https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/567582002/All-That-s-Left-Unsaid
All That's Left Unsaid
by
4.01 · Rating details · 277 ratings · 143 reviews
For fans of Everything I Never Told You and The Mothers, a deeply moving and unflinching debut following a young Vietnamese-Australian woman who returns home to her family in the wake of her brother's shocking murder, determined to discover what happened--a dramatic exploration of the intricate bonds and obligations of friendship, family, and community.
Just let him go. The ...more
Just let him go. The ...more
Hardcover, 304 pages
Expected publication: September 13th 2022 by William Morrow & Company (first published August 30th 2022)
Aug 24, 2022GirlWithThePinkSkiMask rated it it was amazing
Thank you William & Morrow for my beautiful gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. IYKYK, my reviews are always honest.
BANGER ALERT 🚨🚨🚨🚨
SYNOPSIS
In the late 1990s, Ky Tran returns to Cabramatta after the violent murder of her younger brother, Denny. Looking for answers, Ky's past and present collide.
MY OPINION
OOOOHWEEEE!!! As always, let me set the record straight: this isn't a thriller or suspense novel despite how it sounds in the Goodreads synopsis. So for my thrillerheads, read carefully before picking this up. I would classify this as a social commentary + family drama with a lil splish splash of mystery at the center of it all.
Yes, her brother's death is the driver for her return, but it is not your typical citizens gone rogue, hate letters in your underwear drawer type of vibe. This is a serious exploration of intergenerational trauma, PTSD caused by war, political unrest, and refugee camps, and what it means to "belong" to a country.
Tracey Lien's extensive research shines through in her characters' experiences as Vietnamese immigrants in Australia. The beautiful prose delivers a complex and heart-wrenching (but at times funny) story from multiple POVs. I loved how Lien expertly crafted a story and tone for each character, especially the young child Lulu. I did think young Minnie was a little too "woke" for her age, but I understood her "role" in the story and the need for her to be like that.
And similar to Bad Fruit and Bliss Montage, this story made me think of my mom. She left a lot unsaid (see what I did there) but the bits and pieces she did share with me were represented in this story: Rampant alcoholism in men using alcohol to cope, the pressure to succeed as a "thank you" to your parents for upheaving their lives to give you a "better" one, the lost sense of self as you struggle with assimilating while being told to remember your roots. For those who are or intimately know East Asian immigrants, I think this book will resonate with you in a powerful way.
To end this on a lighter note, shoutout to Lien for making sure the factory wrap remained on the furniture LOL. Idk how my Lola kept her home from setting on fire but she dead ass had saran wrap around the stovetop buttons 😂
PROS AND CONS
Pros: beautifully written, well-researched, characters were multi-dimensional, authentic, funny at times
Cons: nadaaaaaaa but as I said, this book is not for everyone. (less)
BANGER ALERT 🚨🚨🚨🚨
SYNOPSIS
In the late 1990s, Ky Tran returns to Cabramatta after the violent murder of her younger brother, Denny. Looking for answers, Ky's past and present collide.
MY OPINION
OOOOHWEEEE!!! As always, let me set the record straight: this isn't a thriller or suspense novel despite how it sounds in the Goodreads synopsis. So for my thrillerheads, read carefully before picking this up. I would classify this as a social commentary + family drama with a lil splish splash of mystery at the center of it all.
Yes, her brother's death is the driver for her return, but it is not your typical citizens gone rogue, hate letters in your underwear drawer type of vibe. This is a serious exploration of intergenerational trauma, PTSD caused by war, political unrest, and refugee camps, and what it means to "belong" to a country.
Tracey Lien's extensive research shines through in her characters' experiences as Vietnamese immigrants in Australia. The beautiful prose delivers a complex and heart-wrenching (but at times funny) story from multiple POVs. I loved how Lien expertly crafted a story and tone for each character, especially the young child Lulu. I did think young Minnie was a little too "woke" for her age, but I understood her "role" in the story and the need for her to be like that.
And similar to Bad Fruit and Bliss Montage, this story made me think of my mom. She left a lot unsaid (see what I did there) but the bits and pieces she did share with me were represented in this story: Rampant alcoholism in men using alcohol to cope, the pressure to succeed as a "thank you" to your parents for upheaving their lives to give you a "better" one, the lost sense of self as you struggle with assimilating while being told to remember your roots. For those who are or intimately know East Asian immigrants, I think this book will resonate with you in a powerful way.
To end this on a lighter note, shoutout to Lien for making sure the factory wrap remained on the furniture LOL. Idk how my Lola kept her home from setting on fire but she dead ass had saran wrap around the stovetop buttons 😂
PROS AND CONS
Pros: beautifully written, well-researched, characters were multi-dimensional, authentic, funny at times
Cons: nadaaaaaaa but as I said, this book is not for everyone. (less)
Sep 04, 2022Catherine (alternativelytitledbooks) rated it really liked it
Shelves: 4-stars, widget-received, netgalley
**Many thanks to NetGalley, @BookClubGirl, William Morrow, and Tracey Lien for an ARC of this book!**
Denny Tran is dead...and his sister Ky is in shock.
Returning home to Cabramatta, Australia for his funeral, she finds her former home in some ways just how she left it...but in others even MORE deadly and dangerous. Plagued by violence and a pervasive drug culture, the Vietnamese refugees in this town often seem to face terror at every corner. Ky learns that her brother was killed at a Lucky 8 after a school event, but she can't seem to get any more detail out of anyone...even her own parents. Luckily, Ky is a journalist and is hell bent on getting to the bottom of her straight A student brother's death, so she takes matters into her own hands and starts hunting down witnesses to get to the bottom of the mystery. What she finds, however, are secrets more harrowing than she could have imagined...and links to her own past that are coming back to haunt her. Have the answers she's been searching for been hiding in plain sight...and if the past refuses to be ignored, what does THAT mean for Ky's future?
This is a difficult book to review for several reasons. I felt like I read a couple of different books combined into one book, which can be tricky in and of itself. This is a book that in some ways is very much in the vein of a Celeste Ng story, but in others has its own unique bent. The mystery is VERY important at the beginning of the story and I got hooked immediately trying to find out whodunit, but as we jumped from the Big Case into more of an exploration of the immigrant experience in Cabramatta...and THEN into Ky's past with her friends...I had trouble focusing and knowing exactly where the novel was headed.
Commentary on the different paths Vietnamese immigrants took (or were forced to take) in Cabramatta is clearly the most IMPORTANT driving force behind the book...but in some ways, I'm not sure if it was the most interesting in terms of furthering the plot itself. However, this was a tricky balancing act for Lien, so I applaud her effort to fit so much detail and so many perspectives into one story. There are explorations of what it means to be family, what sacrifice entails, and how those we love may not always be what they seem (or perhaps are EXACTLY what they seem!)
