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Everything I Never Told You
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Last week, when I was browsing Amazon, the website recommended a book called “Everything I Never Told You” to me, lauding the books as a page-turner, and saying that this book had been awarded many prizes such as “the best book of the year” by Amazon. I went on to see the introduction and ratings. This book tells the story of a Chinese American family living in Midwestern America. The author, Celeste Ng, is a second-generation Chinese American woman. This book is widely praised by critics, and is rated 4 out of 5 by over 3,000 customers.
“Hum. I may give it a try,” I thought. I usually don’t read novels much, especially family dramas, because I think it is simply a waste of time. There are, in my opinion, very few good works of drama. Only when the book is gorgeously written, can it be thought-provoking, but there are so few. Since this book was widely acclaimed, I assumed it might be food for thought. I then bought a copy from Taobao, a Chinese online market.
It turned out that reading this book was a sheer torture to me. Perhaps, it was just not the type of book I loved reading. The book was all about the mundane of an imaginary family and people around them. The plots were nothing but boring to me. The book started with two sentences: “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” After that, the author set up exposition to discover the reasons behind it. While reading, I kept telling myself, “Carry on. The story must be unpredictable at the end.,” but the dénouement was turned out to be plain and it wasn’t a murder mystery– Lydia, the drown girl, committed suicide.
All the characters in this book live miserable lives. They think everything in this world sucks. The deplorable, complicated family dynamics contribute to the tragedy. Perhaps, many Americans found it to be new and interesting. But in China, there have been many books like this. K-dramas are aslo full of them. It seems like there is a misery competition for family dramas. The book that has the most miserable story win. But, in fact, they are all artificial. In my eyes, the real-life stories are much more fascinating than those facts-absentee dramas, and that’s why I love reading biographies, from which I can learn people’s experience and life lessons.
To me, the book “Everything I Never Told You” is old wine in a new bottle. The wine is a typical Chinese drama. The new bottle is the setting in the hinterland of the US. And, elements such as misogyny, racism are added. One thing worth being noted is that the prose of this book is good. Celeste Ng majored in English at Harvard. I can tell that the sentence structures are somewhat different from many other American writers‘ - Celeste Ng loves to use parallelism, apparently influenced by Chinese. This is also one thing I envy English: people of different ethnicities have been contributing to the English language literature, thus making the language fascinating, varied and living.
“Hum. I may give it a try,” I thought. I usually don’t read novels much, especially family dramas, because I think it is simply a waste of time. There are, in my opinion, very few good works of drama. Only when the book is gorgeously written, can it be thought-provoking, but there are so few. Since this book was widely acclaimed, I assumed it might be food for thought. I then bought a copy from Taobao, a Chinese online market.
It turned out that reading this book was a sheer torture to me. Perhaps, it was just not the type of book I loved reading. The book was all about the mundane of an imaginary family and people around them. The plots were nothing but boring to me. The book started with two sentences: “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” After that, the author set up exposition to discover the reasons behind it. While reading, I kept telling myself, “Carry on. The story must be unpredictable at the end.,” but the dénouement was turned out to be plain and it wasn’t a murder mystery– Lydia, the drown girl, committed suicide.
All the characters in this book live miserable lives. They think everything in this world sucks. The deplorable, complicated family dynamics contribute to the tragedy. Perhaps, many Americans found it to be new and interesting. But in China, there have been many books like this. K-dramas are aslo full of them. It seems like there is a misery competition for family dramas. The book that has the most miserable story win. But, in fact, they are all artificial. In my eyes, the real-life stories are much more fascinating than those facts-absentee dramas, and that’s why I love reading biographies, from which I can learn people’s experience and life lessons.
To me, the book “Everything I Never Told You” is old wine in a new bottle. The wine is a typical Chinese drama. The new bottle is the setting in the hinterland of the US. And, elements such as misogyny, racism are added. One thing worth being noted is that the prose of this book is good. Celeste Ng majored in English at Harvard. I can tell that the sentence structures are somewhat different from many other American writers‘ - Celeste Ng loves to use parallelism, apparently influenced by Chinese. This is also one thing I envy English: people of different ethnicities have been contributing to the English language literature, thus making the language fascinating, varied and living.
