So for my first non-romance review of the year I completely overcorrected and went the extreme and depressing family drama route. Huzzah! It was just slightly less depressing than it first appeared so I’m taking it as a win.
Everything I Never Told You is the story of the Lee family. On the first page you find out that their beloved middle child has died. What unfolds is both the backstory of how this came about, but at the same time what is occurring with the remaining family members going forward. And obviously this is not the most happy go lucky story.
What I really enjoyed about it was Ms. Ng’s prose. This was a beautifully written book that I had trouble putting down. She reminds me in a lot of ways of Liane Moriarty, which I mean as quite the compliment. I was utterly invested in the fate of the Lee’s, and just had to know how this tragic event occurred.
What didn’t work for me as well, and this is through no fault of Ms. Ng’s, was just how sad and depressing most of the story was. She actually ended it on an optimistic note, but overall, right now I’m not in the place to be sad (hence all the romances). I read this one thanks to so many rave reviews here on the Read, and while it is definitely worth it, I think I would have appreciated more if I wasn’t still full of crazy hormones.
In summation, if you enjoy a well written family drama read this one. It was excellent, but if you’ve just had/might be having/working on having/already have a kiddo or just overall not one for depressing I’d say it’s a skip until you’re in a really positive, happy place overall.