There is one chapter in particular that was striking, early on, which is narrated by a young character and was SO well-written. I almost wish Lien had used this device more often throughout the book because she was able to really NAIL the voice of the character and show off her writing prowess. Though I didn't mind narration by Ky, as a mystery/thriller lover, I would have liked a LITTLE bit more focus on the mystery or perhaps a bit more of a surprising ending in that department, but again, that is definitely a personal preference!
I struggled a bit with my rating on this one, but since overall this was a thoughtful, intriguing, and well-written debut, I'm happy to round up to 4 stars. I look forward to hearing more from Tracey Lien!
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 (less)
Denny Tran is dead...and his sister Ky is in shock.
Returning home to Cabramatta, Australia for his funeral, she finds her former home in some ways just how she left it...but in others even MORE deadly and dangerous. Plagued by violence and a pervasive drug culture, the Vietnamese refugees in this town often seem to face terror at every corner. Ky learns that her brother was killed at a Lucky 8 after a school event, but she can't seem to get any more detail out of anyone...even her own parents. Luckily, Ky is a journalist and is hell bent on getting to the bottom of her straight A student brother's death, so she takes matters into her own hands and starts hunting down witnesses to get to the bottom of the mystery. What she finds, however, are secrets more harrowing than she could have imagined...and links to her own past that are coming back to haunt her. Have the answers she's been searching for been hiding in plain sight...and if the past refuses to be ignored, what does THAT mean for Ky's future?
This is a difficult book to review for several reasons. I felt like I read a couple of different books combined into one book, which can be tricky in and of itself. This is a book that in some ways is very much in the vein of a Celeste Ng story, but in others has its own unique bent. The mystery is VERY important at the beginning of the story and I got hooked immediately trying to find out whodunit, but as we jumped from the Big Case into more of an exploration of the immigrant experience in Cabramatta...and THEN into Ky's past with her friends...I had trouble focusing and knowing exactly where the novel was headed.
Commentary on the different paths Vietnamese immigrants took (or were forced to take) in Cabramatta is clearly the most IMPORTANT driving force behind the book...but in some ways, I'm not sure if it was the most interesting in terms of furthering the plot itself. However, this was a tricky balancing act for Lien, so I applaud her effort to fit so much detail and so many perspectives into one story. There are explorations of what it means to be family, what sacrifice entails, and how those we love may not always be what they seem (or perhaps are EXACTLY what they seem!)
There is one chapter in particular that was striking, early on, which is narrated by a young character and was SO well-written. I almost wish Lien had used this device more often throughout the book because she was able to really NAIL the voice of the character and show off her writing prowess. Though I didn't mind narration by Ky, as a mystery/thriller lover, I would have liked a LITTLE bit more focus on the mystery or perhaps a bit more of a surprising ending in that department, but again, that is definitely a personal preference!
I struggled a bit with my rating on this one, but since overall this was a thoughtful, intriguing, and well-written debut, I'm happy to round up to 4 stars. I look forward to hearing more from Tracey Lien!
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 (less)
May 22, 2022Angie Kim rated it it was amazing
This book really got to me. I finished it yesterday and I've been in a funk since then, and I can't tell if it's because I'm sad because the story was so tragic or if I'm sad because I finished the book and I wish I could have stayed in that world a little longer. (Probably a little of both.) The story starts with a Vietnamese-Australian reporter finding out that her baby brother died during a high school graduation dinner at a local restaurant, and follows her as she tries to figure out who killed him and why. I loved the structure, which alternates between the sister/protagonist's close-third POV and a variety of other characters, including the witnesses and family members. Because we keep returning to the sister, there is a clear, propulsive mystery-investigation throughline. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka used a similar structure, also to great effect. Tracey Lien clearly knows this world really well, as everything was authentic and gorgeously written and insightful. (less)
All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien is this author’s debut novel. The story is based in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta. This suburb has a large contingent of European and South East Asian immigrants – particularly from Vietnam. As an aside, of the twenty thousand or more who live in Cabramatta, over forty percent identify as Buddhists.
This story involves a young Vietnamese Australian woman called Ky who returns home to Cabramatta from her job a journalist in Melbourne following the murder of her younger brother Denny. Denny was beaten to death in a popular Vietnamese restaurant called Lucky 8, there were numerous people in the restaurant that night, but no-one saw anything. Ky is surprised to discover the police didn’t order an autopsy and haven’t identified any suspects, despite the murder occurring in such a public place. She goes about attempting find the killer/s.
Was Denny – who was a high achieving senior school student and a good boy – involved in the gangland drug scene, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
This book is far more than a murder mystery, it’s also a glimpse into the lives of Vietnamese immigrants, who came over to Australia in large numbers following the Vietnam War. As Ky interviews various people in the local community the reader will learn some of the challenges and issues this community have needed to navigate in a country that used to openly employ a ‘White Australia’ policy. I found the interaction between Ky and her parents particularly interesting, as her parents had their heads and hearts very much in Vietnam, and the juxtaposition Ky needed to navigate between her parent’s ‘old ways and the expectations of living in a bustling city like Sydney was challenging.
I enjoyed the murder/mystery aspect of this story, but I found the narrative of this immigrant enclave far more fascinating. However, I found it a little distracting the way the author frequently switched from ‘murder investigation mode’ to ‘SE Asian immigrant mode’ - the latter usually involving flashbacks.
Having said that, this is a sound effort and for those who have an interest in a different type of murder/mystery this might very well be right down your alley.
3 Stars
Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in return for a review. (less)
This story involves a young Vietnamese Australian woman called Ky who returns home to Cabramatta from her job a journalist in Melbourne following the murder of her younger brother Denny. Denny was beaten to death in a popular Vietnamese restaurant called Lucky 8, there were numerous people in the restaurant that night, but no-one saw anything. Ky is surprised to discover the police didn’t order an autopsy and haven’t identified any suspects, despite the murder occurring in such a public place. She goes about attempting find the killer/s.
Was Denny – who was a high achieving senior school student and a good boy – involved in the gangland drug scene, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
This book is far more than a murder mystery, it’s also a glimpse into the lives of Vietnamese immigrants, who came over to Australia in large numbers following the Vietnam War. As Ky interviews various people in the local community the reader will learn some of the challenges and issues this community have needed to navigate in a country that used to openly employ a ‘White Australia’ policy. I found the interaction between Ky and her parents particularly interesting, as her parents had their heads and hearts very much in Vietnam, and the juxtaposition Ky needed to navigate between her parent’s ‘old ways and the expectations of living in a bustling city like Sydney was challenging.
I enjoyed the murder/mystery aspect of this story, but I found the narrative of this immigrant enclave far more fascinating. However, I found it a little distracting the way the author frequently switched from ‘murder investigation mode’ to ‘SE Asian immigrant mode’ - the latter usually involving flashbacks.
Having said that, this is a sound effort and for those who have an interest in a different type of murder/mystery this might very well be right down your alley.
3 Stars
Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in return for a review. (less)
Aug 24, 2022Marilyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: marilyn-s-challenge
Thank you to William Morrow/Harper Collins Publishers for sending me a print copy of All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien that I won in a goodreads give away in exchange for an honest review.
All That’s Left Unsaid was Tracey Lien’s debut novel. It was a most compelling read from start to finish. The setting for All That’s Left Unsaid was Cabramatta, Australia, a suburb of Sydney. Cabramatta was and still is a town that was dominated by many Asian refugee families, including many from Vietnam. In 1996, Cabramatta had a very high percentage of gangs, witnessed its fair share of violent crimes and a was experiencing a large drug epidemic, primarily heroin. It was not the sort of hometown where its inhabitants felt safe walking home by themselves from their destinations. An uncomfortable display of racism also existed. Refugee children learned from an early age to be grateful that they lived there and to stay quiet so not to draw attention to themselves. The children of refugee parents were made to feel confused by all the rules and expectations their parents set for them. They became angry about all they were subjected to and made to endure. Most of these children did all the “right” things. They studied hard, followed the rules and walked away when they were ridiculed. How much would they have to endure until they began to fight back and demand that they be recognized and shown the same respect as their fellow white Australians? How had the trauma of their refugee parents influenced their children’s lives, decisions and actions?
All That Was Left Unsaid followed a young Vietnamese-Australian woman named Ky Tran. Ky had moved away from Cabramatta several years ago. She had moved to Melbourne where she was employed as a journalist. Over the past several years Ky had limited her visits to Cabramatta to see her family. Cabramatta was not a place Ky wanted to return to but when her younger brother, Danny, was brutally murdered during a celebratory dinner at the Lucky 8 restaurant for his high school graduation, Ky returned for his funeral. Ky felt that it was her fault that Danny was dead. She had encouraged her parents to allow Danny to go to that restaurant so he could celebrate his graduation from high school. Now she wanted desperately to understand what had happened to Danny that night. Her parents had not questioned the vague explanations of the police. Ky knew in her heart, that the police would treat her brother’s murder as just another refugee most probably involved with or on drugs and make it disappear quickly. She needed to know what happened that night. Ky knew her brother was smart and good. He would never have been involved with drugs. Ky obtained a list of the patrons and workers who were at the restaurant that night and could have been potential witnesses. The police force was indifferent and allowed Ky to question these potential witnesses as long as she didn’t reveal them as her source that supplied their names. The police had taken the word of the witnesses they interviewed at face value. They did not doubt the potential witnesses when they told them that they had not seen anything. Ky felt that she had a better shot at making these people tell her what they had really seen that night. Someone had to have seen what happened to Danny. With each potential witness she spoke with, Ky exposed more of the Cabramatta that shaped her and her brother’s lives growing up there. She witnessed the trauma that dominated these people’s lives. The people that lived in Cabramatta, all lived with their share of trauma and the fear of violence that resulted from leaving Vietnam and settling in Australia, the effect the Vietnam War had on them and the hard choices they all had to make in order to survive in this new country. Would Ky be able to sway one of the witnesses to tell her what really happened to her brother?
The chapters of All That’s Left Unsaid alternated between Ky’s POV and that of the witnesses she questioned. All That’s Left Unsaid explored the ideas of friendship, family, community, remorse, guilt, the desire to belong and fit in, inherited trauma and family drama. It was a complicated mystery that Ky was determined to solve. It was well written and fast paced. Author Tracey Lien drew from her own experiences growing up in Cabramatta to write this heartbreaking and gripping novel. It was sad to acknowledge how so many children of dysfunctional families could be lured into leading a life of drug addiction and violence. All That’s Left Unsaid was both poignant and timely. I look forward to reading more books by Tracey Lien. I highly recommend this book.
(less)
All That’s Left Unsaid was Tracey Lien’s debut novel. It was a most compelling read from start to finish. The setting for All That’s Left Unsaid was Cabramatta, Australia, a suburb of Sydney. Cabramatta was and still is a town that was dominated by many Asian refugee families, including many from Vietnam. In 1996, Cabramatta had a very high percentage of gangs, witnessed its fair share of violent crimes and a was experiencing a large drug epidemic, primarily heroin. It was not the sort of hometown where its inhabitants felt safe walking home by themselves from their destinations. An uncomfortable display of racism also existed. Refugee children learned from an early age to be grateful that they lived there and to stay quiet so not to draw attention to themselves. The children of refugee parents were made to feel confused by all the rules and expectations their parents set for them. They became angry about all they were subjected to and made to endure. Most of these children did all the “right” things. They studied hard, followed the rules and walked away when they were ridiculed. How much would they have to endure until they began to fight back and demand that they be recognized and shown the same respect as their fellow white Australians? How had the trauma of their refugee parents influenced their children’s lives, decisions and actions?
All That Was Left Unsaid followed a young Vietnamese-Australian woman named Ky Tran. Ky had moved away from Cabramatta several years ago. She had moved to Melbourne where she was employed as a journalist. Over the past several years Ky had limited her visits to Cabramatta to see her family. Cabramatta was not a place Ky wanted to return to but when her younger brother, Danny, was brutally murdered during a celebratory dinner at the Lucky 8 restaurant for his high school graduation, Ky returned for his funeral. Ky felt that it was her fault that Danny was dead. She had encouraged her parents to allow Danny to go to that restaurant so he could celebrate his graduation from high school. Now she wanted desperately to understand what had happened to Danny that night. Her parents had not questioned the vague explanations of the police. Ky knew in her heart, that the police would treat her brother’s murder as just another refugee most probably involved with or on drugs and make it disappear quickly. She needed to know what happened that night. Ky knew her brother was smart and good. He would never have been involved with drugs. Ky obtained a list of the patrons and workers who were at the restaurant that night and could have been potential witnesses. The police force was indifferent and allowed Ky to question these potential witnesses as long as she didn’t reveal them as her source that supplied their names. The police had taken the word of the witnesses they interviewed at face value. They did not doubt the potential witnesses when they told them that they had not seen anything. Ky felt that she had a better shot at making these people tell her what they had really seen that night. Someone had to have seen what happened to Danny. With each potential witness she spoke with, Ky exposed more of the Cabramatta that shaped her and her brother’s lives growing up there. She witnessed the trauma that dominated these people’s lives. The people that lived in Cabramatta, all lived with their share of trauma and the fear of violence that resulted from leaving Vietnam and settling in Australia, the effect the Vietnam War had on them and the hard choices they all had to make in order to survive in this new country. Would Ky be able to sway one of the witnesses to tell her what really happened to her brother?
The chapters of All That’s Left Unsaid alternated between Ky’s POV and that of the witnesses she questioned. All That’s Left Unsaid explored the ideas of friendship, family, community, remorse, guilt, the desire to belong and fit in, inherited trauma and family drama. It was a complicated mystery that Ky was determined to solve. It was well written and fast paced. Author Tracey Lien drew from her own experiences growing up in Cabramatta to write this heartbreaking and gripping novel. It was sad to acknowledge how so many children of dysfunctional families could be lured into leading a life of drug addiction and violence. All That’s Left Unsaid was both poignant and timely. I look forward to reading more books by Tracey Lien. I highly recommend this book.