上周，我在浏览亚马逊的时候，网站给我推荐了一本书，名叫《Everything I Never Told You》，称赞这本书引人入胜，还获得了很多奖。比如，获得了亚马逊的“年度最佳图书”称号。然后我去看了看介绍和评分。这本书讲的是一个生活在美国中西部地区的华裔家庭的故事。作者叫 Celeste Ng，是美国第二代华裔移民。这本书受到评论界广泛好评，有3000多名读者参与评分，获得4分。
我心想：“嗯。看起来我应该看看这本书。” 我一般不看小说，尤其是家庭小说，因为我认为纯粹是浪费时间。依据本人鄙见，好的家庭剧小说太少，倘若是写得好，还能发人深思，但问题是这样的书少之又少。既然这本书评价如此之高，我觉得可以看看，所以去淘宝上买了一本。
结果读这本书真是一种折磨。也许这类书不是我的菜吧。整本书都在描写一个虚拟家庭以及身边人的日常。情节也是非常无趣。这本书以两句话开头：“Lydia死了。但没人知道。”然后，作者开始开展情节来探索背后的原因。在看这本书的时候，我反复告诉自己，“再看看。也许故事最后会出人意料。”谁知，结局也是索然无趣。Lydia不过是跳湖自杀而已。
全书中的人物过着悲惨的生活，认为全世界都亏欠他们。复杂，可悲的家庭关系，促成了这个悲剧。也许是美国人认为这种文体比较新奇和有趣吧。但在中国，这样的书实在是汗牛充栋。韩剧也是充斥着这种苦情戏。好像家庭剧的标准是，越惨越好。而实际上，这些故事都是虚构的。我认为，比起那些毫无事实根据的小说，现实生活发生的事更精彩，所以我喜欢看人物传记，从中我还可以学到很多知识和做人的道理。
对我而言，《Everything I Never Told You》不过是新瓶装旧酒。旧酒就是中国那些苦情家庭剧，新瓶子不过是把故事背景放到了美国腹地，然后加一些歧视女性、种族的元素进去。有一点值得一提，这本小说的文笔还可以。毕竟Celeste Ng是哈佛大学英语专业毕业。我能够看出她的文笔和其他很多美国作家不太一样，比如Celeste Ng特别喜欢用排比，显然是受到了中文的影响。其实，这也正是我羡慕英语的一点，就是不同种族的人，一起为英语做贡献，让英语变得更加多元化、迷人和富有活力。
我心想：“嗯。看起来我应该看看这本书。” 我一般不看小说，尤其是家庭小说，因为我认为纯粹是浪费时间。依据本人鄙见，好的家庭剧小说太少，倘若是写得好，还能发人深思，但问题是这样的书少之又少。既然这本书评价如此之高，我觉得可以看看，所以去淘宝上买了一本。
结果读这本书真是一种折磨。也许这类书不是我的菜吧。整本书都在描写一个虚拟家庭以及身边人的日常。情节也是非常无趣。这本书以两句话开头：“Lydia死了。但没人知道。”然后，作者开始开展情节来探索背后的原因。在看这本书的时候，我反复告诉自己，“再看看。也许故事最后会出人意料。”谁知，结局也是索然无趣。Lydia不过是跳湖自杀而已。
全书中的人物过着悲惨的生活，认为全世界都亏欠他们。复杂，可悲的家庭关系，促成了这个悲剧。也许是美国人认为这种文体比较新奇和有趣吧。但在中国，这样的书实在是汗牛充栋。韩剧也是充斥着这种苦情戏。好像家庭剧的标准是，越惨越好。而实际上，这些故事都是虚构的。我认为，比起那些毫无事实根据的小说，现实生活发生的事更精彩，所以我喜欢看人物传记，从中我还可以学到很多知识和做人的道理。
对我而言，《Everything I Never Told You》不过是新瓶装旧酒。旧酒就是中国那些苦情家庭剧，新瓶子不过是把故事背景放到了美国腹地，然后加一些歧视女性、种族的元素进去。有一点值得一提，这本小说的文笔还可以。毕竟Celeste Ng是哈佛大学英语专业毕业。我能够看出她的文笔和其他很多美国作家不太一样，比如Celeste Ng特别喜欢用排比，显然是受到了中文的影响。其实，这也正是我羡慕英语的一点，就是不同种族的人，一起为英语做贡献，让英语变得更加多元化、迷人和富有活力。
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Last week, when/while/as I was browsing Amazon, the website recommended a book called “Everything I Never Told You” to me, lauding praising the books as a page-turner, and saying that this book had been awarded many prizes such as “the best book of the year” by Amazon.
