2024 the best of everything novel review

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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 page-turner 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.

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4.2 out of 5 stars

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Other titles by Celeste Ng
A deeply suspenseful and heartrending novel about the unbreakable love between a mother and child in a society consumed by fear. Set in the placid, progressive suburb of Shaker Heights, Little Fires Everywhere traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reprint edition (May 12, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143127551
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143127550
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 5 years and up
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 870L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.03 x 0.59 x 7.72 inches
Reviewer: kmurph31
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: STILL A FIVE STAR READ! MY FAVE OF NG!
Review: EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOUBY: CELESTE NGI first read, "Everything I Never Told You," when it was first published in 2014. I wanted to re-read it to see if it still was worthy of the five stars that I had rated it back then and it was. I have read "Little Fires Everywhere," and watched its miniseries produced by Hulu. In both novels Celeste Ng captures beautifully dysfunctional family dynamics. I loved both books and I would encourage you to watch the miniseries of "Little Fires Everywhere," because it is excellent and varies a little from the book. The acting is incredible. In both novels Celeste Ng explores how parents expectations of their children is the catalyst for a tragic outcome that they never expected. Also, in both novels that unexpected heartbreak is told to the reader in the very beginning. Since this is a review for "Everything I Never Told You," I will focus on that one.The setting is during the 1970's which makes, "Everything I Never Told You," a historical novel, but I still think that the themes within that are so expertly explored are still relevant today. Celeste Ng crafted a realistic depiction of the discrimination that Asian Americans still face today. This novel in my humble opinion is even more heartbreaking because the beginning lines tell the story of every parents' worst nightmare. The title is pitch perfect for what ensues during flashbacks of how the Chinese American family of the Lee's ended up in the incredibly sad position that they now face.It is not a spoiler to say that the beginning sentence tells that the middle child of three in this family is dead. The reason why I have included it in this review is because it is stated in the synopsis of this novel. Over the course of reading you will discover how this happened. Was it murder? By reading you will easily figure out what happened to Lydia. This one remains my favorite perhaps because of how it does a great job of the character development and the question of what if? You will not be disappointed in this deep dive of how it examines the cost of weighing what can result if you want a better life for your child and you pick a favorite child who you want to do and have all of the things that you didn't have. Is being the favorite more helpful or harmful to the child who you as a parent pin all of your hopes and dreams that you in your own life didn't achieve? If only? It is a question that will haunt you as you read this UNFORGETTABLE, but realistic story that centers on one family's struggles to reconcile one of life's toughest consequences. It did affect me just as powerfully as the first time I read it and I would rate it Five sparkling and bright stars and it is absolutely perfectly written. I wouldn't change a thing. Highly, Highly Recommended!

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Mastery; an author to watch
Review: Very often with tangible factors to act as “special effects”, it is easier to tell a plot, and adds to the complexity of story telling.However to only rely on descriptions of the dynamics of emotions, relationships, and peoples actions-reactions to hold a suspense and a deservingly revelation to savour till the end, is quite a mastery.There is a calculated science in that artistry.And this was only Celeste Ng’s debut writing.This book is very much worth the read.

Reviewer: josephine briggs
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: ON BEING DIFFERENT
Review: This book is filled with sadness, with longing for love, of what might have been, what could have been or should have been. I heartily disliked Marilyn and James Lee who favor Lydia, their middle child, while they ignore oldest child, Nath, and youngest child, Hannah. These parents treat these two as if they don't matter. As the book continues, I kind of begin to see their way of looking at life, somewhat.James and Marilyn meet at college, both excellent, dedicated students. Marilyn has her heart set on being a doctor. She and James have an affair, James is so different than any man she has ever met. She becomes pregnant, so the two marry. Son, Nath, is born. Marilyn didn't want to be a doctor bad enough or she wouldn't have let this happen. But she loves James, she would have married him no matter what. Her divorced mother disowns her. Doris says her marriage to an Oriental isn't right. But for many years, Marilyn looks at women doctors and remembers that could have been her.James, a Chinese born in the United States, goes to a school in Iowa, the only Chinese student. His parents work at the school, his father a handiman, his mother a cook. He always felt out of place, never fitting in, being ashamed of his heritage. The children, Nath and Hannah look Chinese. Lydia has her father's black hair, but her mother's blue eyes. She looks very much like her mother, very Caucausion. James wants his daughter to be popular, for her peers to like her. He tells her continually to smile, to speak nicely to people, tells her ways to make others like and approve of her. James is never popular, well liked. He is a history professor in a small town college in Ohio, has tried to get a professor's job at a major university. He feels he is discriminated against because he is an Oriental. Marilyn has never cared about being popular and well liked. After Lydia's death, he has an affair with a young woman, Louisa Chen, his teaching assistant. This is the kind of woman he should have married he thinks.Lydia's mother wants her to be the doctor she never was, is buying her books about medicine, enrolling her in science classes, taking her to science fairs, pushing her towards medicine. Lydia loves her mother, hates to disappoint her mom, fears her mother will run away, will desert the family.Lydia turns sixteen and is tired of having to be somebody she is not and doesn't want to be.This this book is about another dysfunctional family and is filled with pain, with characters who want to love each other, especially Hannah, but don't know how to let others know. James feels inferior because he is Chinese.The book begins in the 50's with parents in school, continues until 1977. Have things changed since then? Let's hope so. The writing is sharp, good, detailed, beautiful writing. However, the book is too bleak and painful. The characters don't know each other nor do they want to. I feel sorry for the children for having such terrible parents, for not allowing them to be the characters they need to be and want to be. This book is so sad. A story of a marriage that never should have been. Of the cast of characters Marilyn is the worse, not knowing what she wants out of life and insisting her daughter, Lydia , be the person her mother always wanted to be.

Reviewer: Karla
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Te mantiene enganchado hasta el final, me gustó

Reviewer: Cynthia Sterling
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I loved this book!! Celest Ng is a fantastic writer. I usually read at night and this book, l was still reading at 3 AM !! This story was awesome, hard to put down ❤️❤️ Thank You for writing another stunning story 🩶💜

Reviewer: Karen
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: J'ai beaucoup aimé la lecture de ce livre sur une famille qui n'est pas heureuse, dont on suit le parcours sur deux lignes temportelles. C'est facile à lire, on s'attache aux personnages même ceux les moins aimables, on veut connaitre la fin..Après little fires everywhere, encore un bon livre. J'attends le 3eme de Celeste Ng, que je commanderai avec plaisir.

Reviewer: Fuchs Joan
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Ich bin noch ganz ausser Atem, eben habe ich das Buch fertig gelesen. Ich fand es extrem eindrücklich, eine Familie Anfang 70er, welche mit diversen Problemen zu kämpfen hat. Vieles ist extrem gut nachvollziehbar, der Wunsch, dass die Tochter etwas aus sich macht/die eigenen Träume lebt. Es sind ganz normale Menschen und es zeigt sich, wie viel man auch in bester Absicht falsch machen kann. Der Schluss hat mich nicht vollständig überzeugt, dennoch ein starkes, intensives Buch. 4.8 Sterne.

Reviewer: S. Mallia
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I really enjoyed this book and found its subject very interesting and highlighting the problems young people have inthis world in particular intheir relationships with others. I had already read "Little Fires Everywhere! and was curious to read this book which was written first. Underlying it all was once again the question of racism, but this time with Asian Americans and it was exremely interesting to learn of the problems they had fitting into American society.