Everything I Never Told you by Celeste Ng was a book that I was not expecting to enjoy. The book is about the family of a 16-year old girl named Lydia Lee, a Chinese American living in 1970’s America. She lives in Middlewood, Ohio, with her parents and 2 siblings. Everything I Never Told You delves deep into the cracks that form in a family after tragedy, and how their past interacts with their present.

From murder and suicide, to family issues, to an affair, and even to homosexuality, this book takes so many twists and turns through the Lee family and surrounding characters. We get to see the family find out what we already know, and then we get to experience what happens afterwards. After the tragedy occurs, the story gets emotional. Not just for the reader, seeing as they might see themselves in Lydia and her actions and ideas. But also for the characters, and the decisions they make that ultimately play a big part in the way they conduct themselves.

I found the premise of the book interesting, seeing as so many books focus on the main character (duh) and their lives. To see a story that revolves more around family rather than one single character was a new thing for me. And to be able to see exactly how each character deals with death was very interesting. But the part that really hooked me was the backstory on all the characters. Their lives were very fascinating to me, not only because of how they acted after the tragedy occurred, but also because of how they acted before it occurred. The actions of their pasts, the way they were brought up, it all shapes their decisions in the future. That connection between the past and the present is interesting to me. All in all, it’s a book that felt more real and personal than any other book I have read. 10/10, would recommend.