Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Exploring a Family Tragedy and How Things Left Unsaid Fester

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

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I’d meant to read this for a while, but somehow ended up reading Ng’s second novel, Little Fires Everywhere, first.  While this one didn’t have quite the same impact as her follow up, it was still a very good novel, and I really enjoyed the complexity she brought to all the characters, their motivations, and how she portrayed how even well meaning actions could have negative and long lasting impacts. As the novel begins, the Lee family is going through their normal morning routine in […]

“The things that go unsaid are often the things that eat at you.”

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This wasn’t very good. Oh, I have to keep going? “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet. 1977, May 3, six thirty in the morning, no one knows anything but this innocuous fact: Lydia is late for breakfast.” Lydia Lee, the prodigal daughter of James & Marilyn, goes missing at the beginning of the book and we quickly discover she has died. James, a Chinese immigrant teacher, and Marilyn, a white former medical student, have thrust a lot of their lost desires on […]

Everything That I Never Told You For No Reason Other Than to be Super Frustrating

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I am sure that Celeste Ng is a nice person, and I am glad that she has found success as an author, but I did not like this book.  In fact, talking about this book makes me downright angry. If I had to describe in one word my thoughts about this book (which I will do next week at my local library book club, because that’s how we roll) I would say “tiresome.” I would also cheat and add two more words “emotionally manipulative.” I […]

In Which I Am Deeply Conflicted About A Book, But You Should Read It

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I don’t know how I feel about this book. There is so much that this book does well, starting with its beautiful prose. It’s loosely a mystery, but more in the ethereal way that mysteries exist in our lives when tragedy strikes. There are some questions that we will simply never know the answers. This book unravels the ambiguities of familial relationships and societal pressures which shaped its characters and leaves us with enough unresolved to feel real, and true. Each character in this family […]

I should have known there wouldn’t be more dialogue in this one…

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Well, I guess I owe Ms. Ng congratulations for writing a book that has seemed to appeal to so many people. Because despite the positive reviews and internet hype, I wanted to poke out my eyes with spoons after reading “Amazon’s Best Book of the Year for 2014.” You can go ahead and clutch your literary equivalent of pearls in your hands. I remain steadfast in my assessment. This book made me want to scream when I finished it. THESE ARE THE MOST ANNOYING PEOPLE […]

Excuse me while I make some hard-boiled eggs, curl up into a ball, and cry.

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Well. This certainly wasn’t the most uplifting book, was it? Buy that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good one. And it’s definitely one that’s going to stay with me for a very long time. It’s going to make me think about some of the parenting choices that ive made over the past 12 years, and make me wonder about some of the decisions my own parents made when I was growing up. And it’s going to make me teach my son to make his own damn […]



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