“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet. 1977, May 3, six thirty in the morning, no one knows anything but this innocuous fact: Lydia is late for breakfast.”
Do you feel like you committed a crime and read the big reveal? Because that’s how I felt reading those sentences, the first sentences of the book. I was immediately caught off guard, wondering if Celeste Ng knew she was holding her cards backwards and we could see her hand. What I didn’t know is that Ng was already a step ahead, using the seeming give-away to portray a deeper, more intimate story. I shouldn’t have been surprised since her previous novel Little Fires Everywhere does a similar type of emotional exposé.
Exploring topics of interracial relationships, parental expectations, high school popularity, and the impact of assumptions, Everything I Never Told You is more than a fictional story. It’s a story that makes me re-evaluate if impressions from others are assumed rather than experienced, and how I communicate with those around me. Even with a quip as catchy as “You know what happens when you assume…” it’s amazing how many moments in day-to-day communication we read into the intentions and underlying moods of others. Ng implicitly illustrates this phenomenon, allowing the characters’ relationships to speak for themselves.
More than anything, I appreciated how each chapter felt like a new layer had been slowly peeled away. It was moving and poignant and dark and thought-provoking. It was also surprisingly short, and I flew through it in a matter of days. While my review might say otherwise, I wouldn’t classify this book as a dark tragedy. The depth of the story envelops you like a mist: you’re aware of it but forget its impact until your clothes are wet.
I’m sorry I made you complicit in my crime, but there was no other way to convey how jarring that introductory moment was for me, and I’m hoping that now you’re intrigued enough to pick it up for yourself.
(And if you don’t know what happens when you assume, message me and I’ll tell you.)
Personal rating: 7/10
Recommend? Yes
Re-read? Honestly, maybe
Time: 1:58