"Lauding" is only used to describe people, as far as I know.
I think that "as I was doing X..." usually sounds better if you want to "set the stage".
Also, "I was recommended a book called..." is probably more common than "the website recommended..."
This book tells a/the story of a Chinese American family living in Midwestern American.
This book is widely/highly praised by critics, and is rated 4 out of 5 by over 3,000 customers.
Also, "4/5" instead of "4 out of 5".
I may could/should give it a try,” I thought.
Only when the book is gorgeously written, can it be thought-provoking, but there are so few of these.
Perhaps, it was just not the type of book I loved reading.
Unless you changed your taste, "love" and not "loved". :-)
The book was all about the mundane life/world of an imaginary family and the people around them.
The plots were was nothing but boring to me.
But they don’t know this it yet.” And then, the author set up an exposition to discover the reasons behind it.
"Don't know it" is a rather set phrase.
The story must be unpredictable at the end.,” but the dénouement was turned out to be plain and it wasn’t a murder mystery– Lydia, the drown girl that drowned, committed suicide.
All the characters in this book lived miserable lives.
K-dramas are also full of them.
The book who that has the most miserable story wins.
In my eyes, the real-life stories are much more fascinating than those facts-absentee dramas, and that’s why I love reading biographies, from which I can learn about people’s experience and life lessons.
One thing worth being noting is that the prose of this book is good.
This is also one thing I envy about/regarding English: people of different ethnicities have been contributing to the English language literature, thus making the language fascinating, varied and living.
Chinese is similar in this way, isn't it? Words from different regions of China also enter standard Mandarin.
Thanks symphony!
Last week, when I was browsing Amazon, the website recommended a book called “Everything I Never Told You” to me, lauding the books as a page-turner, and saying that this/the book/it had been awarded many prizes such as “the best book of the year” by Amazon.
Usually when talking about names of awards, we don't include the "the"--e.g. "Did you hear that Leonardo DiCaprio finally won Best Actor?" or "I heard this novel was Book of the Year last year."
The book tells a story of a Chinese American family living in Midwestern American.
This book has been widely praised by critics, and is rated 4 out of 5 by over 3,000 customers.
I may give it a try,” I thought.
"Maybe I'll give it a try" is probably what I would say (a bit more casual/colloquial)--your phrasing is absolutely fine as well, though!
I usually don’t read novels much, especially ones about family dramas, because I think they are simply a waste of time.
I don't think "family drama" is really thought of as a genre in the U.S. in quite the same way as it is in China, so I've modified your sentence a bit to reflect that.
Only when the book is gorgeously written can it be thought-provoking, but I find there are so few books like this.
Be careful--inversion of subject & verb is required in "only when..." constructions! (More here: http://www.grammaring.com/only-after-only-if-only-in-this-way-etc-not-until)
Since this book was widely acclaimed, I assumed it might be worth a try food for thought.
"Food for thought" is usually some sort of abstract topic/issue/subject, not a book.
I then bought a copy from Taobao, a Chinese online marketplace.
It turned out that reading this books was a sheer torture to me.
Perhaps, it was just not the type of book I loved reading/it just wasn't my cup of tea.
The book was all about the mundane lives of an imaginary family and the people around them.
"mundane" is not a noun (and "mundaneness" wouldn't really work here either).
The plot was nothing but boring to me.
We generally talk about a single book only having one plot.
The book starts with two sentences: “Lydia is dead.
The book still exists and it *still* starts with two sentences, so I would not use past tense here.
But they don’t know this yet.” And then, the author sets up the exposition, in which characters set out to discover the reasons behind Lydia's death.
See above comment. Also, this sentence felt like it lacked a few elements; I've added some words here and there to make it a bit clearer.
The story must turn out to be unpredictable/There must be a plot twist at the end.,” but the dénouement was turned out to be plain and it wasn’t a murder mystery after all–Lydia, the drowned girl, had committed suicide.
All the characters in this books live miserable lives.
They think everything in this world sucks.
The deplorable, complicated family dynamics contribute to the tragedy.
