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david_slack110507's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I read this book for my A-Level English Literature coursework (as well as reading Wide Sargasso Sea for the coursework element of the course as well) and so I spent the majority of the summer putting nearly all of my reading motivation and progress into reading this book as well as annotating it and tabbing it which is much more than what I do for the other books I read and so hopefully explains the extra long time that the book took for me to read it especially because it is much shorter than my normal books.
In deeply analysing it, I feel like I have only enjoyed the book more because I really like this novel and that's quite shocking because while there is an initial plot of Lydia dying and the family trying to figure out how she died and once learning it was suicide, trying to figure out what drove her to that point and why, there isn't much plot outside of that and is almost entirely reliant on being driven by the characters at play. That's not a bad thing as the characters in the book are incredibly complex and interesting to read about, however, it's just not my usual style of a book as i usually have something plot focused or a mix between plot and character focus, but this didn't disappoint.
As I mentioned, the characters are all really complex and developed starting with the father, James, being ashamed of his Chinese identity and race all of his life, which has meant that all he has ever wanted is to fit in. At the same time, his wife, Marilyn has dreamed of becoming a doctor and standing out as a woman in at the time, a heavily male-dominated profession, but is unable to achieve these dreams as she soon becomes pregnant and has to focus on her family. These unfulfilled dreams of the parents are then pushed onto Lydia, their favourite daughter who they prioritise above everyone else in the family, yet she only wants to conform to what her parents want her to be to make them happy, particularly her mother, leaving Lydia without a fixed identity and having very few people who understand her and her situation. This favouritism then means that the other children, Nath, and in particular, Hannah are ignored not just by their parents but also by each other yet they are also their own characters as Nath is hellbent on escaping the family by going to Harvard despite it meaning that he'll have to leave his sister behind, whilst Hannah almost acts as an observer rather than a person, due to her noticing things when the other characters don't.
This creates a fascinating family dynamic that is explored in both the past, when Lydia was alive, and the present, following her death and we see how the family's attempt to appear normal begins to crack under the pressure and can't handle it anymore. The themes of expectations, belonging and alienation, race, gender roles, and secrets were all really interesting to see throughout the book and it felt like they were all handled really well and carefully too. I also really liked that, while we as the reader can infer why Lydia did what she did, even though it's never explicitly said, the characters are even more in the dark than us due to the divisions that were present in the family leading up to Lydia's death, and so never truly know what happened, giving a sense of reality and realism like so many cases have in which the families don't often get closure nor do they get all the details.
Overall, this was a really fun and interesting book to read that kept me constantly interested and I liked the variety of themes that it covered. The lack of a fixed ending but also having some optimism for the future worked as an ending that didn't cop out and have a happy ending as an easy solution to a really complex storyline and character dynamics.
In deeply analysing it, I feel like I have only enjoyed the book more because I really like this novel and that's quite shocking because while there is an initial plot of Lydia dying and the family trying to figure out how she died and once learning it was suicide, trying to figure out what drove her to that point and why, there isn't much plot outside of that and is almost entirely reliant on being driven by the characters at play. That's not a bad thing as the characters in the book are incredibly complex and interesting to read about, however, it's just not my usual style of a book as i usually have something plot focused or a mix between plot and character focus, but this didn't disappoint.
As I mentioned, the characters are all really complex and developed starting with the father, James, being ashamed of his Chinese identity and race all of his life, which has meant that all he has ever wanted is to fit in. At the same time, his wife, Marilyn has dreamed of becoming a doctor and standing out as a woman in at the time, a heavily male-dominated profession, but is unable to achieve these dreams as she soon becomes pregnant and has to focus on her family. These unfulfilled dreams of the parents are then pushed onto Lydia, their favourite daughter who they prioritise above everyone else in the family, yet she only wants to conform to what her parents want her to be to make them happy, particularly her mother, leaving Lydia without a fixed identity and having very few people who understand her and her situation. This favouritism then means that the other children, Nath, and in particular, Hannah are ignored not just by their parents but also by each other yet they are also their own characters as Nath is hellbent on escaping the family by going to Harvard despite it meaning that he'll have to leave his sister behind, whilst Hannah almost acts as an observer rather than a person, due to her noticing things when the other characters don't.
