City News

One book I really enjoyed reading, Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng, really left a mark on me.  The thrilling novel ends with a cliffhanger at every chapter.  It felt almost impossible to put the book down at times, as the drama between the family became more and more exciting to read.  The non-linear timeline in which Ng tells the story makes for a much more interesting plot.  Instead of a linear timeline, it jumps back and forth between time, allowing for the audience to understand more about the characters and the plot before events are explained completely.  This leaves the last few chapters to explain the entire book, which keeps the reader captivated.  Analyzing characters and the choices they make became something I found very interesting this year.  I did not like the fact that the family could have avoided many issues had they talked things out, or payed more attention to each other before the death of Lydia.  This problem, though, is necessary as it provides the book with the entire plot.  This book stressed the importance of communication, and it gave me an interesting perspective on coming of age.  I learned that it is crucial for family members to communicate with each other in order to avoid misunderstandings.  This made me reflect on how I communicate with my parents and family members.  With Lydia’s death came a lot of reflection from the family, which resulted in coming of age for the family.  These moments of coming of age can be seen at the end of the story, when the family begins to embrace each other and communicate with each other more frequently.  Through their hardship and grief, the family members were able to understand their mistakes, which allowed for growth and maturity.  The title, Everything I Never Told You refers to all the secrets kept by the family.  While the “I” may refer to Lydia and the “you” to the family, the I can really refer to any character in the family.  They all have very large secrets that create lots of conflict in the story.  If it were one person though, it would most likely be Lydia, because she was the one people had misjudged so dramatically.  

            After reading the book, I thought about it a lot.  It is really interesting to analyze from a psychological point of view.  If you like psychology, this book is perfect for you, because it traces all the events which led to Lydia committing suicide.  The story goes backwards in time, almost literally tracking the destruction of her life, to even before she was born, with their parents relationship.  I recommend this book to everyone, as it teaches a lot about the importance of communication, and is very interesting just as a unique story.  The way the story is told, coupled with its thorough descriptions of scenes and events, it makes it feel like you are there, experiencing what is going on.  It felt like a movie in my head, and I definitely want to read it again to get a further understanding of the psychology of all the characters.  It is one of my favorite books.  

Check out Everything I Never Told You at the Newport Beach Public Library.