內容簡介
New York Times Bestseller · A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice · Winner of the Alex Award·?Winner of the APALA Award for Fiction? ?
NAMED A
BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY:
? NPR ·
San Francisco Chronicle ·
Entertainment Weekly ·
The Huffington Post ·?Buzzfeed ·
Amazon ·
Grantland ·
Booklist ·
St. Louis Post Dispatch ·
Shelf Awareness ·?Book Riot ·
School Library Journal · ?
Bustle ·
Time Out New York ·?Mashable · Cleveland Plain Dealer“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing,
Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
作者簡介
CELESTE NG grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. She attended Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Michigan. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and son.,,
精彩書評
Alexander Chee,?The New York Times Book Review:“If we know this story, we haven’t seen it yet in American fiction, not until now… Ng has set two tasks in this novel’s doubled heart—to be exciting, and to tell a story bigger than whatever is behind the crime. She does both by turning the nest of familial resentments into at least four smaller, prickly mysteries full of secrets the family members won’t share… What emerges is a deep, heartfelt portrait of a family struggling with its place in history, and a young woman hoping to be the fulfillment of that struggle. This is, in the end, a novel about the burden of being the first of your kind—a burden you do not always survive.”
Los Angeles Times:“Excellent…an accomplished debut… heart-wrenching…Ng deftly pulls together the strands of this complex, multigenerational novel.?
Everything I Never Told You?is an engaging work that casts a powerful light on the secrets that have kept an American family together—and that finally end up tearing it apart.”
Boston Globe:“Wonderfully moving…Emotionally precise…A beautifully crafted study of dysfunction and grief…[This book] will resonate with anyone who has ever had a family drama.”
San Francisco Chronicle:“A subtle meditation on gender, race and the weight of one generation’s unfulfilled ambitions upon the shoulders—and in the heads—of the?next… Ng deftly and convincingly illustrates the degree to which some miscommunications can never quite be?rectified.”
O, The Oprah Magazine:“Cleverly crafted, emotionally perceptive… Ng sensitively dramatizes issues of gender and race that lie at the heart of the story… Ng’s themes of assimilation are themselves deftly interlaced into a taut tale of ever deepening and quickening suspense.”?
Los Angeles Review of Books:“Ng moves gracefully back and forth in time, into the aftermath of the tragedy as well as the distant past, and into the consciousness of each member of the family, creating a series of mysteries and revelations that lead back to the original question: what happened to Lydia?...Ng is masterful in her use of the omniscient narrator, achieving both a historical distance and visceral intimacy with each character’s struggles and failures…On the surface, Ng’s storylines are nothing new. There is a mysterious death, a family pulled apart by misunderstanding and grief, a struggle to fit into the norms of society, yet in the weaving of these threads she creates a work of ambitious complexity. In the end, this novel movingly portrays the burden of difference at a time when difference had no cultural value…Compelling.”
Entertainment Weekly:“Both a propulsive mystery and a profound examination of a mixed-race family, Ng’s explosive debut chronicles the plight of Marilyn and James Lee after their favored daughter is found dead in a lake.”
Marie Claire:“The mysterious circumstances of 16-year-old Lydia Lee’s tragic death have her loved ones wondering how, exactly, she spent her free time. This ghostly debut novel calls to mind?The Lovely Bones.”
Huffington Post:“A powerhouse of a debut novel, a literary mystery crafted out of shimmering prose and precise, painful observation about racial barriers, the burden of familial expectations, and the basic human thirst for belonging… Ng’s novel grips readers from page one with the hope of unraveling the mystery behind Lydia’s death—and boy does it deliver, on every front.”
Chris Schluep,?Parade:“The first chapter of Celeste Ng’s debut novel is difficult—the oldest daughter in a family is dead—but what follows is a brilliantly written, surprisingly uplifting exploration of striving in the face of alienation and of the secrets we keep from others. This could be my favorite novel of the year.”
