Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Everything I Never Told You Book Review

    Uploaded by

    Tiffany Yeh
    407 views1 page
    1) Celeste Ng's novel opens with the death of Lydia Lee, who is found dead in a lake despite being quiet, well-behaved and studious. 2) The story explores Lydia's past and the impact of her death on her biracial family living in 1970s Ohio, as each member tries to understand what happened. 3) Ng examines themes of illusion versus reality and how beauty can mask darker truths, as illustrated by the failures and facades in Lydia's life and her parents' relationship.

    Original Description:

    Everything I never told you by celeste ng

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    1) Celeste Ng's novel opens with the death of Lydia Lee, who is found dead in a lake despite being quiet, well-behaved and studious. 2) The story explores Lydia's past and the impact of her death on her biracial family living in 1970s Ohio, as each member tries to understand what happened. 3) Ng examines themes of illusion versus reality and how beauty can mask darker truths, as illustrated by the failures and facades in Lydia's life and her parents' relationship.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    407 views1 page

    Everything I Never Told You Book Review

    Uploaded by

    Tiffany Yeh
    1) Celeste Ng's novel opens with the death of Lydia Lee, who is found dead in a lake despite being quiet, well-behaved and studious. 2) The story explores Lydia's past and the impact of her death on her biracial family living in 1970s Ohio, as each member tries to understand what happened. 3) Ng examines themes of illusion versus reality and how beauty can mask darker truths, as illustrated by the failures and facades in Lydia's life and her parents' relationship.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    Lang AP 3rd Quarter Book Review

    Yeh
    Period 3
    2015

    Tiffany
    March 9,

    Opening her novel with three simple words, Lydia is dead, Celeste Ng propels readers
    into her literary mystery crafted around the Lee family, a small town biracial couple and their
    children living in Ohio in the late 1970s. Quiet, well-behaved, and studious, Lydia is the last
    person anyone would expect to show up dead in a lake. As each remaining Lee family member
    attempts to put together exactly what led to Lydias death, the story unravels into two
    intertwining paths: a tale rewinding the events to Lydias past and the aftermath of Lydias death
    on each family member as the so called balance of the family is tipped wildly out of scale.
    However, Ng aims to tell a story that goes beyond the resolution of Lydias death.
    Throughout her novel, she reiterates her theme of illusion vs. reality and the toll it can take. As
    Dad Hoeger once said, Beauty is not alone. In the garden death resides too. Beauty, not
    necessarily pertaining to physical attractiveness, is subjective to its audience. Each person finds
    beauty in something different. Yet, no matter what is deemed beautiful or not, it is unmistakable
    that beauty can be deceiving. Although something may look or seem one way on the outside,
    theres always a darker hidden truth behind it. Like the death and sin of Satan that existed in the
    Garden of Eden, a figurative death constantly lurks behind beauty. Through this, beauty creates
    disillusionment, the same cold hit of reality that Lydia, her mother Marilyn, and her father James
    fall prey to.
    Tracing back decades to Marilyn and Jamess first encounter, Ng describes their love as a
    life-changing miracle. However, the beauty in Marilyn and James love comes at a price. Facing
    racial prejudice from every person who set eyes on the couple, including Marilyns own mother,
    the inter-racial family would never be accepted. Before James, Marilyns goal was to become a
    doctor. Forced to give up her dream to become a homemaker and take care of her two kids,
    Marilyn soon grows to resent James, and in just a few years the magical love of the two is slowly
    torn down. Little did they know how significant their story is to the demise of Lydia.
    The epitome of a perfect child, Lydia was clearly the favorite of the three Lee children,
    and her parents spared no expenses or feelings in broadcasting this to their other kids. Shes
    friends with the most popular girls and could ace college level classes in high school. Or so her
    parents thought. In reality, Lydia had no friends and was drowning in schoolwork. She either
    cheated in class to get As or simply failed. She spent her entire life pleasing her parents, saying
    yes to everything they said, and repressing her anger and defiance. Lydia lived a life of both her
    parents failed dreams forced upon her yet she couldnt complain about it to her siblings who
    were alienated by their parents since Lydia was the center of the universe. After her death,
    Marilyn and James are forced to cope with the realization of the lie Lydia has been living her
    entire life for them and understand the destruction they had inflicted on her.
    Celeste Ng flawlessly captivates her characters inner emotions, dreams, and struggles
    creating an extraordinarily perceptive insight for readers to truly understand the pain of each
    family member. Through Lydia, Ng conveys that we cant create illusions for ourselves and hide
    behind repressed emotions. Even though death may follow beauty we must face death head
    on if we want any hope of overcoming our problems.

    You might also like