"deplorable" usually is used when the speaker strongly disapproves of the thing s/he is describing, e.g. "His treatment of my sister was deplorable." It's usually used for something that actually exists (at least, that's my impression), so it doesn't quite fit when describing something in a fictional story.
K-dramas are also full of these types of stories.
Using "them" here seems like you may be referring to "books" in the previous sentence, which wouldn't make sense ("K-dramas are also full of these types of books" is clearly not what you mean).
It seems like there is a competition for who can produce the most tragic family drama.
"misery competition" doesn't quite work, unfortunately, so I've suggested something else.
The book with the most tragic story wins.
"misery" is a noun, not an adjective, so it can't modify "story". Also, I think "tragic" might work better here. Also, we don't use "who" with inanimate objects like books.
But, in fact, they are all/all these stories are artificial.
In my eyes, the real-life stories are much more fascinating than vacuous, fictional dramas, and. That’s why I love reading biographies, from which I can learn about people’s experiences and life lessons.
I've suggested a couple words (in blue) that I think express your sentiment. Also, this was a bit of a long sentence, so I've split it up.
To me, the book “Everything I Never Told You” is just like putting old wine in a new bottle.
And, elements such as misogyny and racism are added/With some misogyny and racism sprinkled in, as well.
Alas (and as I'm sure you know), commas in English can't serve the same function as the Chinese “、” Also, I've suggested a slightly more idiomatic rephrasing (but yours works fine as well).
One thing worth being noted is that the prose of this book is good/One thing worth noting is the quality of the book's prose/One thing worth noting is the book's prose.
Re: my second suggestion, if you're already saying the book's prose is "worth noting", saying that it's also "good" is actually a bit redundant.
I can tell that the sentence structures are somewhat different from that of many other American writers‘ - Celeste Ng loves to use parallelism, apparently influenced by Chinese.
This is also one thing I envy English for: people of different ethnicities have been contributing to the English language literature, thus making the language fascinating, varied and living.
Excellent, excellent writing. I've made a lot of suggestions (in blue), but many aren't necessary at all as your writing was already near-flawless!
Thank you so much for your corrections and suggestions.
额。。那么多小错误。谢谢你的指正！从你的解释中学到了很多！
祝你在香港一切顺利！春节快乐！
^_^
Last week (while) browsing Amazon, the website recommended (me) a book called “Everything I Never Told You” to me, lauding it as a page-turner, and saying that this book had been awarded many prizes such as “the best book of the year” by Amazon.
The author, Celeste Ng, is a second-generation Chinese American woman.
Wow. I didn't now Ng was a Chinese name? 0_0 Or maybe she's married....
This book is (critically acclaimed), and is rated 4 out of 5 by over 3,000 readers.
I should give it a try,” I thought (to myself).
I usually don’t read novels much, especially family sagas, because I think they are simply a waste of time.
Novels are plural, so "are" not "is"
Do you like 红楼梦?
There are, in my opinion, very few good works of family drama.
Only when the book is gorgeously written, can it be thought-provoking, but (unfortunately) there are so few.
Since this book was so widely acclaimed, I assumed it might be (good) food for thought.
I then proceeded to buy a copy from Taobao, a Chinese online market.
It turned out that reading this book was a sheer torture for me.
Perhaps, this book just wasn't my cup of tea.
The book centered around the mundane lives of an imaginary family and people around them.
The plots were nothing but boring to me.
But they don’t know this yet.” After that, the author set up exposition to explore the reasons behind it.
The author already knows the plot, so she isn't "discovering" anything.
Maybe the story's ending will have something surprising.” But the dénouement was turned out to be predictably simplistic and it wasn’t a murder mystery– Lydia committed suicide by drowning.
They think everything in the world sucks.
The dysfunctional, complicated family dynamics contribute to the tragedy.
Perhaps, many Americans found it to be (particularly) novel and interesting.
But in China is saturated with books like this.
汗牛充栋 haha I love this...
K-dramas are also full of them.
It seems like the standard is the more tragic, the better.
We call this "tragedy porn"
The book that has the most miserable story wins.
In my eyes, the real-life stories are much more fascinating than those facts-absentee dramas, and that’s why I love reading biographies, from which I can learn about people’s experience and life lessons.
To me, the book “Everything I Never Told You” is just old wine in a new bottle.
The new bottle is the setting in the hinterland of the US, with additional elements of misogyny and racism added.