Kevin Nguyen, Grantland:“The emotional core of Celeste Ng’s debut is what sets it apart. The different ways in which the Lee family handles Lydia’s death create internal friction, and most impressive is the way Ng handles racial politics. With a deft hand, she loads and unpacks the implications of being the only Chinese American family in a small town in Ohio.”
Cleveland Plain-Dealer:“Beautiful and poignant…. deftly drawn….It’s hard to believe that this is a debut novel for Celeste Ng. She tackles the themes of family dynamics, gender and racial stereotyping, and the weight of expectations, all with insight made more powerful through understatement. She has an exact, sophisticated touch with her prose. The sentences are straightforward. She evokes emotions through devastatingly detailed observations.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune:“Perceptive…a skillful and moving portrayal of a family in pain…It is to Ng’s credit that it is sometimes difficult for the reader to keep going; the pain and unhappiness is palpable. But it is true to the Lees, and Ng tells all.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:“Impressive… In its evocation of a time and place and society largely gone but hardly forgotten,?
Everything I Never Told You?tells much that today’s reader should learn, ponder and appreciate.”
Amanda Nelson, Book Riot:“On the surface, this is about a mixed-race Asian-American family dealing with and trying to solve the mysterious death of their favorite teenaged daughter in ‘70s Ohio (this isn’t a spoiler, it happens in the first sentence). What it’s really about all the ways we can be an ‘other’—in society, in our own marriages, in our jobs, and to our parents or children. It’s also about pressure—the pressure to be with people who are like ourselves, and to fit in, and to be everything our parents want us to be. It’s about giving up your career to become a wife and mother, and what that means and doesn’t mean. It’s about dealing with prejudice. It’s about secrets and happiness and misery, and all the things we never tell the people we love. It’s about everything, is what I’m saying, and not a single word is wasted or superfluous.”