(less)
An interesting and often heart breaking book but do not be fooled into shelving it as just a mystery. Rather it is a social documentary about refugee immigrants living in the community of Cabramatta, in Sydney, as it was thirty years ago.
Ky Tran's parents are such refugees and Ky has managed, against many obstacles, to do well at school and find herself a job far away from home in Melbourne. Then she discovers her young brother has been murdered and returns home to find that no one is prepared to admit to being a witness of the event. This is the mystery which Ky struggles to solve, but it is a very small part of the overall story.
Much more time is given to social commentary and people's back stories which go towards explaining their actions. It is all cold, hard truth but there was a lot of it and eventually it became overwhelming, for me anyway. The ending was an anti climax but there was probably no better way to conclude events realistically.
So I guess I would judge this to be a good book but with a few personal reservations. It is certainly worth reading.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. (less)
Ky Tran's parents are such refugees and Ky has managed, against many obstacles, to do well at school and find herself a job far away from home in Melbourne. Then she discovers her young brother has been murdered and returns home to find that no one is prepared to admit to being a witness of the event. This is the mystery which Ky struggles to solve, but it is a very small part of the overall story.
Much more time is given to social commentary and people's back stories which go towards explaining their actions. It is all cold, hard truth but there was a lot of it and eventually it became overwhelming, for me anyway. The ending was an anti climax but there was probably no better way to conclude events realistically.
So I guess I would judge this to be a good book but with a few personal reservations. It is certainly worth reading.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. (less)
Aug 22, 2022Pat on partial hiatus no new friend requests pls rated it liked it
Ky Tran, 22 year old journalist in Melbourne, returns home to Cabramatta for the funeral of her 17 year old brother, Denny. He was at a graduation after party at the Lucky 8 restaurant when he was beaten to death. Although there were about 17 diners present and 3-4 staff, no one saw anything or knows anything.
Ky doesn’t understand why her parents refused an autopsy (I didn’t think you could refuse one for a murder) and don’t have a copy of any report from the police. Ky wheedles a report and witness list from a police officer arguing that she is Vietnamese and from the community and people may be more inclined to talk to her than the police.
The book started very slowly and there seemed to be an awful of detail that just wasn’t necessary. After about 30% the book got a lot better. It was not just about Denny’s murder although Ky does find out what happened. It was also very much about how migrants, particularly the Vietnamese in this case, integrated or not into the broader Australian community. The young people often felt torn between the old customs and expectations of parents who were generally very strict and being able to fit in with white Australians and make new friends in their age group.
This book didn’t really grab me. I thought the perceived racism was overstated. I know it exists, my parents were migrants too, although they came from Europe, but I just thought the Vietnamese parents were portrayed in a somewhat derogatory way. That’s just my perception. Ky came across as a bit of a ‘victim’ who felt hard done by her parents and her best friend who went off the rails in year 10. She felt as if everyone expected her to be perfect, and that same expectation was on her brother’s shoulders. He may not have been the “good boy” the parents claimed, buckling under the pressure to be perfect. I don’t know.
It was a different sort of story for me but it was not really one I enjoyed that much. I think the author has talent but it’s just not my jam. Many thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Australia for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly. (less)
Ky doesn’t understand why her parents refused an autopsy (I didn’t think you could refuse one for a murder) and don’t have a copy of any report from the police. Ky wheedles a report and witness list from a police officer arguing that she is Vietnamese and from the community and people may be more inclined to talk to her than the police.
The book started very slowly and there seemed to be an awful of detail that just wasn’t necessary. After about 30% the book got a lot better. It was not just about Denny’s murder although Ky does find out what happened. It was also very much about how migrants, particularly the Vietnamese in this case, integrated or not into the broader Australian community. The young people often felt torn between the old customs and expectations of parents who were generally very strict and being able to fit in with white Australians and make new friends in their age group.
This book didn’t really grab me. I thought the perceived racism was overstated. I know it exists, my parents were migrants too, although they came from Europe, but I just thought the Vietnamese parents were portrayed in a somewhat derogatory way. That’s just my perception. Ky came across as a bit of a ‘victim’ who felt hard done by her parents and her best friend who went off the rails in year 10. She felt as if everyone expected her to be perfect, and that same expectation was on her brother’s shoulders. He may not have been the “good boy” the parents claimed, buckling under the pressure to be perfect. I don’t know.
It was a different sort of story for me but it was not really one I enjoyed that much. I think the author has talent but it’s just not my jam. Many thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Australia for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly. (less)
May 09, 2022Julia Phillips rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Beautifully constructed, specific, and rich. The novel starts with a tragedy and at times I found the fact of that tragedy almost unbearably sad. It was almost too much to hold. But then the end was relieving, healing...gorgeous.
Feb 21, 2022Amanda at Bookish Brews rated it it was amazing
Jul 08, 2022Jülie ☼♄ rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Cabramatta in the mid 1990’s…..an inner Sydney suburb made up of predominantly asian cultures and heavily populated with Vietnamese people of refugee status, along with the next generation of their families…many of whom, though born here, still feel like aliens…not really Vietnamese and not really Australian.
Often cruelly referred to as fobs or fresh of the boat people, they live in the only way they know how, cocooning themselves within their suburban enclave and supporting the growth of their community within a community by working hard for little reward. Wanting only the very best education for their children in the belief/hope that it will give them better opportunities for their future.
But Cabramatta has become renowned for its high turnover of drugs, and drug related violent crime, boasting the highest heroin epidemic in Australian history.
Ky Tran and her younger brother Denny are children of refugee parents who have always lived in Cabramatta.
They’re parents settled into Cabramatta where their father got a job as a bank teller and their mother worked very long hours on the sewing machines (probably in a sweat shop) for very low wages and no time off…time off for any reason was taken without pay. Life was hard and confusingly cruel.
Both Ky and Denny were latchkey kids who went to the local schools and were good students with reputations for being good well behaved kids.
Their parents were very strict but fair and raised them to be honest and dependable.
When Ky graduated she left home to pursue a career as a journalist in Melbourne and once having broken the strong parental hold over her, she gained an independent spirit and an attitude to support it. She was doing alright for herself and found that life away from Cabramatta and the influence of her strict parents was not as bad as they wanted her to believe.
So when Ky convinced her mother to loosen her strict hold on young Denny, and let him go out to celebrate his high school graduation night with his friends at a popular Cabramatta restaurant, nobody could have imagined what would happen.
The timeline of events that led to the moment which culminated in Denny falling unconscious to the floor of that busy restaurant could almost convince you that it was preordained.
Denny was beaten to death…And nobody saw it happen.
The story takes us into the very heart of that grieving family and their individual feelings of despair and self blame for what happened.
