The Debut Post

I never realized how difficult it is to decide on a debut blog post. Do I talk about myself? Do I jump right into… stuff?

I have chosen the latter. Today’s “stuff” is a review of the first book I read in 2015: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. I actually began reading it in 2014, but I finished it in 2015. Close enough.

After reading a few reviews that highly recommended reading this book, I put it on hold at the library. I waited and waited until I saw those magical words, “1 hold item ready for pickup.” After doing my happy dance, I checked it out and took it home. I knew right away that it was going to be as good as, if not better than the reviews made it out to be.

Everything I Never Told You begins with the death of 15-year-old Lydia. Her father, a Chinese-American professor who teaches American History, and her mother, a stay-at-home mom with expired dreams of becoming a doctor, try to put the pieces together to understand what happened. Lydia drowned. She did not know how to swim, so she must have been taken to the lake and pushed in by someone. But by whom? Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, assumes the troublesome neighbor, Jack has something to do with it. Lydia’s younger sister, Hannah, saw Lydia sneak out of the house on the night of the drowning. Each family member copes with Lydia’s death differently, just as each family member places blame differently. The pieces slowly come together, whether Lydia’s family wants to accept it or not.

This novel is a fast-paced mystery that unfolds more than the discovery of Lydia’s death. It illustrates the desperate need to fit in, to be different, to be wanted, to overcome a loss so great it leaves your entire world flipped upside down. It is told in two different settings: before Lydia’s death, and after Lydia’s death. This creates rich characters and it helps develop an understanding of why each character acts the way they do. It is written in such a way that begs the question: is everything truly as it seems?

This one is going to stick with me for a while, folks.