejee
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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 book is basically everything I fell in love with when reading Little Fires Everywhere, but on steroids.  It's a story about how we talk without communicating, how parents impose their trauma onto their children, how unspoken thoughts and feelings can grow into something ugly and toxic, how we hurt each other in the name of loving each other, and all of it despite our best intentions.

I absolutely loved my time with this book, and I wept when I finished it. In fairness, I wept during it too.  Celeste Ng has a remarkable talent for writing character studies and complex families. They feel so real, and therefore it is so painful to see the slow descent into dysfunction (or, some might argue, the continuation of dysfunction through generations).

I'm usually much more articulate on what I loved and didn't love when writing reviews, but this book just took me by surprise. I knew I would probably like it, but I loved it. I was absorbed by it. I cannot form eloquent thoughts besides "this is a really, really good book". So there, there's my review.

Sidenote, but I have to say it: the scene where Hannah realises Jack loves Nath is so fucking painful. The way she knows his longing because she too has longed for her family to notice and love her??? fucking kill me right there. I was sobbing. Equally so when her mother finally gives her a hug. This kid deserved so much more than the scraps of attention she got.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings