Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng narrated by,
Cassandra Campbell
Below you will find my random/rambling thoughts as I
listened to this book. I liked and disliked this book or should I say I liked
the book and completely disliked the characters. The parents in this book are
unemotional distance people who should never have had children, they are not
abusive in the broad sense of the word but they have no idea who their children
are and have no idea how to show that they love them let alone care about them.
See my final thoughts at the end.
Everyone grieves differently and it is sad that they are all
grieving separately instead of as a family, to be there for each other but I
don't think they were there for each other before Lydia's death so I feel like
her death multiplied this separateness tenfold.
It just seems like Marilyn could have enrolled in a school
right from home instead of sneaking out signing up for classes and getting an
apartment. I guess I just don't understand this woman at all.
Do these two people (James & Marilyn) even know each
other at all it feels like their whole relationship is superficial it doesn't
go deep enough to tell each other what they want from life, what their lives
are really like or anything about their true selves and they passed this on to
their children so they are just as closed off as the parents are.
James & Marilyn started out fighting the stereotypes
then ended up being the stereotypes I am hoping this family becomes something
amazing and breaks out of those roles but I am scared this is going to be a
depressing book all the way through.
Poor Nath and Hannah to be that ignored by your parents must
be heartbreaking.
How could you forget your own child so much that you forget
to set a place for them at the table?? Really??
It didn’t seem like James even cared that Nath got into
Harvard. Then when Lydia ruined his moment it made me very mad.
The way this family relates to each other is so
heartbreaking they are so separate in so many ways.
And even Lydia making up friends pretending to be on the
phone talking, all 3 of these children are so lonely and starved for love it’s
so sad.
Wow the way James treats Nath is horrible I understand he is
grieving but wow.
For this family to
get certain news from the authorities is going to tear them apart even further.
But James is so not handling this at all but I also get the
feeling that James would have cheated and said the things to his mistress even
if Lydia hadn’t died.
I think it was awful that Nath had to be the one to tell
Marilyn where James was especially after what James had said to Marilyn. I don’t think she knew, I honestly don’t
think she could comprehend him having a mistress when he didn’t have any
friends.
I find it a bit I don’t know disconcerting that there is
only one other oriental in the whole town and she is who James is having an
affair with I don’t know it’s a little too unbelievable. Someone had mentioned to
me that I need to remember what year this is but this is the late 70’s and
things had changed a lot in the last 18 or so years since they have been
together. And that James didn’t have the balls to come out of the bedroom what
a louse!
That Hannah and Nath were right there watching as her
parents fight over the affair was tough; it just goes to show how little these
parents thought about their children. And that James said if we had never met
and she had never been born I wanted to yell Hey jackass you have 2 other
children too!
She left first, come on James, that was a long time ago. Oh
these two are so screwed up! But it goes to show that they never communicated
when Marilyn came back they never talked about it and so all these years James
is still hurt by Marilyn leaving. They never discussed why she left, maybe if
they had a conversation about the reasons Marilyn left all those years ago
maybe everything would be different just maybe James would have supported her
decision I don’t know maybe not but maybe…
I think that Nath leaving for college was so hard for Lydia
because she felt he was the only one she had, but poor Hannah always gets lost
in the shuffle. Then when Hannah tries to bond with Lydia it all goes wrong, oh
this family makes me so very sad. I feel so bad for Hannah she just wants some
love and affection and every time she tries she gets slapped down figuratively
and literally.
Oh my gosh when Jack comes clean to Lydia, if anyone can
understand feeling like an outsider it’s him she should have stayed his friend
they could have been true friends. I think if Lydia would have had it in her to
understand Jack things would have been different.
How sad just when Lydia was finally thinking on her own
without the grudges and hatred. But was it an accident? She stepped out of the
boat into the water it sounds like she meant to do it to me.
I hope this means Hannah will finally get some love and not
just be a cardboard cutout of Lydia in her parents eyes.
There is this little bit of a coming together but I don’t
think this family ever learned to communicate with each other, too many years
have passed and these behaviors are ingrained now. I wonder how Nath &
Hannah were with their families in the future.
Ooof this book is like a gut punch but so beautifully
written that you need to continue on. I honestly am not sure how to rate this
book because there was no redemption, one can only hope that this family got
better that they cherished the children they had left and started communicating
with each other but I’m afraid I this did not happen.
Cassandra Campbell’s narration is very well done as always.
4 Stars
Thanks you to the FordAudiobookClub for the opportunity to
listen to this book.
