Everything I Never Told You

I had a hard time getting into this book, though it did pay off in the end. The plot didn’t particularly grip me for some reason, though there are major themes of family trauma and secrets that I enjoyed the portrayal of. Each character gets a lot of background and development and it’s interesting to put it all together. I think it was a bit too slow for my taste, but certainly still had a lot to offer.

This book was so good! I loved the poignant exploration of what it meant to be different, expectations, family pressure, and relationship between siblings. The character study of a dysfunctional family in the wake of their daughter's death rang really true to me. As a child of immigrant Chinese, this family's hopes and dreams were especially relevant. I understood the parents' dreams and Lydia's frustrations. The ending of the book was particular...read more

Everything I Never Told You was an interesting story about a complicated family dynamic. In my opinion, it was good, but nothing groundbreaking. I preferred LFE from the same author, but did enjoy the audiobook narrator. It was a good story, but easy to predict

Very interesting read on the American immigrant experience, women in the workforce in male-dominated careers, and the pressure of succeeding parents can impose on their children. I really enjoyed how the family searches their memories to find meaning in Lidya's suicide and find truths and lies in each of their own realities. I was disappointed by the ending... but I'm not going to spoil it for those who haven't yet read the book.

This story has been done too many times to be interesting. Girl is missing, girl is dead, family is sad, goes through the steps (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) and it ends with them in different stages... no answers... I think I'm stuck somewhere between anger and depression, myself!!