Inexplicably the family were never given any feedback about the crime or the circumstances around the investigations, and their insurmountable grief and sense of responsibility precluded their need to know…nothing would bring Denny back.
Thus, Ky takes it upon herself to find and follow up on every lead in a desperate bid to stop her parent’s spiral into despair, and also to assuage her own feelings of inadequacy.
Such a very sad story, all the more so because it is probably closer to the truth than we’d like to think.
It all comes down to cause and effect and that final, unconsidered knee jerk reaction that changes everything in the blink of an eye.
This is a very accomplished work of fiction from a debut author, a very moving and thought provoking story that will give you a glimpse into another world, existing right within your own world.
4⭐️s
With thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for my copy to read and review. (less)
Jul 23, 2022Sharon Metcalf rated it really liked it · review of another edition
All That's Left Unsaid is Tracey Lien's debut novel. By the end I had come to appreciate, probably even like, this book but at first I found it utterly depressing. I couldn't come to terms with the characters who all seemed unlikeable and I found I couldn't relate to them at all. Yet, I think that was the point of the book. The author gradually opened my eyes to the reasons characters behaved the way they did. Helped me appreciate the difficulties of being a refugee in Australia, the so-called Lucky Country. Helped me understand the massive cultural differences which made full assimilation into their new homeland so unlikely. Helped me join the dots about the impacts of war and loss, and the propensity for alcoholism, drug use, and violence.
The blurb had me feeling compelled to read this book about the homicide of Denny a sixteen year old boy. Killed in a busy restaurant where he was celebrating being valedictorian of his class. Dressed in his suit and dining with friends and one of their favourite teachers, he was beaten to death. Yet not one single person admitted to having seen anything. The police were baffled but their investigations were futile so Denny's older sister Ky, a Melbourne based journallist, was determined to find out what really happened and why.
This is very much a case of walking a mile in another person's shoes to understand attitudes and mindsets. It seemed that even those who thought they knew Denny best began to question his good boy, perfect reputation. There was a layer of stigma that sat over everything and everyone in Cabramatta. The idea that every Asian boy was part of a gang, was selling or using drugs was just accepted. So if someone was unexpectedly beaten to death the temptation was to believe the victim, no matter how innocent, must somehow have been involved with the criminal element as opposed to an innocent in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Alternating perspectives were offered helping readers (this reader at least) have their blinkers removed. Every one of those witnesses who denied seeing anything had their reasons and as we learnt of their back stories, their inner emotions, even their justifications I gradually opened my mind and heart to their plights. I'm not suggesting that I condone gangs or drug use - far from it - but somehow everything which had seemed so unfathomable to me began to make more sense by books end.
As an example, the 5T gang, named for five Vietnamese words beginning with T which essentially translated to Childhood without Love. An incredibly sad reality for many in the book and by all accounts in the real life Cabramatta of the 90's. Other factors such as the astronomical pressure to succeed that many Asian families put upon their children. The children themselves not wanting to do wrong by families who have given up everything in their homelands, coming to Australia as refugees, not being able to speak the language or to assimilate. Parents who were unable to forget the traumas of the war and by association distrusting the Australian police expecting them to be as ruthless and dishonest as those they encountered in their homeland.
I could go on but should stop and leave something for readers to uncover on their own. In summary, having written my review I think I rate it more highly than I expected to at first. It's not an uplifting story, nor did I think of it as a mystery in the traditional sense but it is, I think, a unique and important tale which casts a light on a community whose reputation became tainted but which none-the-less is part of Australia's recent history.
My thanks and congratulations to the author, to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. (less)
The blurb had me feeling compelled to read this book about the homicide of Denny a sixteen year old boy. Killed in a busy restaurant where he was celebrating being valedictorian of his class. Dressed in his suit and dining with friends and one of their favourite teachers, he was beaten to death. Yet not one single person admitted to having seen anything. The police were baffled but their investigations were futile so Denny's older sister Ky, a Melbourne based journallist, was determined to find out what really happened and why.
This is very much a case of walking a mile in another person's shoes to understand attitudes and mindsets. It seemed that even those who thought they knew Denny best began to question his good boy, perfect reputation. There was a layer of stigma that sat over everything and everyone in Cabramatta. The idea that every Asian boy was part of a gang, was selling or using drugs was just accepted. So if someone was unexpectedly beaten to death the temptation was to believe the victim, no matter how innocent, must somehow have been involved with the criminal element as opposed to an innocent in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Alternating perspectives were offered helping readers (this reader at least) have their blinkers removed. Every one of those witnesses who denied seeing anything had their reasons and as we learnt of their back stories, their inner emotions, even their justifications I gradually opened my mind and heart to their plights. I'm not suggesting that I condone gangs or drug use - far from it - but somehow everything which had seemed so unfathomable to me began to make more sense by books end.
As an example, the 5T gang, named for five Vietnamese words beginning with T which essentially translated to Childhood without Love. An incredibly sad reality for many in the book and by all accounts in the real life Cabramatta of the 90's. Other factors such as the astronomical pressure to succeed that many Asian families put upon their children. The children themselves not wanting to do wrong by families who have given up everything in their homelands, coming to Australia as refugees, not being able to speak the language or to assimilate. Parents who were unable to forget the traumas of the war and by association distrusting the Australian police expecting them to be as ruthless and dishonest as those they encountered in their homeland.
I could go on but should stop and leave something for readers to uncover on their own. In summary, having written my review I think I rate it more highly than I expected to at first. It's not an uplifting story, nor did I think of it as a mystery in the traditional sense but it is, I think, a unique and important tale which casts a light on a community whose reputation became tainted but which none-the-less is part of Australia's recent history.
My thanks and congratulations to the author, to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. (less)
Jun 24, 2022Laura Hill rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Thank you to Harper Audio and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 13th, 2022.
Writing: 4/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot: 3.5/5
Ky Tran comes back to the violent, drug ridden, largely Vietnamese / Chinese Sydney suburb of Cabramatta when her relatively nerdy, honor student, brother is brutally murdered at a post graduation party. The witnesses won’t talk, the police don’t care, and her parents haven’t the language skills or the will to pursue the matter. Ky tackles the witnesses — most of whom she knows — unable to let the matter rest. The novel structure fills in background, the story each witness reluctantly lets out, and the real story each remembers about while curating what comes out of their mouth. The path of disclosure winds towards a confrontation with Minnie — the best friend Ky hasn’t spoken to in years.
The writing is good and the main reader for the audio book is excellent (I did not love the two minor readers but they only appear once each for a relatively short time). I appreciated the in-depth descriptions of different approaches taken by members of a refugee community trying to make a life in a new country that doesn’t necessarily want them. Insightful commentary on loyalty, friendship, family, justice, and the concept of “being good.” (less)
Writing: 4/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot: 3.5/5
Ky Tran comes back to the violent, drug ridden, largely Vietnamese / Chinese Sydney suburb of Cabramatta when her relatively nerdy, honor student, brother is brutally murdered at a post graduation party. The witnesses won’t talk, the police don’t care, and her parents haven’t the language skills or the will to pursue the matter. Ky tackles the witnesses — most of whom she knows — unable to let the matter rest. The novel structure fills in background, the story each witness reluctantly lets out, and the real story each remembers about while curating what comes out of their mouth. The path of disclosure winds towards a confrontation with Minnie — the best friend Ky hasn’t spoken to in years.
