Everything I Never Told You

by Celeste Ng

 

Synopsis:

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.

When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it’s the youngest of the family—Hannah—who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened.

A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

My Review:

I absolutely loved this book. It reminded me of the complex issues of "what if" and "belonging, fitting in" tackled in two movies I saw in the 1990s - Sliding Doors and The Virgin Suicides. This is the story of the Lee family. Marilyn Lee is the beautiful all-American girl who falls in love with Henry Lee, a Chinese immigrant who has struggled his entire life with identity issues and fitting in. Henry has grown up in the U.S. but is raised by his Chinese parents and awkward about both his Chinese heritage and his having to blend in to a very discriminatory and intolerant America of the 1950s. He doesn't know how to blend in but he is smart and determined, so he goes to the best school and graduates top of his class in college. His dream to teach at Harvard (the ultimate American assimilation) remains only a dream as a better "suited" (white) candidate is chosen over him. However, he is content to teach American History at a college where he meets Marilyn. Marilyn is fascinated by his differences and how although he is not like the others he is still brave enough to stand up in front of a class that clears once they see he is Chinese. Marilyn has always been smart and wants to be more than the hopes and dreams of her mother - the Betty Crocker wannabe who teaches home economics at her high school. She hates the notion that just because she is a woman, she should not aspire to pursue science and math fields like physics or medicine. She takes Lee's class as an elective but ends up dropping the class so that she can date Henry. They marry much to the dismay of her mother and so the story begins.

Marilyn and Henry give up a lot of their dreams and settle on being together. Marilyn gets pregnant and Lee is refused for the teaching position at Harvard. Marilyn drops out of college to be a mother. They have two kids - Nath and Lydia. As Nath and Lydia start getting older, Marilyn feels she is not living the life she had wanted and runs away leaving her family behind to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. After 8 weeks she starts missing her family and then finds that she is pregnant with her third child - Hannah - and decides to once again, give up her dreams and go back home.

The book begins when Lydia is 16 years old and has gone missing - to be found dead at the bottom of the nearby lake. How this comes to happen is the result of dreams not fulfilled and living vicariously through one's children. It is also the result of a family so different by the definition of the times that their fitting-in and assimilating to life as they know it is just uncomfortable and unnatural. There is a great emphasis on the notion that it is important to be liked and accepted regardless of your own love and acceptance of yourself. There is shame and dishonor in being different. So, the story takes us through the evolution of the Lee family and their struggles to become the all-American family in a world that touts "melting-pot" when truly it is a very segregated and intolerant world.

This was such an excellent book. I related to some of the feelings and issues discussed in the book as I too came to the U.S. at an early age (9) and had to assimilate and blend in as an outsider. I did not speak the language and I wasn't blonde and fair skinned. However, my experience was nothing like that of the Lee children as my experience was for the most part positive but I could definitely relate to some of the sentiments.

I would highly recommend this book. Celeste Ng is a brilliant writer and I look forward to reading more of her work.

We'll Always Have Paris: A Mother/Daughter Memoir

by Jennifer Coburn  

Synopsis:

How her daughter and her passport taught Jennifer Coburn to forget about dying and truly live. Jennifer Coburn has always been terrified of dying young. It's the reason she drops everything during the summers on a quest to travel through Europe with her daughter, Katie, before it's too late. Even though her husband can't join them, even though she's nervous about the journey, and even though she's perfectly healthy, she spends three to four weeks per trip jamming Katie's mental photo album with memories. In this heartwarming generational love story, Jennifer reveals how their adventures helped relinquish her fear of dying...for the sake of living.

My Review:

 
I really enjoyed this book. Much more than I even expected. I was lucky enough to win an Audible copy. I was so excited and knew I would listen to it with my 17-year old daughter with whom I recently took a trip to Europe. This book was so much more than a telling of Jennifer Coburn and her daughter's (Katie) adventure throughout Europe over several trips. She often related emotions to memories of late father Sheldon (Shelly) Coburn - a musician whose life was cut short when Jennifer was only 18 years old from lung cancer. It was so moving to listen to the recording of Jennifer Coburn herself reading her book. There were sections when she is telling about her father that you can hear genuine emotion in her voice. 

