Everything I never told you
‘One escaped the other was trapped forever’ – Narrator Celeste Ng gives an insight to the Asian – American experience, which is often looked over, in her debut novel Everything I never told you , where the death of middle child Lydia unravels the entire Lee family. From the first chapter it is evident that the Lee family’s lives revolved around Lydia with James being referred to as only ‘Lydia’s father’ despite having two other children, and Hannah being described as ‘Lydia’s sister’ or otherwise she would be forgotten beneath family trauma. Ng wastes no space on her pages. Everyone being filled with valuable detail about the characters and their perspective. Ng’s debut novel is set in late seventies but unfortunately the social pressures placed on Lydia by her parents remain timeless. Both parents place their failed dreams on Lydia. Her father’s unrealistic mental...