4.5
This was a beautifully constructed novel that brought this family to life through the story. The setting is also very well evoked and richly described. I enjoyed spending time with this family. Although this is a tragic tale and hard to read at times, Lien creates a believable world and the mystery keeps the reader turning the pages. The different points of view help to show all aspects of the event and relationships. A great debut and an author to watch, for sure!

All That's Left Unsaid
Tracy Lien
Pub Date: September 13, 2022
William Morrow and Company
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC. 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.
Setting
Sydney, New South Wales (Australia), Australia
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 has 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 parents ‘old ways and the expectations of living in a bustling city like Sydney was challenging. Debut author! 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

Ky is summoned home by frantic messages from her father to tell her that her brother Denny is dead – beaten to death at the Lucky 8 restaurant where apparently no one saw what happened. Ky who is now a journalist takes it upon herself to learn how and why her brother was killed and who was the murderer. Ky’s search for the truth brings her to terms with her life as Vietnamese in Australia, the distance she felt from her parents and the unraveling of her friendship with Minnie.

Thien’s writing made me feel like I was there with her as she investigates her brother’s death and relives her youth when she tried to fit in but remained on the outside with only her friend Minnie, who shares her Vietnamese heritage. Thein relates the cruelties suffered by the Vietnamese refuges, the indiffenece from teachers and officials and the self-doubt that results.

Both a mystery and a saga about families, All That’s Left Unsaid is a compelling story that kept me engaged to the end.

not at all what I anticipated this book to be, but beautifully written. Heart wrenching and stunning all at once.

Very well done and reminiscent of Celeste Ng. Just too painful for me.

The emotions are very real and raw. Would love to see the next book from this author.

All That's Left Unsaid is a haunting look at the Australian heroin epidemic through the eyes of a tragedy that strikes a Vietnamese-Australian family. Ky Tran feels guilt about her brother Denny's death, because her parents wanted him to come home from an event and she convinces them to let him attend. While there, he's murdered, and no one is telling the truth about what happened. When the police decide he's just another casualty of gang/drug related violence, Ky decides to take matters into her own hands and find out what really happened.

I have never heard anything about the heroin epidemic in Australia, and this was a really eye-opening book from that perspective. The story was truly heartbreaking, although I didn't feel like I had a full enough picture of each of the characters to feel fully invested in what happened. Overall, I did enjoy it and it's made me curious to look more into this period in Australia's history.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4! Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this book in exchange for my honest review.

Ky Tran is trying to figure out the circumstances surrounding her seemingly perfect younger brother's murder at a local restaurant the night of his high school graduation. The search to find witnesses who will share what they saw leads her on a journey to discovering much more than just who the murderer is. Along the way, she considers how well she actually knew her brother, the lasting effects that the American War in Vietnam had on her parents who took refuge in Australia, and the expectations of the pressure she feels living in a largely white society. Keeping Ky company as she conducts her private investigation is the voice inside her head, the voice of her strong-willed, opinionated childhood best friend, Minnie, who disappeared from Ky's life after a disagreement. With ALL THAT'S LEFT UNSAID, Tracey Lien has created a beautiful exploration of home, self, family, and the lasting effects of war, under the guise of a murder mystery. This is a not-to-be missed debut, perfect for fans of Eric Nguyen's THINGS WE LOST TO THE WATER and Celeste Ng.

When you first start this book, you think you know what you're in for: A teenage boy is dead, no witnesses are talking, and his sister, a reporter, is hell-bent on discovering the truth. But that is only scratching the surface of this novel. While we can never forget that Denny has been murdered, the murder becomes secondary to the stories that unfold about the Vietnamese refugees who have immigrated to Australia's Cabramatta and their children. This is a story about racism, generational trauma, and the choices we make, yes, but it's also about family and friendship and navigating the numerous ways in which we hurt the ones we love, the ways we let them down, and understanding how to move on from that. A stunning debut novel by Tracey Lien.

All That's Left Unsaid: I know there will be so much that I leave unsaid about this book, which was a heartbreaking read but one I'm so glad I got the chance to experience.

