By: Celeste NgPlot: Story about a Chinese American family and how they deal with the death of their middle daughter/sister, and the events that lead up to her death. It's told from the third person and switches between all the members of her family.
My Thoughts: This book has one of the best opening lines ever. It immediately sets the scene and I was so drawn in from the beginning. I was really enjoying this book and then it got to the part where the mom basically abandons her family and I wasn't really enjoying it anymore. I knew I was going to finish the book but I didn't really read it for a week or more. I struggle so much reading about anything horrible happening to children! Once I finally got passed that part though I couldn't stop reading until I finished it.
My favorite part was once it got to Lydia and her point of view. It was so interesting to see what happened in the past and how that effected her whole life and even what was going on with her prior to her death. I hated both of her parents and the way they completely screwed up all their kids. Okay maybe they weren't completely screwed up. It was just frustrating how their parents were trying to fulfill all their own selfish dreams through their kids and the horrible pressure that put on them! Another horrible thing they did as parents was use Nath as a nickname for Nathan. I hated that. I was so happy (and confused) by the ending and that it ended on an up note. This is a good book club book because as soon as I finished reading it I wanted to talk to someone about it.
Favorite Quote: "Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet."
Rating: 4/5 I loved her writing and how real the characters were.