This creates a fascinating family dynamic that is explored in both the past, when Lydia was alive, and the present, following her death and we see how the family's attempt to appear normal begins to crack under the pressure and can't handle it anymore. The themes of expectations, belonging and alienation, race, gender roles, and secrets were all really interesting to see throughout the book and it felt like they were all handled really well and carefully too. I also really liked that, while we as the reader can infer why Lydia did what she did, even though it's never explicitly said, the characters are even more in the dark than us due to the divisions that were present in the family leading up to Lydia's death, and so never truly know what happened, giving a sense of reality and realism like so many cases have in which the families don't often get closure nor do they get all the details.
Overall, this was a really fun and interesting book to read that kept me constantly interested and I liked the variety of themes that it covered. The lack of a fixed ending but also having some optimism for the future worked as an ending that didn't cop out and have a happy ending as an easy solution to a really complex storyline and character dynamics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Rape, Vomit, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Classism
kendallg123's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt
rehannahb's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
big hugs to all the eldest daughters of asian families who were (consciously or subconsciously) pushed to become doctors 🙂↕️
james when i CATCH YOU
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Infidelity
77mimi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
been a while since i actually finished reading this, but it deserved an actual review i think.
it physically hurt to read this book — my stomach was in knots reading some of these - very familiar, very real - scenes; i’ve lived through those scenes.
the only reason i was somewhat reluctant to give this five stars is because the ending felt slightly rushed, perhaps Ng intended it to be that way (have it be ambiguous and all). it was all left pretty open-ended and ambiguous which i don’t hate, but i still felt as though there could’ve been a tiny bit more development.
all in all, a book i really appreciate.
it physically hurt to read this book — my stomach was in knots reading some of these - very familiar, very real - scenes; i’ve lived through those scenes.
the only reason i was somewhat reluctant to give this five stars is because the ending felt slightly rushed, perhaps Ng intended it to be that way (have it be ambiguous and all). it was all left pretty open-ended and ambiguous which i don’t hate, but i still felt as though there could’ve been a tiny bit more development.
all in all, a book i really appreciate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
hannahparadise's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
allygator's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is an exceptional mystery-shrouded family drama. Celeste Ng, best known for Little Fires Everywhere, is an expert at writing characters so complex and realistic it feels like they could walk off the page and function perfectly normally in society. There are a lot of unlikeable characters, if only because they are making the mistakes that so many people do. They cheat on their partners, they force their problems onto other people, they start fights, they break promises. However, none of them are bad people, just people who make bad decisions and regret them and try their best to make things right. The tragedy of the story is that none of them will ever know exactly what happened to Lydia, despite how hard they try. They will grieve her for the rest of their lives. The fact that they all think they know what happened to her when she died just like they all thought they knew what she wanted in life was heartbreaking. I only wish that the narration was a little less convoluted -- I got lost a few times because I lost track of which characters were being followed when, and when in the timeline we were.
For a debut novel, this is beyond impressive. I can't believe it took me so long to read this and I can't wait to read more of Ng's work in the future.
(Very special shoutout to Jack Wolff because he reminds me of Steve Harrington and therefore he is very precious to me and I wish him nothing but the best.)
For a debut novel, this is beyond impressive. I can't believe it took me so long to read this and I can't wait to read more of Ng's work in the future.
(Very special shoutout to Jack Wolff because he reminds me of Steve Harrington and therefore he is very precious to me and I wish him nothing but the best.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Pregnancy
kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A novel about missed opportunities and words that were never said, this book is sad and thoughtful. It makes you question what you might do differently if the people you love were suddenly no longer here with us. Ng’s books are well-crafted — full of beautiful prose. I can’t wait for her newest novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Outing, Abandonment, and Classism
gobou's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Such a good and emotional story. The characters are all nuanced, complicated, they make mistakes... I truly had the impression of watching real people, a real family, trying to cope with an incomprehensible grief. The writing is superb and the atmosphere and music you get from it is unforgettable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
kennedybullen's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
leahbydesign's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt