Marilyn and James Lee meet in college: she’s a bright student, focused on a career in medicine, who elects to take a course in American history; he’s the young professor teaching it. They fall in love and marry when Marilyn is already pregnant with their first child, determined to resume her studies as soon as she can. Settling in Wildwood, Ohio, they’re something of an oddity: James is Chinese-American, Marilyn is white – this is the 1950s and mixed race marriages are still illegal in some states. Frustrated by the thwarting of her ambitions, Marilyn disappears briefly in the summer of 1966, leaving her family with only a torn up note in explanation. Neither Lydia nor her elder brother Nath ever quite recover, and soon Marilyn is pregnant again with Hannah the third child who will often find herself ignored. Acutely aware of his own alienation, James is determined that Lydia be popular while Marilyn joyfully accepts her daughter’s apparent interest in science as a second chance for her. Terrified that her mother might disappear again, Lydia plays along with the idea, struggling at school and resorting to cheating to achieve good grades. She has no friends – Nathan, due to leave for Harvard, is her only support – until Jack, apparently the town Lothario, takes an interest in her. Meanwhile Hannah looks on.
Ng weaves James and Marilyn’s stories through the events of 1977, revealing what has brought them both to such a degree of self-deception about their children and themselves. It’s rare that a novel’s title fits it quite so well as Ng’s for her debut, littered as it is with people who never tell each other how they feel, sometimes with terrible consequences. The journey is a painful one exploring as it does the childhood agony of being different at school, casual unthinking racism and the frustrations of housewifery. Ng can be a little heavy-handed at times but it’s a quietly gripping novel and I’ll be interested to see what she does next.
Great review, Susan, I really enjoyed this novel and am waiting for Celeste’s reply to my Q&A before posted my review. I so agree about the title, it’s all about what can’t be said. I just wondered if you might see some more about the ways in which you thought the author was “heavy-handed” – I was so engrossed in the story I didn’t notice!
Thanks, Anne. You long for a good old family chat around the table! I felt that some of the racial slurs were a little over-rehearsed – some of it could have been left to be inferred by the reader. It will be interesting to see if those were based on Ng’s own experience. That said, it’s a good read. Having looked at race and feminism in one novel I wonder what she’ll tackle next.
Great review! This sounds wonderful, and I love the title.
Thanks you, and if you love the title I think you’ll love the book, Gemma. It certainly lives up to it.
Great review, Susan. It sounds as if the author has managed to combine a number of thought-provoking themes. A writer to watch.
Thank you, Jacqui. Yes, it’s a meaty read and she writes well.
I really enjoyed it too – very subtle and affecting.
I particularly liked the way she depicted the three children’s very different reactions to their parents’ self-absorption. A sad book.
I’m looking forward to reading this – nearly every review I’ve read has been very good.
I am attuned in a spooky way to your book choices – I’ve just received my copy of this and am looking forward to it very much!
That’s why I follow your blog so avidly! We seem to plough a similar furrow. Hope you enjoy it, Victoria.