Book discussion questions

• Will this book stand the test of time?

• Do any of the characters seem to be unique individuals, or are they all simply two-dimensional figures whose experiences serve only to convey the author's political message?

• What are some themes in the novel? How do they relate to the plot and characters?

• Did the novel seem believable?

• How did the book portray women? What is the role of women in the text? How are mothers represented? What about single/independent women?

• Do you find the characters likable? Are the characters persons you would want to meet?

• Does the novel end the way you expected? How? Why

• What is the central/primary purpose of the novel? Is the purpose important or meaningful?

• In what ways does the author depict capitalism as destructive? Consider the characters’ personal lives and social interactions.

• After reading the book do you think the author succeeds in accomplishing what /she set out to do? Does s/he fail in certain sections or reveal a bias that strays from stated intentions?

• Would you recommend this novel to a friend? Thumbs up? Thumbs down?

• Pick a particular segment, chapter, or example that stands out to you once you are finished reading the book. Why did you pick it, and what is the author's larger point in including it? Is it particularly upsetting, graphic, informative, controversial, etc?

• Fast food chains and convenience foods, despite the myriad problems documented, have an undeniable appeal-they are convenient and offer inexpensive and tasty food. Even if you are disturbed by the practices of these corporations, could you realistically swear off your food, given its ubiquity and mainstream appeal? If you are driving home from work, tired and hungry, and your two choices are a familiar fast food restaurant or an unknown Mom-and-pop, which would you choose? What kinds of implications does this choice have?

• Since few people would confuse fast food with health food, who bears the greater responsibility for the alarming rate of obesity in children in the United States: the fast food chains that market "supersize" meals to children and the companies that make convenience food, or parents who are not educating their children about the benefits of a balanced diet? Can well-intentioned parents maintain control over the eating habits of their children in an era when school districts are contracting to bring fast food into the school cafeteria? On the other hand, do you view it as an impingement on civil liberties when organizations such as school districts, refuse to have vending machines on site in order to avoid presenting kids with unhealthy options?

• What is an example of what can happen when important matters of public policy are abandoned by government to the self interests of corporations?

• What do you think is the role of government when it comes to the food industry? How much oversight do you think there should be? Should the government refuse to allow some foods that are bad for health? What are your thoughts when you hear that European countries ban some of the food additives we allow? What might be some arguments AGAINST toughening national food safety laws to prevent e.coli or salmonella?

• If one accepts the author's assertions that the food corporations are engaging in patterns of unethical conduct, what can the consumer do to modify their behavior? Can the conduct of an individual have an impact on a company's practices? Why is a company most likely to change its conduct? To generate public goodwill? To respond to its employees' concerns? To address diminishing profits?

• Much of the book focuses upon aspects of the corporate world including marketing, labor practices, political ties, and the growth of specific industries. How do the points the author makes matter in your own life?

December 2014: 'Everything I never Told You'

Becky has decided to go with Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng for our December 2014 book. It is Amazon's pick for best book of 2014.

ABOUT THE BOOKLydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.

When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it’s the youngest of the family—Hannah—who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened.

A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

REVIEWS

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, July 2014: Lydia is dead. From the first sentence of Celeste Ng’s stunning debut, we know that the oldest daughter of the Chinese-American Lee family has died. What follows is a novel that explores alienation, achievement, race, gender, family, and identity--as the police must unravel what has happened to Lydia, the Lee family must uncover the sister and daughter that they hardly knew. There isn’t a false note in this book, and my only concern in describing my profound admiration for Everything I Never Told You is that it might raise unachievable expectations in the reader. But it’s that good. Achingly, precisely, and sensitively written. --Chris Schluep

From Booklist

*Starred Review* A teenage girl goes missing and is later found to have drowned in a nearby lake, and suddenly a once tight-knit family unravels in unexpected ways. As the daughter of a college professor and his stay-at-home wife in a small Ohio town in the 1970s, Lydia Lee is already unwittingly part of the greater societal changes going on all around her. But Lydia suffers from pressure that has nothing to do with tuning out and turning on. Her father is an American born of first-generation Chinese immigrants, and his ethnicity, and hers, make them conspicuous in any setting. Her mother is white, and their interracial marriage raises eyebrows and some intrusive charges of miscegenation. More troubling, however, is her mother’s frustration at having given up medical school for motherhood, and how she blindly and selfishly insists that Lydia follow her road not taken. The cracks in Lydia’s perfect-daughter foundation grow slowly but erupt suddenly and tragically, and her death threatens to destroy her parents and deeply scar her siblings. Tantalizingly thrilling, Ng’s emotionally complex debut novel captures the tension between cultures and generations with the deft touch of a seasoned writer. Ng will be one to watch. --Carol Haggas

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
Celeste Ng is the author of the novel EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU. She grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio, in a family of scientists. Her fiction and essays have appeared in One Story, TriQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, and elsewhere, and she is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize. Currently, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and son. To learn more about her and her work, visit her website at http://celesteng.com or follow her on Twitter: @pronounced_ing.