Over the course of her career, Winnie M Li has shown that she is never going to shy away from a challenge. By consistently weaving elements from her own life—good, bad, and ugly—into her fictional narratives, Li produces works that ring with genuine authenticity, thereby eliciting empathy from the reader at levels rarely achieved. With her latest novel, What We Left Unsaid, she tells the story of a Taiwanese family aching for the American Dream while navigating the struggles of immigrant life.
In the early nineties, the Chu family embarked on a vacation to see the Grand Canyon. An unexpected stop at a gas station during their journey ends with the trip being aborted and the family fractured. What exactly happened on that trip is slowly revealed in flashback chapters woven throughout the contemporary plot.
In present day, the three Chu siblings—Bonnie, Kevin, and Alex—are notified that their mother is ailing and scheduled for surgery. Her only wish is that the three adult children will road trip to California together, finally visiting the Grand Canyon along the way. While these siblings have a contentious relationship, they agree to the request to appease their mother.
What follows is a coming-of-age story for a family where healthy growth was stunted in the face of trauma. Readers become privy to each of the sibling’s personalities and act as witnesses as they learn to navigate the many challenges of life, family, and expectation. Winnie M Li presents a road trip that heals one specific immigrant family in a way that feels collective—almost like therapy for America herself.
Winnie M Li confronts difficult topics head-on. Big concepts like racism, homophobia, and xenophobia intermingle in authentic ways with smaller grievances, complex misunderstandings, and unintentional slights. Through the recollections of each family member, readers get to walk in multiple shoes, coming to realize that truth is not a universal constant, but rather a variable concept often dictated by the seeker.
With What We Left Unsaid, Winnie M Li shows both the beauty and pain of evolution. We all grow, family’s change, and our Nation transforms, and yet the values that center us can still become the core around which we unite—if we will only get out of our own way and allow it to happen.
BUY LINKS: What We Left Unsaid by Winnie M Li
Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to BOLO Books by the publisher. No promotion was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.