The book is funny, sweet, educational but above all very real. It's just 2 people - a mom and daughter - sharing some very special moments that just happen to take place during their several trips to Europe. They visit such amazing places France, Spain, the Netherlands. This would be a great read for anyone who enjoys and loves travel but as I mentioned before, it is about J. Coburn's relationship with her dad, with her daughter and even with her husband William.

Fantastic book. I took my time listening to this one because I didn't want it to end.

Still Life with Bread Crumbs

by Anna Quindlen

 

Synopsis:

 
Still Life with Bread Crumbs begins with an imagined gunshot and ends with a new tin roof. Between the two is a wry and knowing portrait of Rebecca Winter, a photographer whose work made her an unlikely heroine for many women. Her career is now descendent, her bank balance shaky, and she has fled the city for the middle of nowhere. There she discovers, in a tree stand with a roofer named Jim Bates, that what she sees through a camera lens is not all there is to life. 

Brilliantly written, powerfully observed, Still Life with Bread Crumbs is a deeply moving and often very funny story of unexpected love, and a stunningly crafted journey into the life of a woman, her heart, her mind, her days, as she discovers that life is a story with many levels, a story that is longer and more exciting than she ever imagined.

My Review:

This book and the story was very personal for me. It touched a nerve for me that made me both sad and happy, but primarily happy. We are always growing whether you are 2, 22 or 82. And I don't mean the obvious. There is no finish line to becoming the person you think you are or should be. There is only the end and even you reach the end you just want to make sure that above all you were true to yourself and not necessarily to everyone around you. Rebecca realizes that sometimes what appears to be a misfortune is nothing more than a next chapter to the ongoing book of your life. Sometimes you have to move away, very far away from what you think you are to find out more about who you are and what you are capable of. Wonderful book. Relatable and endearing in many ways. 

A Man Called Ove

by Fredrik Backman

Synopsis:

 
A quirky debut novel from Sweden about a grumpy yet loveable man who finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon — the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?


Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.


A feel-good story in the spirit of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Fredrik Backman’s novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful and charming exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others.

My Review:

This story of a man called Ove is so beautiful and heartwarming. He is a 59 year old man whom we meet 6 months after the death of his wife - Sonya. He is grumpy and difficult but truly has the biggest, most honest heart. He lives his life by a single code - a man is defined by the things he does and not the things he says. Oh, and the car they drive is the true measure of their good sense. And, of course, there is only one car which meets the highest levels of honor - a Swedish-made Saab (Volvo being the only other car to come close). All he wants to do is take his life so that he can be together with Sonya. But, the world is not ready for him to go. I don't want to give away more of the story as it truly is a beautiful and enjoyable one to read. This book made me smile.

The Promise of Stardust 

by Priscille Sibley

Synopsis:

Matt Beaulieu was two years old the first time he held Elle McClure in his arms, seventeen when he first kissed her under a sky filled with shooting stars, and thirty-three when he convinced her to marry him. Now in their late 30s, the deeply devoted couple has everything-except the baby they've always wanted. When an accident leaves Elle brain dead, Matt is devastated. Though he cannot bear the thought of life without her, he knows Elle was afraid of only one thing-a slow death. And so, Matt resolves to take her off life support. But Matt changes his mind when they discover Elle's pregnant. While there are no certainties, the baby might survive if Elle remains on life support. Matt's mother, Linney, disagrees with his decision. She loves Elle, too, and insists that Elle would never want to be kept alive on machines. Linney is prepared to fight her son in court-armed with Elle's living will.


Divided by the love they share, Matt and Linney will be pitted against each other, fighting for what they believe is right, and what they think Elle would have wanted resulting in a controversial legal battle that will ultimately go beyond one family . . . and one single life.

My Review:

Imagine being faced with the choice of honoring your wife's "Do not resuscitate" request or saving the life of the unborn child she is carrying. After a traumatic brain injury, Elle is left in a vegetative state. Her husband, Matt, who is a neuron-surgeon knows that her expressed request was that she be allowed to die in peace and no resuscitation efforts be made. However, things get complicated as he finds out from the ER physician that she was 8 weeks pregnant and the fetus is alive and well. What would Elle want him to do? 

Matt is torn between what he knows clinically, what he knows about the only person he every truly loved and wife (Elle), and what the law will allow. There are also the opinions and strong feelings of all around Elle - her dad, her brother, her friend, etc. And to complicate matters worse Elle and devout Catholic and the church's stance on terminating a life which incites the court of public opinion that has naturally formed from all of the media coverage of the case. 

This book handles a lot of issues regarding life/death, quality vs. quantity of life, the choice to die with dignity, when is a life considered a life (at conception or after the 8 week time frame the courts deem it a fetus), religious doctrine, etc. However, this author beautifully tells the story without getting on any kind of "soap box". 

Everyone has a good argument in the matter and no one is 100% right. Whether you take a pro-life or pro-choice stance or whether your religious beliefs dictate your opinion, this story is honest and emotive. I could not put this book down. Regardless of my views on any of the topics addressed or my religious beliefs, it was refreshing to see so many perspectives being expressed. It goes to show that some things are not simply black and white. Some decisions (most important ones in my opinion) are shaded in a great deal of gray and the law and religion can only serve as guide.

Someone Else's Love Story

by Joshilyn Jackson 

Synopsis:

At twenty-one, Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Natty, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced Catholic mother and Jewish father. She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up in a gas station mini-mart and falling in love with a great wall of a man named William Ashe, who willingly steps between the armed robber and her son.

Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn’t define destiny the way other people do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in science and numbers, destiny to him is about choice.

Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, in a funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness,; about a virgin birth, a sacrifice, and a resurrection; about falling in love, and learning that things aren’t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be. It’s a novel about discovering what we want and ultimately finding what we need.

My Review:

This is an author that has quickly become one of my favorites. Her writing is so witty, so funny, yet so poignant. She tackles tough issues with a sense of humor without being tacky or offensive to those victimized by the same terrors: abuse, rape, etc. She also provides her readers a glimpse into the life of a highly-functioning autistic man with Asperger's Syndrome.

Great story. Hard to describe without giving too much away but brilliantly written and definitely an entertaining and fulfilling read.

Eleanor and Park

by Rainbow Rowell  

 

Synopsis:

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

My Review:

I feel that I have to preface this review with the fact that I don't read YA Fiction. I just find that I can't relate to it. HOWEVER, this particular story truly resonated with me. I could have been anyone of these wonderful characters as I grew up in this same time in the 80s. Although the intended audience is YA, if you grew up in the 80s, you will definitely relate.

Fantastic coming-of-age story. The story takes place in the 80's at the same time as I would have have been in high school too. I couldn't help but think the whole time I was reading that I could have known Eleanor and Park in my school. They were each present in everyone's high school in the 80s. Just take a look at your yearbook. This is what I loved most about this book. Not only was the relationship between the two so genuine and sweet but the story itself was very real. Two outcasts in a world (high school) that has its rules and social norms unique to those of the outside (the real) world. It's hard to navigate that world no matter when the story takes place. I have 2 high schoolers and although there is a 25 year difference from when I was in high school and now that they are, they can relate to this story just the same.

Eleanor is the hero in this story. A girl who is dealing with very tough issues outside of her own control. She has a mother who is not a very good role model to her daughters. She loves her kids but has her priorities somewhat messed up. She is so desperate to please the man in her life that she turns a blind eye to the security her children need. Eleanor finds herself looking over her shoulder at all times for the exploitative, sexually implicit stares and innuendo her step-father hurls her way. But, she is smart and witty and in spite of all of the poor role-models and lack of nurturing in her life, she is a fighter. She is secure in herself and is determined to save herself if no one else will. Park, is also an outcast, but for very different reasons. His difference lies in the fact that his mother is Korean and his father American. Growing up in the rural mid-West makes his ethnicity part of how other kids judge him. Tough, for a kid who is trying to establish his own identity and not be labeled according to his ethnicity alone. Long story short, these two come together and their differences, struggles, insecurities, strengths and weaknesses become the foundation for their heart-warming and fulfilling love story.