前言/序言
《失落的信件:關於時間、記憶與未竟的承諾》 作者:艾米莉·卡特(Emily Carter) 主題:失落的傢族史詩、跨越世代的秘密、身份的追尋與和解 裝幀:精裝典藏版 --- 內容梗概: 《失落的信件》是一部宏大而細膩的傢族史詩,它以二十世紀初英國郊外的維多利亞式莊園“黑木堂”為起點,緩緩鋪展開一段跨越百年的復雜糾葛。故事的核心,圍繞著一疊在傢族古董箱中被塵封近一個世紀的信件展開。這些信件,並非情書,而是關於財産繼承、政治陰謀、以及一段被刻意抹去的曆史的鐵證。 故事的主人公是伊芙琳·裏德(Evelyn Reed),一位在倫敦博物館工作的青年檔案管理員。伊芙琳的生活原本平靜而有序,直到她意外繼承瞭她素未謀麵的曾祖母留下的黑木堂。在清理這座沉寂已久的莊園時,她發現瞭一個上鎖的橡木箱。箱內,是數百封信件、日記殘頁和幾張褪色的照片。這些資料揭示瞭一個她傢族從未嚮外界透露的驚人真相:她的曾祖父,一位受人尊敬的實業傢,可能並非他自稱的那個人。 第一部分:塵封的過去 故事的敘事結構在兩個時空之間穿梭。一頭是伊芙琳在現代對這些信件的解讀與重構;另一頭,則是信件所記載的,1910年代至1930年代的愛德華時代晚期與兩次世界大戰間的動蕩。 信件的主人是伊芙琳的曾祖母,塞拉菲娜·範恩(Seraphina Thorne)。塞拉菲娜是一位受過高等教育、充滿反叛精神的女性,她與一位來自底層、充滿野心的年輕律師亞瑟·裏德(Arthur Reed)相愛。然而,他們的結閤遭到瞭塞拉菲娜貴族傢庭的強烈反對。信件記錄瞭他們私奔的艱難,以及亞瑟如何一步步利用傢族資源和政治關係,逐漸建立起一個龐大的商業帝國。 但信件也暗示瞭一種不安:亞瑟似乎在利用一些不光彩的手段獲取信息和權力。塞拉菲娜的筆觸從最初的狂熱愛情,逐漸轉嚮瞭深深的恐懼和道德上的掙紮。她發現,亞瑟的“成功”背後,隱藏著對一位重要商業夥伴的背叛,以及一樁可能導緻多人身敗名裂的金融醜聞。 第二部分:身份的裂痕 隨著伊芙琳對信件的深入挖掘,她發現瞭一些關於自己傢族起源的“拼圖碎片”似乎並不對齊。信件中多次提到一個名叫“加布裏埃爾”的人,他似乎是亞瑟事業的早期支持者,但後來與亞瑟決裂,並最終“神秘失蹤”。 伊芙琳開始調查加布裏埃爾的下落。她的探尋將她帶入戰後倫敦的陰影角落,那裏充斥著舊時代的殘餘勢力和對往事諱莫如深的沉默者。她結識瞭一位年邁的退休偵探,這位偵探曾參與過一樁與加布裏埃爾失蹤案相關的模糊調查。 在伊芙琳的追問下,偵探迴憶起一些模糊的細節:加布裏埃爾可能並非單純的商業對手,他似乎掌握瞭亞瑟利用戰爭物資進行非法交易的證據。塞拉菲娜的信件也暗示瞭這一點——她曾試圖阻止亞瑟,但最終被他的威脅所壓倒。更令人不安的是,信件中有一段提到,亞瑟為瞭掩蓋真相,可能采取瞭極端措施。 第三部分:記憶的重塑與和解 伊芙琳的調查不僅是對曆史的還原,也是對自我身份的一次痛苦審視。她意識到,她一直以來敬仰的傢族光環,建立在謊言和背叛之上。她必須決定,是揭露這段醜陋的曆史,從而徹底摧毀傢族的聲譽,還是選擇繼續沉默,維持錶麵的平靜。 故事的高潮發生在黑木堂的地下室。伊芙琳根據信件中的提示,找到瞭一處被水泥封死的壁櫥。裏麵沒有黃金或珠寶,隻有一份被精心保管的遺囑副本和一本日記——那是加布裏埃爾的日記。 加布裏埃爾的日記證實瞭最壞的猜測:亞瑟確實設計陷害瞭他,並將他軟禁,最終導緻瞭他的死亡。然而,日記的最後一頁,卻齣乎意料地寫下瞭一段懺悔。原來,在生命的最後時刻,亞瑟終於被良心摺磨,他承認瞭自己的罪行,並將所有證據托付給瞭一位他信任的律師,要求在查無此人後公之於眾。這份遺囑被律師私自藏匿,因為他害怕捲入政治漩渦。 伊芙琳麵臨的最終抉擇是:她是否應該將這份足以讓裏德傢族徹底覆滅的真相公之於世?或者,她能否找到一種方式,既能紀念被遺忘的受害者,又能讓這片承載瞭復雜情感的土地得到救贖? 小說以伊芙琳在黑木堂花園中,重新種植瞭塞拉菲娜年輕時最喜歡的鳶尾花作結。她沒有選擇徹底的毀滅,而是選擇瞭一種艱難的“誠實”——她匿名將關鍵證據寄給瞭一傢曆史研究機構,讓曆史去裁決,而自己則選擇留下來,用新的、更真實的故事來書寫黑木堂的未來。 風格與深度: 《失落的信件》以其嚴謹的史料考證感和深沉的心理描寫而著稱。作者巧妙地運用瞭喬治·艾略特式的對社會道德的深刻剖析,以及杜穆裏埃式的哥特式懸疑氛圍。它探討的主題超越瞭簡單的傢族秘密,深入觸及瞭關於“真相的重量”、“世代間的道德責任”以及“記憶如何塑造個體認同”等深刻哲學命題。敘事語言流暢而富有韻律,曆史場景的描繪細緻入微,仿佛能聞到那個時代壁爐裏燃燒的煤煙味和圖書館裏舊書頁的黴味。這是一部關於我們如何麵對祖先留下的遺産,並決定自己將走嚮何方的動人作品。