The writing is good and the main reader for the audio book is excellent (I did not love the two minor readers but they only appear once each for a relatively short time). I appreciated the in-depth descriptions of different approaches taken by members of a refugee community trying to make a life in a new country that doesn’t necessarily want them. Insightful commentary on loyalty, friendship, family, justice, and the concept of “being good.” (less)
Feb 28, 2022Caroline Tew rated it really liked it · review of another edition
A really thorough exploration of a specific immigrant experience—refugees that fled Vietnam and landed in a specific area of Australia—as it coincides with a heroin epidemic in the area. At times a bit didactic but ultimately a touching story. The end felt sort of anticlimactic but also perhaps the only fitting ending there was.
[4.5/5 stars]
Ky Tran, a young Vietnamese Australian woman, lives in Melbourne when she receives a call from her parents telling that her younger brother, Denny, was brutally murdered inside a well-known restaurant. Back to Sydney suburb of Cabramatta, she goes after the witnesses to find out what happened at the night of her brother's death.
This book is so much more than the apparent suspense. Alternating between Ky's voice and the perspectives of the witnesses, Lien paints the different dynamics between the characters as refugees, child of refugees or person intimately related to them. With each encounter, the author peels back layers of story, exposing trauma and all the brokenness within each character. The pages are filled with plenty of family drama and it is shown that family (relationship) can be toxic and the different ways to express love, even if not understandable. Regarding one's identity (child of refugees), the pressure to perform and be accepted, to prove that all previous sacrifices are worth it, is just suffocating. There are a lot of assumptions and judgments - Minnie is a rebellious (awful) character who I learned to not judge when you consider how traumatized she is.
Set in an heroin epidemic in Australian history, we follow how violence plays a common picture in the refugees, fruit whose seeds were planted by colonialism and war history. Lien dramatically captures family, friendship, community, racism, grief and forgiveness allied with a fluid prose.
I found satisfaction in the way the characters' lives are interwoven. Knowing little about Vietnamese culture, I appreciated reading about religious beliefs, cultural behavior and the popular food. Since the big revelation happens a bit after halfway of the book, instead of too soon, Lien leads us into an in-depth exploration of both storyline and characters.
ALL THAT'S LEFT UNSAID is a family drama infused with suspense. A moving page-turner that raises interesting questions: How far are you willing to go in order to survive? Would you choose that life unless you feel like you have no other choice? This debut has a lot to digest and left me sad.
cw: alcoholism, child abuse, death, drug abuse, murder, violence
[ I received an ARC from the publisher - William Morrow Books . All opinions are my own ] (less)
Ky Tran, a young Vietnamese Australian woman, lives in Melbourne when she receives a call from her parents telling that her younger brother, Denny, was brutally murdered inside a well-known restaurant. Back to Sydney suburb of Cabramatta, she goes after the witnesses to find out what happened at the night of her brother's death.
This book is so much more than the apparent suspense. Alternating between Ky's voice and the perspectives of the witnesses, Lien paints the different dynamics between the characters as refugees, child of refugees or person intimately related to them. With each encounter, the author peels back layers of story, exposing trauma and all the brokenness within each character. The pages are filled with plenty of family drama and it is shown that family (relationship) can be toxic and the different ways to express love, even if not understandable. Regarding one's identity (child of refugees), the pressure to perform and be accepted, to prove that all previous sacrifices are worth it, is just suffocating. There are a lot of assumptions and judgments - Minnie is a rebellious (awful) character who I learned to not judge when you consider how traumatized she is.
Set in an heroin epidemic in Australian history, we follow how violence plays a common picture in the refugees, fruit whose seeds were planted by colonialism and war history. Lien dramatically captures family, friendship, community, racism, grief and forgiveness allied with a fluid prose.
I found satisfaction in the way the characters' lives are interwoven. Knowing little about Vietnamese culture, I appreciated reading about religious beliefs, cultural behavior and the popular food. Since the big revelation happens a bit after halfway of the book, instead of too soon, Lien leads us into an in-depth exploration of both storyline and characters.
ALL THAT'S LEFT UNSAID is a family drama infused with suspense. A moving page-turner that raises interesting questions: How far are you willing to go in order to survive? Would you choose that life unless you feel like you have no other choice? This debut has a lot to digest and left me sad.
cw: alcoholism, child abuse, death, drug abuse, murder, violence
[ I received an ARC from the publisher - William Morrow Books . All opinions are my own ] (less)
Jul 30, 2022Jennifer (JC-S) rated it really liked it
‘Just let him go.’ ‘Those are words Ky Tran will ever regret.’
Cabramatta, Sydney. A brutal bashing at a Vietnamese restaurant leaves teenager Denny Tran dead. Ky Tran returns home to attend her brother’s funeral and tries to find out what happened to her gentle, studious brother. It seems that no one witnessed Denny’s murder even though the restaurant was busy. Ky approaches the police for answers but finds that they are overwhelmed by gang-related crime and drugs. However, Ky obtains a list of names of those who were in the restaurant and embarks on her own investigation.
Ky is staying with her parents and has to negotiate their expectations of her as a daughter as well as their shared grief over the loss of their son. Her father is near paralysed with grief, while her mother tries to control Ky.
Ms Lien’s novel plunges the reader into Cabramatta during the 1990s when Cabramatta was a hub for drug gangs. In order to find answers, Ky has to return to a world she thought that she had left behind. Ky is sure that her brother would not have been involved with either gangs or drugs, yet others are telling her that Denny was not as innocent as she thought. What is the truth?
‘Everyone thinks that because we are all refugees and we all came from the same country that we should be friends.’
As Ky searches for answers, we are taken into a world where the (then recent) Vietnamese refugees are trying to adapt to life in Australia while dealing with their own past trauma. While language is an issue for many, differing cultural values make settlement more challenging. Drugs, disillusion, an overwhelmed and at times disinterested police force all make Cabramatta unsafe and Ky’s search more difficult.
The story unfolds, alternating between Ky’s voice and those of the witnesses. This is a deeply uncomfortable journey for Ky as she tries to negotiate the obligations and ties of friendship, family and community.
This is Ms Lien’s debut novel, and she makes both Cabramatta of the 1990s and the challenges faced by the Tran family real. At almost every turn, Ky faces cultural issues including perceptions of the Vietnamese community and her parents’ expectations coloured by grief.
A terrific read!
