What do parents do to shape their children, and how much is merely an attempt to live out the parents’ own dreams? Everything I Never Told You focuses on this question as it explores the death of a young girl—a middle child in a mixed-race family in the 70s. It does so gracefully and with care.
Without a single voice as story-teller, we learn about each family member’s life bit-by-bit, learning secrets and hidden thoughts. As each is revealed, their complexities weave together to form this messy nest of secrets, love, and façades. The poignant lives of each family member–each individually so–frame young Lydia’s tale. Between her parent’s own desires and priorities and Lydia’s engineered outward portrayal of her life, the tale is sad. At the same time, though, it’s just endearing enough to give the reader a need to have hope for this family.
An enjoyable read, the book gives the right balance of past and present to the reader understand how this family got to its present place, and the story nicely leads to the unanswered question of what happened to Lydia and why. Not that every question is answered, and not that I was ever certain of what outcome I hoped for. If anything, the story simply highlights that life simply *is* life, one that ebbs and flows, one that sometimes takes twists we never expected.
On reflection, this to me is really more a story about how Lydia’s younger sister became who she is rather than a tale about Lydia. It was as if her story is that underlying trail, covered with a winter’s heavy snow. Once that melts away, the trail can provide it’s own path.