Everything I Never Told You

A Novel

By: Celeste Ng

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

The acclaimed debut novel by the author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts

“A taut tale of ever deepening and quickening suspense.” —O, the Oprah Magazine

“Explosive . . . Both a propulsive mystery and a profound examination of a mixed-race family.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping story and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

©2014 Celeste Ng (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

School Library Journal’s Best Books of the Year So Far

BookRiot’s The Best Books of 2014 So Far

Booklist’s Top 10 First Novels of 2014

Booklist Editors' Choice of 2014

Time Out NY’s 10 Best Books of 2014 - #10

O Magazine’s 15 Must Read Literature & Fiction Books of the Year So Far, #4

NYTBR 100 Notable Books of 2014

Huffington Post’s Best Books of 2014

NPR Books of the Year

Electric Lit Books of the Year

Buzzfeed’s Best Fiction Books of 2014

“If we know this story, we haven’t seen it yet in American fiction, not until now.... Ng has set two tasks in this novel’s doubled heart - to be exciting, and to tell a story bigger than whatever is behind the crime. She does both by turning the nest of familial resentments into at least four smaller, prickly mysteries full of secrets the family members won’t share.... What emerges is a deep, heartfelt portrait of a family struggling with its place in history, and a young woman hoping to be the fulfillment of that struggle. This is, in the end, a novel about the burden of being the first of your kind - a burden you do not always survive.” (Alexander Chee, The New York Times Book Review)

“Excellent...an accomplished debut...heart-wrenching.... Ng deftly pulls together the strands of this complex, multigenerational novel. Everything I Never Told You is an engaging work that casts a powerful light on the secrets that have kept an American family together - and that finally end up tearing it apart.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Wonderfully moving.... Emotionally precise.... A beautifully crafted study of dysfunction and grief.... [This book] will resonate with anyone who has ever had a family drama.” (Boston Globe)

I couldn't stop listening

This was a wonderful, yet sad story. You feel like you're living this yourself. A good reminder of the effects of generational and inter racial prejudices

Boring and not fully developed

I wanted to love this story but I couldn't I love Celeste Ng. This story just isn't interesting and I never was fully invested in anyone.

Good listen when traveling

It held my interest while traveling in car. The narrator did a great job. A twist at the end was a surprise. I would recommend.

So beautiful

This story will stay with me for a long time. Thank you for choosing Casandra Campbell to narrate this beautiful, sad story. I cannot think of anyone better to lift the depth of emotion off the page and straight into your heart.

Very good story

I highly recommend this book! It keeps you intrigued and captivated. This is the first book I’ve read from this author and I was not disappointed. I’ve listened to Cassandra Campbell before and her voice is so interesting and makes the characters come alive.

NOT A HAPPY NOVEL, BUT ONE I WILL REMEMBER FOR A VERY LONG TIME

If you are expecting a novel with a happy ending, this probably won’t be the book for you.

I couldn’t STOP listening to this book! I listened straight through from start to finish!

Even though I am not biracial, I have lost two children (not to suicide) and I am also the mother to a beautiful daughter adopted from China, who will soon be 18-years-old. I could relate to this book on so many levels…the depth of the sadness that comes with losing a child (no matter the cause) and how the loss tears the very fabric of a family apart; how every member of the family reacts and deals with the loss differently, with how the people you love with your whole heart suddenly feel like strangers you have just moved in with. This book reminded me of what the deep dark hole is like that you fall into after the death of a child and how HARD it is to climb out of the hole to find your way back to yourself and to each other.

Having a child adopted from China, I have seen and lived with some of the prejudices people carry (and often express without even realizing they HAVE prejudices). I know what it’s like to try to explain the attitudes of others to a child and to keep her from internalizing those prejudices, teaching that child to be happy in her own skin regardless of others and whatever they may think.

The characters (especially the children) demonstrate the importance of following the dreams we have for ourself, not trying to conform to what others expect us to be. More than anything, this novel reminds me to love with all my heart without fear (and to EXPRESS that love!) and to not take for granted the time we have with the ones we love.

The author did a suburb job describing feelings that so many can’t even admit to themselves, much less say out loud to others (admitting they are ANGRY with the person that died and the guilt that accompanies the anger); thinking you have perhaps you have just completely lost your sanity…

As always, Cassandra Campbell was fantastic as the narrator!

Don’t let the sad nature of this book keep you from reading it. It’s well worth it!

Boring

I have listened several books of this author and OMG, this one was boring.

Beautifully sad

Can’t quite give it 5 stars. Quite a sad but beautiful story, good characters, well written.

Took a while to get moving…

I think this could have been more beautiful but it took a long time to get going and then not enough time to be with the characters as their inner lives unfolded. BUT, I am glad the author called to awareness Asian American life in the 60s and 70s and the challenges of assimilation and exceptionalism. Maybe that’s what was hard for me: being a silent participant in what was a very painful experience for Ng’s characters and very true to lived experience for many? Narrator was very patient in their delivery; nuanced enough to distinguish characters.

The story is so sad

This book is so so sad. It is also a slow read. From beginning to end. It is a story of an interracial couple and their children. The expectations that they have of their children and the pressure they place on them. Both parents pushed to make sure their children made up for the lives they were dissatisfied with themselves. It reveals the challenge that the children face, especially the oldest daughter, Lydia, because she is different from everyone.

The plot is good because it reveals so much about the dynamics of this family. As the reader, you know what each individual is thinking/feeling. However, what they believe is so different that it tears them apart. It's no wonder why people have so many issues.

The mother was insane with her expectations and I felt sad for every member of the family.

I was dissatisfied with the ending, but the entire read was also depressing. Insightful but depressing.