Everything I Never Told You
This is my first audio book, and I found myself liking it a bit too much. Perhaps it was her soothing voice, perhaps it was just being read to again but I found myself falling asleep a few times. I told myself I was not going to multitask while listening because I knew I might find myself not listening/paying attention and I really wanted the full experience. That being said, I am hooked!
Listening to a book on tape is so different from reading the text myself, as I felt the reader threw her own emotions out there for me as she read. I felt either I could validate them myself or go against them. When she spoke, I was either going to feel the same emotions or not, did I feel the hostility/adoration among the characters in the same manner as she did? It was so interesting to sit back and think about this as she read to me. I never really thought about this before, but what a huge influence this reader was having on others. I applied this thought to when I read to others; when I raise and lower the pitch of my voice, emphasizing and drawing out words, I am actually influencing them more than I thought. I guess I should stop and ask them if they feel the same emotion, it just might be an eye-opener.
So why did Lydia go out into the lake by herself? To take a rowboat out at night, into the lake where her body would breathe its last breath, just didn’t make any sense to anyone who knew Lydia. This heartbreaking event crushes her family, leaving her parents searching for answers. Beginning the book with this tragic event, I have just read what happens towards the end of the book. The author quickly turns back time so we can get a true picture of the whole family before the event occurred. Starting before their mixed marriage, we discover the issues the parents had before tying the knot. Mother had high hopes for her life, a professional career, which was the furthest thing from her mother’s mind. Love got in the way though and then life got busy. I liked the pacing of the book, as time moves quickly yet it slows when the important things in life occurred within the family. Every member of the family is highlighted, all their lives are important as we observe The Lee family. For somewhere within this household lies the clues that lead Lydia to take the boat out that evening, the evening that added another chapter to The Lee household.
Thank you Ford Audiobook Club for the book.