And, elements of misogyny, racism are added.
One thing worth noting is that the prose of this book is quite good.
还可以-->maybe "adequate" works better.
"the prose of this book is adequate
After all, Celeste Ng majored in English at Harvard.
I can tell that the sentence structures are somewhat different from many other American writers‘ - Celeste Ng loves to use parallelism, apparently influenced by Chinese.
After mentioning the author's full name once, usually they're referred to by their last name from then on.
This is also one thing I envy about English: people of different ethnicities have been contributing to the English language and literature, thus making the language fascinating, varied and lively.
So interesting to read your thoughts on a fiction book spcartman!! Yes, Americans find this utterly fascinating. Amy Tan is everyone's go-to author for Chinese American culture stuff and it makes me cringe. I never heard of Celeste Ng but this book sure sounds hellishly boring :P
我也听过谭恩美。
四大名著中，我们在学校里面学过《红楼梦》，但我目前更喜欢三国和西游。
也许，以后等我老了，会更喜欢《红楼梦》吧。
COMMENT: All three corrections above seem viable to me. Here is one more possible wording - Browsing through Amazon recently, the website recommended a _Everything I Never Told You_, a novel about Chinese-American family. Celeste Ng's debut novel has garnered many awards, including Amazon's 2015 Best Book of the Year.
SUGGESTION: Delete this sentence. It is adds no new content, and is implied by the previous sentence sentence and next sentence.
SUGGESTION: Combine the next two sentences into one sentence - Written by a second-generation Chinese American, this book tells the story of a Chinese-American family living in Midwestern American.
NOTE: The hyphen in "Chinese-American" is optional. In British English it would probably be retained, but in American English it would probably be dropped. Also, since "Christine" is a woman's name, readers can infer that the author is female.
(Combined with the previous sentence.)
COMMENT: Each of the 3 corrections about is possible; here is how I would express the idea - This book is critically acclaimed and has been rated 4 out of 5 by over 3,000 readers.
“Hmm.
SUGGESTION: Combine the next two sentences into one sentence like this - Family sagas are seldom my cup of tea and few works in that genre seem high-calibre/caliber.
British spelling: calibre / American spelling: caliber
(Combined with the previous sentence.)
LOGIC: Elegant style and depth of thought are two different factors. They are perhaps asily conflated, but in fact distinct. For example, the _Diary of Anne Frank_ lacks stylistic literary flair. However, as this 12 year-old girl confronts the reality of Hitler's genocide and likelihood of her own death, it achieves depth.
SUGGESTION: Combine the next two sentences into one sentence - Since this book was widely acclaimed, I decided to give it a try and obtained a copy from Taobao, a Chinese online shopping website.
(Combined with the previous sentence.)
However, it turned out that reading this (book) was (a) sheer torture for me.
COMMENT: You have already mentioned that family dramas are not your cup of tea. A more interesting comment might be to mention how reading is a gendered experience. Whereas many female readers get into books like this, it is less popular with male readers. Why is that? Cognitive psychologists have suggested that when we identify closely with what we are reading, we are actually exploring our own alternative selves.
Thanks for taking the time to correct my entries!
Misery competition. Enough's enough. ☺☺☺
I then bought a copy from Taobao, a Chinese online market.
Since this action of "buying" does not follow any other action (rather, prior to buying the book you are simply thinking)
Perhaps, it just wasn't my type of book.
The book started with these two sentences: “Lydia is dead.
But they don’t know this yet.” After that, the author tried to enthrall the reader to discover the reasons why (Lydia was dead and nobody knew about it).
While reading, I kept telling myself, “Keep going.
The ending will be worth it,” but the dénouement was turned out to be plain and simple, and it wasn’t a murder mystery– Lydia, the drowned girl, committed suicide.
With elements such as misogyny, racism added in.
I can tell that the sentence structures are somewhat different from many other American writers‘ - Celeste Ng loves to use parallelism, apparently influenced by the Chinese.
This is also one thing I envy about English: people of different ethnicities have been contributing to the English language literature for decades, thus making the language fascinating, varied and lively.
This is an interesting point. I envy Chinese, though, which I think is better at conveying deep sentiments in a short space.
Thank you so much for your corrections and explanations!
Yeah, one of Chinese's strength is that it occupies a short space... ;-)