Review: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful little novel about an interracial family (Chinese American) grieving for the loss of a teenage daughter. I don't want to tell you much about the plot of the book because I think it was all the more enjoyable by reading it with very little context or information. What I will tell you is that it's a wonderful story that explores racism, community, and emotional baggage.

The characters are wonderful and feel very real and raw for most of the novel. There is a realism about this story that I found made the themes and characters come alive in a way that could have been less subtle without Celeste Ng's deft hand. There are some really beautiful passages in this novel ... Ng is obviously a wonderful writer and I enjoyed the reading of her prose even if it was at time difficult to read due to how sad and desolate the story was at times.

The unraveling of the story and each character's perspective is one of the best things about this novel. There is a pacing and flow that keeps things moving, letting the various pieces of the puzzle are uncovered as Ng wants them to be. So well done! I highly recommend this novel as it's a really interesting take on racism, community and family dynamics.