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 find out what has happened to Lydia, the Lee family must get to know the sister and daughter that they hardly knew.

    The reader spends most of the novel thinking one thing, only to be surprised at the end with the truth.

    The author delves into the lives of each family member: James, the father, who never felt really at home in any situation, Marilyn, the mother, whose dreams were shelved by the demands of marriage, family, and the times, Nathan, the older brother, whose brilliance is overlooked*, Lydia, the golden child burdened with all the frustrated aspirations* of her parents, and Hannah, a silent but keen observer of everyone in her family.

    Many chapters in this novel focus on just one character, telling the story from his or her point of view. The reader is led to an understanding of just how profoundly even the best intentions can go terribly wrong. Once again, we see people living out their own frustrated dreams through their children, who may or may not be on board. The term “helicopter parent” comes to mind, though this idea was not popular until the 1990s.

    Paper and Kindle editions are available both in English and Chinese at amazon.cn and jd.com.

    (SD-Agencies)