What We Left Unsaid
A Novel
-
- $20.99
Publisher Description
On an unexpected road trip, three estranged siblings uncover a startling family secret and larger truths about being Asian American in a post-COVID world—from the author of the “dazzling and devastating” (Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author) thriller Complicit.
The Chu siblings haven’t seen each other in years but when they’re told that their ailing mother is scheduled for an operation next month, they agree to visit her together. Then their mother makes an odd request: before seeing her, they must go on a road trip together to the Grand Canyon.
Thirty years ago, a strange incident had aborted a previous family road trip there. No one’s ever really spoken about it, but during this journey, the middle-aged Chu siblings have no choice but to confront their childhood experience.
Together, Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex travel along Route 66—but as the trip continues, they realize the Great American Road Trip may not be what they expected. Facing their own prejudices and those of others, they somehow learn to bridge the distances between them, the present-day, and their past.
With “powerful and beautiful writing” (Sarah Pearse, New York Times bestselling author), Winnie M Li weaves an emotive and eye-opening exploration of family, race, growing up, and what it means to be American.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Li's enjoyable third novel (after Complicit) follows three adult siblings on a cross-country road trip on U.S. Route 66. Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex Chu grew up in Southern California, the children of Taiwanese immigrants. Now middle-aged, the three are rarely in touch, much to their parents' dismay. Bonnie has married into a wealthy blue-blooded family in Boston. Kevin, an embittered conservative, is experiencing "The Midlife Crisis of the Asian American Dad" in a Chicago suburb, while Alex, the progressive youngest, lives in London and is expecting a child with her wife. They are unexpectedly reunited after their mother asks the siblings to drive together to the Grand Canyon. This unusual request stems from an episode when the family attempted a trip to the canyon in 1991 but turned around en route after something traumatic happened at a gas station. Li toggles between the two trips, gradually revealing the past events and untangling the present-day conflicts caused by the siblings' polarizing politics and varying degrees of privilege. At times, the plot feels over-engineered to expose various fault lines (the siblings pass a conveniently located Black Lives Matter protest in the Ozarks, for example), but Li capably explores the complex dynamics among her characters. This satisfies.