Told in alternating perspectives, the story follows a mystery that shouldn't be a mystery: the brutal death of Ky Tran's younger brother, Denny, in Cabramatta, Australia, in 1996. As Ky searches for answers about a crime scene for which no one is willing to step up as a witness, we get the chance to step inside her head and view all her guilt and grief for not being there for her brother like she thinks she should have. As Ky dredges up potential witnesses, they also get their own chapters to explain what they saw or didn't see, and we get a glimpse into the factors that have led them to hide the truth. And there are so many factors, namely familial and societal connections that are broken but still tying people together. Cabramatta was home to many Vietnamese refugees in this time period, and Tracey Lien shows how the experience has led to rifts between parents who emigrated and children born in Australia, resentment and casual racism on the part of white residents, and, most devastating, a heroin epidemic that has created fear and loneliness by separating families and friends.

The loneliness of the refugee experience is a key theme, and I felt the pain weaving through all of the characters' stories. Children wonder why their parents can't speak better English, and feel alienated from their families' expectations that life in Australia should be "better" when they have to deal with racism every day. Parents mourn the loss of their home and culture and language, and some resort to drinking or violence in the aftermath of undiagnosed PTSD. In Ky's story, her childhood is revealed in flashbacks that weave seamlessly into the present narrative, detailing how her clashes with her mother led her to move to Melbourne, where she lost touch with the close relationship she had with Denny; her fallout with her childhood best friend, Minnie, is also peeled back in layers to show how two girls with no one but each other can still end up on different paths, causing what might have been to haunt them both forever (Ky constantly hears Minnie's voice in her head, telling her to stand up for herself, to push back against the limitations imposed on her).

This is not a light read. Denny's death is never fully described, but the horrors it left behind are tangible. Heroin is so prevalent in Cabramatta that the white police believe nearly every Asian in the community is a user, causing more harm on top of the devastating impact the drug has on those who do use it. The nature of the war in Vietnam is told through memories of poverty and hunger and desperation. Lien's writing does not shy away or cover up the more gruesome aspects of her characters' lives; there are parts where the words are lyrical and parts where they are stark, demonstrating the poles of life and letting the truest emotions shine through. Occasionally some of these emotions were told and not shown, especially in internal monologues, but there was so much else that was simply felt: the feelings the characters got upon smelling certain foods, remembering holidays, speaking in anger and passion and grief to each other.

A stunning debut by Tracey Lien.

*I received a free eARC of this title from Netgalley and William Morrow/HarperCollins in exchange for my honest review.

This wasn't bad...but it wasn't necessarily very good either. I read it in one day. But I had to take breaks because I lost interest quite often. It was slow and drawn out and there was a lot of unnecessary background information but not enough information about the actual crime.

A young Vietnamese-Australian journalist returns home to Cabramatta after her brother has been murdered--stomped to death--in a crowded restaurant. She's shocked that the police seem to be making no progress and none of the witnesses saw a thing. She's new to journalism and finds asking hard questions difficult, but undertakes to find out who killed Denny, and why.

There are two major themes in this novel. One has to do with Ky and her one-time friend Minnie, a girl from a dysfunctional home who was practically living with Ky's family until adolescence, when she let her curiosity lead her away from the constricted world of well-behaved Asian immigrants and into a group of kids who are breaking all the rules but seem to be enjoying themselves. Their falling out continues into adulthood, and to the moment in the restaurant when Denny was so violently killed. The other theme has to do with Cabramatta and its immigrant community, which has arrived with nothing but a lot of trauma and is going through a devastating heroin epidemic. Set in a real place, a suburb of Sydney with a large Vietnamese refugee population, Ky's and Minnie's choices illustrate just how difficult it is to make a future in a place that really doesn't want you.

Halfway through the novel, it felt unremittingly bleak, but the final chapters offered some valuable insight into the main characters and their troubled relationships, even offering an appreciation of the immigrant suburb that has a certain uniqueness and color. Though it's about a very specific (and real) time and place, American readers will see plenty of parallels to our wave of additions and gain insight into the difficult choices immigrant families face..

Intense, gripping, dark and all too realistic. Vietnamese-Australian Ky Tran tries to understand her brother's brutal murder in a Sydney that doesn't seem to care.