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A review by lalaris
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
5.0
4,75 ✨
i love how the title of this book is literally engrained in the entire narrative. it’s all about people that just assuem things. things are never said or talked it out, miscommunication at its peak, and then, after lydia dies, lots of things will continue being untold.
all throughout this book i felt physically uncomfortable for the kids. hannah, the poor girl, learned how to be invisible, knowing she was never wanted. nath, the poor boy, i don’t know how he grew up not envious of lydia to the point of breaking down earlier. and lydia, she had it worst. being the centre of gravity, holding your family together after a traumatic event. literally erasing herself to reassure her inner child her mother would stay, her father would smile. by the end, girly was dissociating and didnt even notice. just really really sad, and all i could think was “i hope i am not a mother like marilyn” that even tho she meant good, she was too blind to notice how fake everything grew to be.
celeste ng did an amazing job at building the narrative. i particularly enjoy the way she transits between the characters pov (in third person!), mid chapter, mid sentence even. brilliant. what a debut.
(yet, it did not hit me as hard as “little fires everywhere” did, hence the rating not being five)
i love how the title of this book is literally engrained in the entire narrative. it’s all about people that just assuem things. things are never said or talked it out, miscommunication at its peak, and then, after lydia dies, lots of things will continue being untold.
all throughout this book i felt physically uncomfortable for the kids. hannah, the poor girl, learned how to be invisible, knowing she was never wanted. nath, the poor boy, i don’t know how he grew up not envious of lydia to the point of breaking down earlier. and lydia, she had it worst. being the centre of gravity, holding your family together after a traumatic event. literally erasing herself to reassure her inner child her mother would stay, her father would smile. by the end, girly was dissociating and didnt even notice. just really really sad, and all i could think was “i hope i am not a mother like marilyn” that even tho she meant good, she was too blind to notice how fake everything grew to be.
celeste ng did an amazing job at building the narrative. i particularly enjoy the way she transits between the characters pov (in third person!), mid chapter, mid sentence even. brilliant. what a debut.
(yet, it did not hit me as hard as “little fires everywhere” did, hence the rating not being five)