The Word's Shortlist

Thursday, 15 January 2015

This is a story about secrets, jealousy and a family in very deep water

Title: Everything I Never Told You

Author: Celest Ng

Tags: #debut #americanfiction #stylistmagazine

Discovered: Stylist Magazine

Where read: (In part) Over 5 days on the Jubilee Line

The Word's Shortlist view:

"Before that she hadn't realised how fragile happiness was, how if you were careless, you could knock it over and shatter it"

I came across this debut novel from Celeste Ng (pronounced 'ing') in the briefest of mentions in Stylist Magazine over Christmas. Instinct rather than research told me to a buy a copy after all there's nothing like the anticipation of reading a new novel by a first time novelist.

The novel tells the story of the Lee family whose lives implode when their teenage daughter, Lydia, is found drowned in a lake. The story takes place in mid-seventies small town Ohio which is key to the way the story develops around themes of alienation and suspicion. Lydia's father is an American born to Chinese immigrants and, as such, the Lee family is amongst only a handful of mixed race families in town.

Whist Lydia's death sets the narrative spiralling this really is an ensemble piece with Ng perfectly weaving the individual family members stories around their response to the death. This is a story about secrets, jealousy and and family in very deep water.

Parents Marilyn and James deal with an frightening case of deja vu but its the other children, Nathan and Hannah, who are the most interesting characters. Their experiences, as children growing up amongst other's who look so different to themselves, exposes much about the pressure Lydia was under.

How much do you really know about your siblings' lives?

Ng's unique framing of the story through the eyes of a mixed race family in small town America lifts this novel beyond the normal family drama. That said, this is sort of novel that will leave you with questions family life - at what point does love, support and aspiration become an unbearable pressure.