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Both a propulsive mystery and a profound examination of a mixed-race family, Ng s explosive debut chronicles the plight of Marilyn and James Lee after their favored daughter is found dead in a lake.
Entertainment WeeklyExcellent . . . an accomplished debut . . . heart-wrenching . . . Ng deftly pulls together the strands of this complex, multigenerational novel.
Everything I Never Told You is an engaging work that casts a powerful light on the secrets that have kept an American family together and that finally end up tearing it apart.
Los Angeles TimesTender and merciless all at once . . . Vital in all the essential ways. Jesmyn Ward, author of
Sing, Unburied, Sing, A National Book Award winner
Wonderfully moving . . . Emotionally precise . . . A beautifully crafted study of dysfunction and grief . . . [This book] will resonate with anyone who has ever had a family drama.
Boston GlobeA powerhouse of a debut novel, a literary mystery crafted out of shimmering prose and precise, painful observation about racial barriers, the burden of familial expectations, and the basic human thirst for belonging . . . Ng s novel grips readers from page one with the hope of unraveling the mystery behind Lydia s death and boy does it deliver, on every front.
Huffington PostA subtle meditation on gender, race and the weight of one generation s unfulfilled ambitions upon the shoulders and in the heads of the next . . . Ng deftly and convincingly illustrates the degree to which some miscommunications can never quite be rectified.
San Francisco ChronicleCleverly crafted, emotionally perceptive . . . Ng sensitively dramatizes issues of gender and race that lie at the heart of the story . . . Ng s themes of assimilation are themselves deftly interlaced into a taut tale of ever deepening and quickening suspense.
O, The Oprah MagazineNg moves gracefully back and forth in time, into the aftermath of the tragedy as well as the distant past, and into the consciousness of each member of the family, creating a series of mysteries and revelations that lead back to the original question: what happened to Lydia? . . . Ng is masterful in her use of the omniscient narrator, achieving both a historical distance and visceral intimacy with each character s struggles and failures . . . On the surface, Ng s storylines are nothing new. There is a mysterious death, a family pulled apart by misunderstanding and grief, a struggle to fit into the norms of society, yet in the weaving of these threads she creates a work of ambitious complexity. In the end, this novel movingly portrays the burden of difference at a time when difference had no cultural value . . . Compelling.
Los Angeles Review of BooksThe mysterious circumstances of 16-year-old Lydia Lee s tragic death have her loved ones wondering how, exactly, she spent her free time. This ghostly debut novel calls to mind
The Lovely Bones.
Marie ClaireThe first chapter of Celeste Ng s debut novel is difficult the oldest daughter in a family is dead but what follows is a brilliantly written, surprisingly uplifting exploration of striving in the face of alienation and of the secrets we keep from others. This could be my favorite novel of the year. Chris Schluep,
ParadeThe emotional core of Celeste Ng s debut is what sets it apart. The different ways in which the Lee family handles Lydia s death create internal friction, and most impressive is the way Ng handles racial politics. With a deft hand, she loads and unpacks the implications of being the only Chinese American family in a small town in Ohio. Kevin Nguyen,
GrantlandBeautiful and poignant . . . deftly drawn . . . . It s hard to believe that this is a debut novel for Celeste Ng. She tackles the themes of family dynamics, gender and racial stereotyping, and the weight of expectations, all with insight made more powerful through understatement. She has an exact, sophisticated touch with her prose. The sentences are straightforward. She evokes emotions through devastatingly detailed observations.
Cleveland Plain-DealerPerceptive . . . a skillful and moving portrayal of a family in pain . . . It is to Ng s credit that it is sometimes difficult for the reader to keep going; the pain and unhappiness is palpable. But it is true to the Lees, and Ng tells all.
Minneapolis Star TribuneImpressive . . . In its evocation of a time and place and society largely gone but hardly forgotten,
Everything I Never Told You tells much that today s reader should learn, ponder and appreciate.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