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia HQ for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
(less)
Cabramatta, Sydney. A brutal bashing at a Vietnamese restaurant leaves teenager Denny Tran dead. Ky Tran returns home to attend her brother’s funeral and tries to find out what happened to her gentle, studious brother. It seems that no one witnessed Denny’s murder even though the restaurant was busy. Ky approaches the police for answers but finds that they are overwhelmed by gang-related crime and drugs. However, Ky obtains a list of names of those who were in the restaurant and embarks on her own investigation.
Ky is staying with her parents and has to negotiate their expectations of her as a daughter as well as their shared grief over the loss of their son. Her father is near paralysed with grief, while her mother tries to control Ky.
Ms Lien’s novel plunges the reader into Cabramatta during the 1990s when Cabramatta was a hub for drug gangs. In order to find answers, Ky has to return to a world she thought that she had left behind. Ky is sure that her brother would not have been involved with either gangs or drugs, yet others are telling her that Denny was not as innocent as she thought. What is the truth?
‘Everyone thinks that because we are all refugees and we all came from the same country that we should be friends.’
As Ky searches for answers, we are taken into a world where the (then recent) Vietnamese refugees are trying to adapt to life in Australia while dealing with their own past trauma. While language is an issue for many, differing cultural values make settlement more challenging. Drugs, disillusion, an overwhelmed and at times disinterested police force all make Cabramatta unsafe and Ky’s search more difficult.
The story unfolds, alternating between Ky’s voice and those of the witnesses. This is a deeply uncomfortable journey for Ky as she tries to negotiate the obligations and ties of friendship, family and community.
This is Ms Lien’s debut novel, and she makes both Cabramatta of the 1990s and the challenges faced by the Tran family real. At almost every turn, Ky faces cultural issues including perceptions of the Vietnamese community and her parents’ expectations coloured by grief.
A terrific read!
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia HQ for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
(less)
This was such a brilliant and insightful novel, written with a barely suppressed anger that is both justified and understandable. Set in 1996, in a time and place that I remember quite clearly, when heroin deaths and drug related home invasions headlined the news nightly and a red-haired chip shop woman with a big mouth launched her hate filled political platform that to this day, is still shamefully going strong. All I could think while reading this novel is that we are still beating the same drum, almost thirty years on, just about a different set of refugees, and you can substitute terrorism for heroin as the justification for it. This novel made my heart ache. This review is heavy on the quotes because they speak best for what this novel is about, the tone, the subject matter, and the piercing writing style of Tracey Lien, which I loved from the outset.
‘She took the first transfer available, to a metropolitan school, in a suburb with a name that she thought sounded Italian. When the first Indo-Chinese refugees – motherless and fatherless – found one another in southwest Sydney, banded together, created their chosen family – them against the world; when they enrolled in high school without understanding a word the teachers said; when the parents who came with babies and toddlers raised them as best they could, put them in second-hand school uniforms, ordered them to work hard, to be good, to claw back the success and stability that had been torn from them; when a sixteen-year-old black-haired boy smoked a white powder off a piece of aluminium foil, then passed it to his friend, who passed it to his friend; when the police and politicians decided that a certain ethnic enclave didn’t have the DNA to be Australian, and the prime minister of the country said Vietnamese sob stories didn’t wring his withers, and the friction of fear and hate coalesced in an Italian-sounding suburb of four square kilometres, Sharon Faulkner, freshly transferred from Hay, hair bleached golden by the sun, arrived in Cabramatta.’
On the surface, this is a novel about a sister seeking answers about her brother’s murder, which was witnessed by many, yet seen by no one. The story is told from Ky’s perspective, yet chapters are also offered from the perspective of others, those who witnessed the crime, but are unwilling to divulge what they know. Some of these chapters about the witnesses were heartbreaking, offering a view into their lives, the hardship they endure daily, the racism they are subjected to, and the trauma lines that run deep throughout their families.
‘She wondered whether in tracking down the supposed “witnesses” to Denny’s death, she was subjecting them to her grief. In inflicting this much discomfort on herself, in forcing herself to find out what happened to her brother in the most excruciating way possible, was she trying to obtain absolution? She didn’t know who exactly could absolve her.’
As well as being a story about a sister seeking answers and justice for the murder of her brother, it’s a story of the experiences of Vietnamese refugees, post war trauma, displacement, and loss. It’s also a very Australian story of racism and ethnic stereotyping.
‘She knew the constable was right to a point – there was a reason Cabramatta was known as the heroin capital of Australia. But she resented that an outsider – a freckle-faced blondie with a thick drawl that suggested he wasn’t from southwest Sydney – was painting her home in the same unflattering wash that made everyone who lived there two-dimensional, hopeless, the same. Because it wasn’t like drug dealers were going door to door like the Avon lady. It wasn’t like Ky was tripping over mounds of heroin on her walk to Woolies or Red Lea. And it wasn’t like everyone’s lives revolved around drugs and gangs and crime. There was more to Cabramatta than that.’
~~~
‘Because that was the paradox of Cabramatta – it wasn’t like other crime-ridden suburbs where drugs and gangs depressed the local economy and bled the town grey. Cabramatta still had the best pho and best banh mi; noisy, colourful, crowded markets; and everywhere you looked, chatty, opinionated old women in visors whose laughs and complaints filled the air with an energetic buzz. Cabramatta proved that a town could be gorgeous and sick, comforting and dangerous, imperfect but home.’
I was reminded over and over throughout this novel that the experiences of new Australians differ vastly between those who are migrants and those who are refugees. Multi-culturalism in action; its meaning all depends on where you’re from and how you got here.
‘Stop pretending like you haven’t seen it or felt it for yourself. They’re all fair dinkum this and everyone gets a fair go that. This is the luckiest country in the world, right? The weather’s beautiful and there’s so much land and look at our beaches and everyone can get a decent-paying job and we’re so lucky to have all of that, right? But they don’t tell us that the luck doesn’t extend to us. That’s the big lie. They’ve been shoving it down our throats since we were kids. You’re a fool if you believe it. Not only are they not gonna look out for us, they’re gonna turn on us the moment they think we’re a threat. You know this. We have to look out for ourselves.’
The writing style is precise and deeply felt, the story absorbing, the social and political history of Australia confronting and sharply realised. This is not a comforting story with a happy warm ending. It’s a realistic and confronting look at Australia’s not so distant past and ever-present policies about refugees. Deeply thought provoking and emotionally charged, a must-read.
‘There is no way for me to tell her that we’ve lost so much more – more than time with our parents, more than time with each other. There is no way for me to tell her that the loss began well before we were born, that our parents had loss, and their parents had loss, and our ancestors had loss – loss of home, loss of place, loss of self, loss of life – and we were born with that loss, carried it, burdened by it, part of it.’
