EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU

In 2014, The New York Times declared this book one of their bestsellers, and Book of the Year. Have you ever wanted to read a murder mystery book, but just couldn’t handle the tension of unmasking the murderer? How about reading a book where only you, the reader, knows who the murderer is? This, is what Everything I Never Told You has to offer, a modern spin on the iconic trope. Here, you witness the death of Lydia, the daughter of James and Marilyn Lee. You even find out before the characters do: “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” Those are the first 2 sentences of the first page!

You don’t find out right away who is the murderer. There are still some chapters between the reveal and the start. This book also addresses a particular side of racism that rarely ever gets talked about, racism directed towards Asian Americans. But it’s done in a way that makes sense. The characters are original and not recolorings (I’m looking at you, Hollywood). And their origins and the way they got to the place they live in is well explained and matches real world history.

It deals with more discreet forms of racism: stares, jokes, the feeling of not belonging, etc… rather than more aggressive things such as slavery, segregation, which are mentioned in the book, but were done away with in the time the story takes place. Marilyn is white, but James is Chinese and their kids are mixed. This marriage was a result of James wanting to fit in but not being able to, and, Marilyn wanting to stand out but not being able to. This problem chases them around, James gets rejected from a teaching job at Harvard which lands them both in the middle of Ohio, Marylin wants to become a doctor but wasn’t able to. When they have kids, the problem not only fuses together, it’s the worst of both worlds: they want to fit in, but they stand out.

Lydia is the middle child, but not only is she the middle, she is the center of the family. James and Marilyn dedicate all of their time and attention to her. And with paternal affection, comes responsibility, lots of it. James wants her to fit in, socially, and Marylin wants her to stand out, academically. Instead, she stands out socially, and fits in academically. So she doesn’t have any real friends, just classmates, and she’s subpar at school. Not having friends, she turns to her older brother, Nathan, and tells him about what she feels, what she does, etc, he becomes her confidante. But Nathan has a life, too, and Hannah is too young to be a support for her; even if she is the only one aware of what she is going through.

Over the last couple of months, her grades had been dropping, her parents had gotten more demanding, so she had been acting out by hanging out with Jack, a perceived “ladies man”. Jack basically lived doing whatever he wanted, which inspired Lydia to try to take the reins of her own life.

If you want to read about this family’s problems and how they deal with them, then I suggest you get yourself a copy of this book. Author Celeste NG managed to write a mystery that solves itself, and it’ll keep you turning page after page. You won’t be able to put it down until you finish.