? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng tells the story of a family drama in 1970s America. Lydia, the middle child of a second generation Chinese father and bona fide American mother is missing in Ohio at a time where racial discrimination was still rampant and mixed-race marriages were very rare. However, as the story progresses, we slowly see that the center of the narrative isn’t Lydia — instead, it is everything that has been kept under wraps and untold that slowly sees the light: Grievances between loved ones, a teenage daughter who has changed and disappeared without them noticing, a medical career that was deferred to raise a family, and a failed assimilation to America. The story also shows the struggles that the characters face as a result of pressure, cultural identity, career vs. motherhood, and peer pressure that mixed race children face in 1970s America. The third-person narrative reveals the dichotomy between what the character says and truly feels while the detailed descriptions pull the characters off the page making them relatable, despite the differences in time and place.

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