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy. (less)
‘She took the first transfer available, to a metropolitan school, in a suburb with a name that she thought sounded Italian. When the first Indo-Chinese refugees – motherless and fatherless – found one another in southwest Sydney, banded together, created their chosen family – them against the world; when they enrolled in high school without understanding a word the teachers said; when the parents who came with babies and toddlers raised them as best they could, put them in second-hand school uniforms, ordered them to work hard, to be good, to claw back the success and stability that had been torn from them; when a sixteen-year-old black-haired boy smoked a white powder off a piece of aluminium foil, then passed it to his friend, who passed it to his friend; when the police and politicians decided that a certain ethnic enclave didn’t have the DNA to be Australian, and the prime minister of the country said Vietnamese sob stories didn’t wring his withers, and the friction of fear and hate coalesced in an Italian-sounding suburb of four square kilometres, Sharon Faulkner, freshly transferred from Hay, hair bleached golden by the sun, arrived in Cabramatta.’
On the surface, this is a novel about a sister seeking answers about her brother’s murder, which was witnessed by many, yet seen by no one. The story is told from Ky’s perspective, yet chapters are also offered from the perspective of others, those who witnessed the crime, but are unwilling to divulge what they know. Some of these chapters about the witnesses were heartbreaking, offering a view into their lives, the hardship they endure daily, the racism they are subjected to, and the trauma lines that run deep throughout their families.
‘She wondered whether in tracking down the supposed “witnesses” to Denny’s death, she was subjecting them to her grief. In inflicting this much discomfort on herself, in forcing herself to find out what happened to her brother in the most excruciating way possible, was she trying to obtain absolution? She didn’t know who exactly could absolve her.’
As well as being a story about a sister seeking answers and justice for the murder of her brother, it’s a story of the experiences of Vietnamese refugees, post war trauma, displacement, and loss. It’s also a very Australian story of racism and ethnic stereotyping.
‘She knew the constable was right to a point – there was a reason Cabramatta was known as the heroin capital of Australia. But she resented that an outsider – a freckle-faced blondie with a thick drawl that suggested he wasn’t from southwest Sydney – was painting her home in the same unflattering wash that made everyone who lived there two-dimensional, hopeless, the same. Because it wasn’t like drug dealers were going door to door like the Avon lady. It wasn’t like Ky was tripping over mounds of heroin on her walk to Woolies or Red Lea. And it wasn’t like everyone’s lives revolved around drugs and gangs and crime. There was more to Cabramatta than that.’
~~~
‘Because that was the paradox of Cabramatta – it wasn’t like other crime-ridden suburbs where drugs and gangs depressed the local economy and bled the town grey. Cabramatta still had the best pho and best banh mi; noisy, colourful, crowded markets; and everywhere you looked, chatty, opinionated old women in visors whose laughs and complaints filled the air with an energetic buzz. Cabramatta proved that a town could be gorgeous and sick, comforting and dangerous, imperfect but home.’
I was reminded over and over throughout this novel that the experiences of new Australians differ vastly between those who are migrants and those who are refugees. Multi-culturalism in action; its meaning all depends on where you’re from and how you got here.
‘Stop pretending like you haven’t seen it or felt it for yourself. They’re all fair dinkum this and everyone gets a fair go that. This is the luckiest country in the world, right? The weather’s beautiful and there’s so much land and look at our beaches and everyone can get a decent-paying job and we’re so lucky to have all of that, right? But they don’t tell us that the luck doesn’t extend to us. That’s the big lie. They’ve been shoving it down our throats since we were kids. You’re a fool if you believe it. Not only are they not gonna look out for us, they’re gonna turn on us the moment they think we’re a threat. You know this. We have to look out for ourselves.’
The writing style is precise and deeply felt, the story absorbing, the social and political history of Australia confronting and sharply realised. This is not a comforting story with a happy warm ending. It’s a realistic and confronting look at Australia’s not so distant past and ever-present policies about refugees. Deeply thought provoking and emotionally charged, a must-read.
‘There is no way for me to tell her that we’ve lost so much more – more than time with our parents, more than time with each other. There is no way for me to tell her that the loss began well before we were born, that our parents had loss, and their parents had loss, and our ancestors had loss – loss of home, loss of place, loss of self, loss of life – and we were born with that loss, carried it, burdened by it, part of it.’
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy. (less)
May 20, 2022KC rated it it was ok · review of another edition
Shelves: e-book, cultural, edelweiss, crime, family-drama, mystery, aapi, friendship, grief
Sadly writing was a bit too sophomoric for me and the storyline was not compelling at all.
Sep 04, 2022Emily Christopher rated it really liked it · review of another edition
All That’s Left Unsaid
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 9/13/22
Author: Tracey Lien
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Pages: 304
Goodreads Rating: 4.01
I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and William Morrow & Company and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.
Synopsis: Ky Tran will forever regret letting her younger brother Denny out to celebrate his high school graduation with friends. That night, Denny is brutally murdered inside a busy restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta. Returning home to Cabramatta for the funeral, Ky learns that the police are stumped by Denny's case: a dozen people were at Lucky 8 restaurant when Denny died, but each of the bystanders claim to have seen nothing. Ky sets aside her grief and determines to track down the witnesses herself.
My Thoughts: This story is narrated by Ky, the witnesses, and family members, in alternating perspectives. Lien does an absolutely amazing job at researching Vietnamese culture in Australia, you felt like you were there and have such a deep understanding of family, culture, and tradition. For this being Lien’s debut novel, it is truly amazing and mind-blowing. This book is a gripping, sad, poignant story that couldn’t have better timing. The characters were well developed with multifaceted depth, emotion, culture rich, and creatively done. The author’s writing style was complex, empowering, thought provoking, and kept me engaged. The author combines a brilliant cast of characters, friendship, family, culture, tradition, guilt, and a devastating crime into a beautifully written novel. This book hits the shelves on 9/13/22 and I would recommend, just keep in mind this is not a typical mystery, but is a very important story. (less)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 9/13/22
Author: Tracey Lien
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Pages: 304
Goodreads Rating: 4.01
I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and William Morrow & Company and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.
Synopsis: Ky Tran will forever regret letting her younger brother Denny out to celebrate his high school graduation with friends. That night, Denny is brutally murdered inside a busy restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta. Returning home to Cabramatta for the funeral, Ky learns that the police are stumped by Denny's case: a dozen people were at Lucky 8 restaurant when Denny died, but each of the bystanders claim to have seen nothing. Ky sets aside her grief and determines to track down the witnesses herself.
My Thoughts: This story is narrated by Ky, the witnesses, and family members, in alternating perspectives. Lien does an absolutely amazing job at researching Vietnamese culture in Australia, you felt like you were there and have such a deep understanding of family, culture, and tradition. For this being Lien’s debut novel, it is truly amazing and mind-blowing. This book is a gripping, sad, poignant story that couldn’t have better timing. The characters were well developed with multifaceted depth, emotion, culture rich, and creatively done. The author’s writing style was complex, empowering, thought provoking, and kept me engaged. The author combines a brilliant cast of characters, friendship, family, culture, tradition, guilt, and a devastating crime into a beautifully written novel. This book hits the shelves on 9/13/22 and I would recommend, just keep in mind this is not a typical mystery, but is a very important story. (less)
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