Everything I Never Told You by Celeste NG

Beautifully written but almost unbearably sad, this novel hooks you with its richly developed characters as in NG's Little Fires Everywhere. The reader learns in the first page that sixteen-year-old Lydia is dead but not what happened to her. Set in 1977, Lydia is the middle child of James, an Asian American, and Marilyn who is Caucasian. The two are met with prejudices throughout their marriage from family and community alike. James hopes for a better life for his children than the childhood that he had which was friendless and lonely and does everything he can to ensure that Lydia is popular. And Marilyn, whose plans to become a doctor got sidetracked by marriage and children, puts all of her hopes on Lydia to fulfill that dream. Lydia's older brother Nath and her younger sister Hannah fill out this complex family drama as the children who skirt the spotlight from the parents. Lydia does everything she can to form herself into the mold of what her parents mistakenly think she is. Those crushing expectations along with the ignorance of the times lead to her destruction from which the family needs to crawl out from under in order to continue. I needed a box of Kleenex to get to the end of this story but the hope that NG leaves the reader with is unmistakable.